QR Codes

The sheer bravery of Coinbase to run that ad in the Super Bowl is to be applauded. Yes it performed well, 20 million visits in one minute. Crashed their site. One quip I saw was that marketing beat engineering! But it might not have.

For those that haven’t seen it here it is. A QR code bouncing around a screen, just like the old DVD logo would. A visual you’ve probably long lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLsUhOCqyU

Imagine the team signing that off, what if it doesn’t work. What if people just don’t pay attention. Did I really approve that? I’m losing my job if this doesn’t come off. Rather than taking just a 30 second slot going for the full 60 seconds really doubled down. Taking that home, showing their partner, what do you think? Am I crazy.

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Yes you are and it worked. Well done.

• Sharethrough launches CTV Dynamic QR codes to increase attention and effectiveness of video ads. Unbelievable timing!
• Fortune’s journey to $100m in 2021 revenue. Thanks in large part to Branded Content.
• The future of content marketing is shoppable content.
• YouTube offers a peek at product plans for 2022.
• SnapChat is adding mid rolls to Stories.
• All Yoga enters Roblox with virtual wellness experience. And businesses that are buying in to the Metaverse.
• Using NFTs to boost brand awareness.
• Is Google Search dying?
• FireFox releases their privacy preserving attribution proposal.

Deals/M&A

• Akamai acquires Linode for $900m.
• Social Native expands with stake in Influence.co and Piano acquires SocialFlow.

Campaign of the Week

• In the new streaming ecosystem, advertising can be additive. WarnerMedia with Digiday. Simple does the job.

• 35% of consumers have never heard of the Metaverse.
• Roblox pays out nearly $540m to creators in 2021.
• Coinbase says its SuperBowl ad drove more than 20 million visits to the company’s website in a single minute.
• Adding a QR code to a CTV ad increases attention by 12%.
• Financial Times nears 1m digital only subscribers.

That’s it for this week.