2020 Thanksgiving and Cyber Week have come to an end, and after concerns of how COVID would affect the holiday’s, it turned out to be record-breaking. To close out the weekend, Giving Tuesday was bigger than ever with brands like Facebook and Twitter teaming up with them to support charitable organizations. As we enter December, we are beginning to see a rise of influencer marketing expanding to college campuses as well as content creators expanding their name and venturing out by creating their own products.
Celebs & Entertainment
Beyoncé Leads Grammy Nomination List
It’s awards season and with that comes the anxiously awaited Grammy nominations. From surprises to disappointments, leading the list with the most nominations is Beyoncé. Receiving nine nominations, Beyoncé currently holds the title for the most-nominated female of all time with a total of 79 nominations throughout her career. However, artists like The Weeknd and Bob Dylan who both had a statistically successful year, were failed to be nominated. Because of this, The Weeknd spoke out via Twitter by saying “The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency…”. Fans seemed to support the artist, as the tweet currently has over 240 thousand retweets and 1.1 million likes.
Bad Bunny Named the Most Spotify Streamed Artist of 2020
It’s that time of year for Spotify Wrapped to determine what the public has been listening to all of 2020. Although every Spotify user receives their own customized data of what they have listened to most throughout the year, Spotify also collects this information and determines what the overall top artists, songs, albums, and more were. By racking up more than 8.3 billion streams, Bad Bunny was named the most streamed artist on the platform for this year. This is in addition to also attaining the most-streamed global album with Bad Bunny’s “YHLQMDLG" with 3.3 billion streams.
Brands & Industry
Successful Retailers During Cyber Week
As Cyber Week comes to a close, we are now seeing the top retailers that “won” during the busiest shopping week of the year. After many concerns were raised due to the impact of COVID-related shutdowns, those fears were quickly diminished as this year’s Cyber Week goes down in history as consumers spent an estimated $9 billion online. Front runners such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Ulta raked in a majority of the profits from the weekend. According to Numerator, 1 out of every 5 dollars spent over the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend went to Amazon. Continuing the online sales trend, Numerator data shows that Best Buy saw a 1.9% increase online versus 2019, which represents more significant growth than seen by other retailers, including Target and Walmart. Although most retailers saw an influx in online traffic, Ulta, on the other hand, saw an 11.2% increase in visits, and a 4.6% increase on Sunday before.
Facebook Launches Website for Businesses to Increase Their Social Impact
As online shopping and digital platforms continue to implement E-Commerce to their apps, the need for business resources is at an all-time high. In an attempt to be the front runner, Facebook has launched a new website that includes a variety of tools and resources to increase businesses' social presence. According to Facebook, "We designed our new social good website to help businesses achieve their purpose and change the world. From insights and inspiration to programs and resources, you can use this site to learn how your business can make an impact." This launch represents the importance of businesses being openly supportive and participating in social causes that look to create change. Not only does this better societal issues, but it also boosts businesses’ patronage and message.
Campaigns
Brands Cultivating Giving Tuesday Campaigns
It’s the season of giving and as Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals end, the best way to finish off the holiday week was with Giving Tuesday. After being founded in 2012, Giving Tuesday is always set on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to encourage people to give back to charitable causes. To encourage people to participate, @GivingTuesday on Twitter posted their #DoGoodCalendar where each day of December has a new task. Brands like Facebook and T-Mobile created their own campaigns to support the day of giving back. According to Mashable, starting on December first, Facebook will match up to $7 million in donations to U.S. nonprofits made on Facebook's website. The first $2 million of donations will be matched at 100%, while the remaining $5 million will be matched at 10%. The campaign will continue until it reaches $7 million. Whereas T-Mobile created the #CaptureKindness campaign where they will continue to donate $10 to Feeding America for every act of kindness shared with the hashtag, up to $1 million. On Giving Tuesday, the company will donate an additional dollar for every user that clicks on the Feeding America icon in the company's T-Mobile Tuesdays app, up to $500,000.
Influencer
Colleges Hiring Student Influencers to Spread the Word About COVID
With the rise of influencer marketing, more companies and brands are opening their eyes to the benefits that this new type of ‘advertising’ can bring. As popular influencers partner with major brands, the trend is now trickling down to local institutions like College campuses. In order to lower COVID cases, according to CBS, the University of Missouri hired students to be Instagram influencers to spread the word about COVID. After implementing this campaign back in August, “We did see an increase in COVID active cases – they peaked at the very beginning of September, on Labor Day weekend, and then after that, we saw an immediate, dramatic drop in the number of active cases.” This tactic is a great representation of the rise of college-aged influencers and the power they hold. It raises questions if surrounding colleges should utilize outside Marketing firms to gather more students to start promoting other prevalent issues.
Charli and Dixie D’Amelio Launch Ring Light Products
Statistically being two of the top creators on TikTok due to their massive following, sisters Charli and Dixie D’Amelio are capitalizing on their platform and venturing out. After partaking in successful collaborations with brands like Dunkin’ and Hollister, the sisters are branching out and launching their own products. They recently announced the launch of their own ring lights, which content creators often use to enhance the quality of their photos and videos. Charli and Dixie took to IGTV to announce the product where they expressed how the lights allow for more creativity and freedom. The posts reached well over 900,000 views.