Chart above copyright by FT
Facebook has been locked out of Apple's ecosystem for targeting.
And that is impacting their ad business.
Just like it is for Google
Now, here's the sting in the tail. Apple's advertising revenue has tripled. No guessing where that came from!
By playing up the privacy angle, Apple has secured a lucrative market for itself.
Brings to mind what Amazon did a few years ago - introduced ads that almost looked like product placements and now makes over $10 billion in revenue from advertising alone. Adding to the commission it makes on sales anyway.
What Facebook and Google see now is that it is important to be a destination and not just the conduit.
That power and traffic was an illusion.
Apple has to protect that market. What was dominant play by the search and social media giants has now become a four way race for revenue.
Expect fireworks because there will be no quarter given, only taken.
Once companies get used to a stream of this level of revenue, they begin to erect all the safeguards they can, from policy and market strategy because these are high-wire games.
One fall and the valuation as well as the share price get hammered.
A four cornered contest is better than two. Expect Google and Facebook to align with Shopify and scan markets for fast growing segments to either take over or ally with.
The advertising revenue roller-coaster has been set in motion!
The product that gets around every ban
If you ever needed proof advertising works...
In this particular category, even after it has gone off the airwaves altogether.
Cigarette advertising has been banned in several countries for decades now, but it continues to attract fresh followers.
Countries have tried everything from horrendous images on packs to obscuring the brand names to removing them from mass media advertising altogether.
But the number of smokers has not dropped dramatically.
In India, every time an actor smokes on screen, 'Smoking Kills' appears.
And yet, the perception of smoking as a cool way to flash independence and rebellion has drilled deep into the human psyche.
How else does one explain the aura that smokers seem to create around themselves and the habit?
Recently, a quiz question was asked in a WhatsApp group - why did cigarette companies spend the most money on advertising in the month of January?
The answer, it turns out is that they wanted to weaken the willpower of people who would resolve to quit on January 1st!
Wikipedia bears this out by showing advertising spends peaked in Jan. So, the pressure on smokers to return to the 'club' was immense.
Like drinking, social groups tend to follow certain customs and habits - drinking buddies and smoking breaks were the norm. And with all the backlash, smokers still congregate in groups where they find their social standing enhanced by their habits.
What Duke's American Tobacco Company started out in the early 1900 became the marketing template for every other brand to follow.
And with all the legislation, medical evidence and outright bans, nothing has stopped smokers from continuing to puff away.
"Nothing will happen to me" wins the day, every time.
A 4-year-old signed up by Arsenal?
The BBC says that Arsenal has signed on a player, who has barely learned to talk, but he dribbles like a champ.
With a real football, not into the bib around his neck!
It's time for a check. No matter how good, being hunted by a talent scout and put into the fast track of a Premier League team is about being able to handle pressure.
Even if Zayn Ali Salman is God's gift to football, let him be.
He needs to enjoy the game and freewheel for the next decade, without a care in the world. Even if he's far better than all the kids he plays with, he needs to hang out with them after the game is over.
And by marking him out as a special talent, he won't be able to build the relationships that matter. A normal childhood is hard enough. Being stalked by talent scouts who interpret every move critically is more than that little head can bear.
There's a ton of money riding on the teams' performances. They're looking for every little scrap of advantage they can get. Whether it means signing on a 4 year old, who's naturally gifted and locking the competition out
But it will play havoc with ordinary lives. The kid now has to bear the expectations of not just his family and friends but of one of the major League teams.
FOMO is not confined to social media wannabes. And in the race to stay ahead, we're taking the fun out of sports.
And putting a price on kid’s years before they are ready for the limelight.
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