In the spring, Samsung aired a global campaign called “Night Owls,” which depicts a woman, wearing headphones, running alone outside on city streets at 2 a.m. 

Meant to advertise Samsung’s Galaxy watch, the ad instead promoted Samsung’s blatant lack of awareness for the safety of women. The commercial was particularly upsetting in Ireland, where teacher Ashling Murphy was killed while exercising earlier this year. Amid the social media outcry, which included the criticism that the ad was likely “dreamt up by men,” Samsung eventually apologized for “how the ad was received” but made no move to remove the Ogilvy-created work.

In the spirit of the holiday 🎄 season, our ecommerce elves have been working hard to gather all the trends you need to know for 2023.

Delve into the trends and tricks that will be shaping the landscape next year, and get ready to sleigh in January with expert insight from Gorgias, Nosto, Gatsby, and more.

Working closely with fellow experts to ensure we've covered all bases, we've created this perfectly wrapped present 🎁 just for you.

Twitter is an anathema to a lot of advertisers right now, but not all of them.

Amazon, Apple, BSkyB are among the few continuing to advertise on the social network despite the perceived risk of doing so.

Advertising there could have significant blowback on a brand now that Elon Musk is in charge. The billionaire, a self-described “free speech absolutist”, has reinstated banned accounts and dropped at least one misinformation policy since he took over a few weeks ago.

Despite all that ails the social network now, ad dollars flow where the audience goes. The latest ad spending data on Twitter has made this all too clear.

Data collated by Pathmatics showed that the week of Musk’s takeover saw a total of $35.37 million in ad spend, which increased the week after to $35.45 million and has continued to hover between $35.7 million to $35.9 million per week ever since. So while Twitter’s ads business continues to hemorrhage dollars, it’s not out for the count just yet.

“Advertisers are returning or maintaining their advertising on Twitter because the platform offers unique advantages and opportunities to reach target audiences,” said Samuel McGraw, CEO of creative agency Design Hub. “Although Twitter has recently been embroiled in a series of controversies, it is still a powerful platform that offers marketers a lot of potential.”

While Amazon’s average weekly spend pre-deal was around $1.4 million, the advertiser has still committed $698,325 since the takeover. Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer even tweeted that Amazon plans to spend about $100 million a year on the platform, pending some security tweaks to Twitter’s ad platform.

To be clear, none of this signals any real reversal on the exodus of ad dollars that has knocked Twitter’s ads business sideways. Advertisers aren’t returning to the beleaguered app in any great number. Otherwise, Twitter execs wouldn’t be offering advertisers incentives like discounts for first-time advertisers, free analytics, and access to exclusive ad formats.

Burger and Milkshake chain Shake Shack is making use of the photo app BeReal to get in front of the next generation of shoppers.

“We’re always pushing ourselves to connect with fans in new, creative ways — and we also want to tap new audiences,” Amanda DiAntonio, senior manager of social media at Shake Shack, said via email. “When we think there’s promise in an emerging channel, and it aligns with our brand, we want to be there early.”

Continue reading (3-min. read)

• How to find your audience on socials. (Wishu)
• 4 stats that show how much TikTok has taken over the media world. (Business Insider)
• Instagram releases its trend predictions report for 2023. (Social Media Today)
• Holiday gift guide for marketers. (Wishu)