Month: August 2020

This survey follows reports from agencies of all sizes that found their employee ranks to be woefully nondiverse. For example agency holding giant WPP reporetd in July that just 2.2% of the their U.S. executives are Black. For fellow holding company Omnicom, that number was 3% as of July.

The majority of the survey respondents are employees at either an independent agency or at an agency owned by a holding company.

Respondents identified themselves as 52% white, while 12% respondents described themselves as Black, 13% as Hispanic and 16% as Asian. Other races and multiple race respondents made up 3% and 4% of the survey respectively.

And in response to the diversity and equality gaps exposed in the months following the killing of George Floyd, respondents reported a wide variety of outreach and action on the part of their companies — the most common being internal statements in support of racial justice, with 81% of respondents reporting they’d received that type of communication. Public statements of support were the next common response with 66% of respondents reporting that effort from their companies.

The ad offered an example of a key media lesson of the past four years: Redefining yourself for the Trump era makes for good business. Ask the Times, CNN, MSNBC, or the Washington Post.

Now, media companies are staring down a different kind of truth. Coronavirus is raging, the country’s economic picture looks bleak, and the president seems poised for defeat in November (or whenever they finish counting the votes). The Trump moment — a boon for TV ratings, web traffic, video views, retweets, and for a sense of journalistic purpose — could be coming to a close at a perilous time in the media business. The advertising market has been crushed, with layoffs, furloughs and cutbacks felt across the industry. In place of Trump, the defining story of a media generation, would likely be a much more conventional and comparatively “boring” situation: President Joe Biden. 

“What would go away is the bad guy in the story. There’s no antagonist. So what are we tuning in for?” said Jonathan Klein, the former president of CNN. “Grandpa is a nice guy. Everybody might be relieved to not watch as much cable news anymore and go find a book to read, a garden to plant, or a socially-distanced walk to take.”

Klein knows how presidential transitions impact the media environment. Following the passionate viewer enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and election, Klein was ousted from CNN in 2010 amid low prime-time ratings and, in his opinion, post-election viewer fatigue during the financial crisis.

The same might be true in 2021. “What Trump gave journalistic outlets was an audience that felt the urgency,” he said. “Certainly if Trump loses, that urgency among 70% of the audience might dissipate a little bit, but you’re still going to be in the midst of an economic calamity, this wrenching social debate over inequality, and have a disease that may be killing tens of thousands of people a week.”

The Trump Bump

The conventional wisdom is that the “Trump Bump” juiced ratings for cable news outlets and traffic for online publishers, and while that is true, the Trump years have also dovetailed with changing trends in the media business. Media companies big and small have been on the hunt for direct consumer revenue as the Facebook-infused traffic era and “pivot to video” came to a close.

Scale for scale’s sake became increasingly out of favor, with publishers seeking to diversify their revenue streams into things like commerce and subscriptions. For news publishers, the Trump circus provided not only a steady stream of content and a target for important investigative reporting, but a fresh enticement to lure in consumers to their paid products. (The Times, for instance, reported this week that total digital revenue exceeded print revenue for the first time ever). Outlets expanded their political reporting teams, delivering frequent explosive stories about everything from Trump’s tangled finances to the Russia investigation to the chaotic government response to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic slide into recession.

“It’s not unfair to say the media’s default posture is to be Trump skeptic,” said Peter Hamby, the host of Good Luck America on Snapchat and a former CNN reporter. “I think a lot of consumers have confused ideas about journalism and think it’s supposed to be resistance-y. The Times gets twisted up by this because they are a subscriber business.”

Indeed, journalists tend to be uncomfortable with the “opposition” framing, but some media businesses that have been on the receiving end of Trump’s ire have nevertheless leaned into the moment with a marketing approach ranging from heavy handed to explicit. In 2017, the Washington Post — a frequent target of Trump’s Twitter feed — unveiled its new slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Then there was CNN. “This is an apple,” read the copy from the cable news network’s ad campaign the same year. “They might scream banana, banana, banana over and over and over again. They might put BANANA in all caps. You might even start to believe that this is a banana. But it’s not. This is an apple.” 

The ad represented CNN’s self-perception in the Trump era — telling it like it is in the face of falsehoods — but anyone watching the network regularly already saw its comfort with keeping itself as part of the story, even if competitors winced at some of the more performative duels between the network and president. For years, the president recast CNN as the centerpiece in his aggressive “fake news” campaign, and CNN relished the attention while feigning indignation. Hour after hour, panels dissected the latest political fracas, hosts with furrowed brows challenged White House officials, and the programming mostly hinged on one or two big stories rather than an around-the-world news roundup. 

“I don’t think it was any more complicated than that Trump was good for ratings,” said another former CNN executive who requested anonymity. That of course raises the question whether the end of the Trump era would present, for CNN and perhaps all of cable news, a crisis both in ratings and identity. “Make no mistake, it’s a symbiotic relationship. The dramatic rise and relevance of CNN for better or worse is tied to Donald Trump,” the former executive said.

One company, however, that will likely be just fine: Fox News. Despite the president finding faults with Fox, the conservative network has been a reliable ally throughout his first term, especially via its prime-time lineup. The most-watched network has hit record ratings, but Fox is equally comfortable in opposition, like during the Obama years, and would likely shift smoothly into Biden-bashing mode.

“The audience has always felt embattled whether they are in power in terms of the presidency or out of power,” said one former Fox News executive. “Trump won, but never for one day did they feel they were in power.” The potential audience issue, this executive said, would be if Trump starts a rival network in his post presidency, an idea he reportedly toyed with in 2016 when it looked like he would lose. (Fox and CNN both declined to comment).

A theoretical Biden presidency would also offer plenty of ammunition to the growing cadre of influential, vocal left-leaning media outlets on the other side of the media spectrum, who largely backed Bernie Sanders’ 2020 run and would seek to push a President Biden to the left. “In a vacuum you’d say Joe Biden’s presidency is going to be boring and nobody is going to care. I don’t think that’s necessarily true for partisan media, liberal or conservative,” said Chris Balfe, CEO of The First, a new digital streaming network for conservatives.

Even if Trump has an atypical post presidency, like his atypical presidency, it’s unclear what kind of media staying power he would have. “It’s going to be harder for all types of media to put importance on his tweets when he’s a former president,” Balfe said.

The end of the arms race

It’s time for an enormous caveat: Trump could win again. The media fervor could continue. Or maybe not. Nobody really knows anything these days, and don’t expect media executives to make any grand political predictions in public any time soon. They are too scarred from 2016. Nevertheless, in private, the fact remains that the media world is increasingly thinking about a post-Trump landscape and the end of one of the most insane feeding frenzies in modern journalism history.

It’s only been a few years, for example, since the wild early days of the administration helped propel an increasing number of “contributors” to CNN and MSNBC, who offered tens of thousands of dollars or more to lock up media types for “exclusive” deals to speak on their airwaves.

But according to people familiar with the matter, MSNBC/NBC News has recently sought to change its contract structure toward paying contributors per appearance, instead of through blanket deals (an NBC spokesperson declined to comment). Those in the TV world have read that change to mean the era of juicy panel gigs and rosters full of various Russia experts has come to a close.

The next phase is uncertain, but, “There isn’t going to be an arms race for Joe Biden TV analysts,” said one reporter with a TV contract.

Cohen isn’t alone in this belief or experience. If you ask agency talent about the job search you’ll hear them bemoan alleged fake job postings as a scourge of the industry. Just last month, I spoke to a recently laid off creative who saw that her agency was hiring for her role at a different office but when she asked to be considered for the role she was told it was a fake listing. Fake ad jobs were a problem prior to the pandemic — Meg Graham wrote about them for AdAge in 2018 — but now, with agencies laying off thousands of employees due to the coronavirus, those allegedly fake positions are even more insidious. 

“It’s a complete waste of anybody’s time,” said Cohen. “For people who are actively searching [the fake posts are taking time out] of their day where they could have been using that time to speak with people who actually want to hire them for a real job.” 

Agency staffers say it’s nearly impossible to know if the job you’re applying for is fake but that they’ve started to ask current employees if the agencies are actually hiring before applying for jobs to know whether it’s worth the time to do so. Another creative who has dealt with fake postings and feeling “played” by agencies after rounds of interviews only for no job to materialize, said that he’s started to take note of positions that are posted for months on end that seem never to be filed — unusual for this tight job market.

“Maybe they have too many layers between hiring managers or recruiters,” the creative said. “But it’s bad [right now]. Everyone is looking — hella layoffs and applications. It becomes a spinning game.” 

Instead of paying attention to job postings, the creative said he’s now taken to reaching out to chief creative officers to find a new gig. Doing so could lead to better results than applying through online application hubs as recruiters and HR departments are being flooded with a tidal wave of candidates and job applications right now, according to ad recruiter Christie Cordes.

“I always advise people to change the way they think about finding a job,” said Cordes. “The old way doesn’t really work [right now] all the recruiters inside are inundated.” 

It’s unclear how widespread fake postings may be or why exactly agencies post them. Staffers believe one reason for the posts is that agencies want to look like they are doing well during the pandemic to draw in potential clients. Another reason agencies may be interviewing talent for jobs that don’t exist is to keep names on file for when they actually are hiring. 

While Cordes hasn’t heard of fake posts she has witnessed agencies layoff creatives only to be hiring for that exact position a few weeks later. Doing so could damage an agency brand in the eyes of potential talent who are taking note of how agencies are treating staffers at the moment and will likely remember how they treated employees when times are tough. “Our industry is so small,” said Cordes. “Agencies think no one notices, but everyone sees it.” 

Cordes doesn’t believe the behavior is malicious but that agencies recruiting and HR departments, especially those that are “ghosting” candidates for jobs right now, are simply understaffed and need help managing the massive wave of applications they are likely getting right now. With so many agency staffers looking for work due to months and months of layoffs throughout the industry and fewer open jobs, the market is difficult to manage. 

Even as agencies are overwhelmed, unemployed agency staffers say that constantly looking for a job and being made to believe you’re in line for a position that isn’t real can take a toll on someone’s mental health, particularly those who are in financial trouble. They want agency execs to be mindful that, especially during a global health crisis and recession. 

“It’s really like being conned,” said Cohen of going through interviews for a job that never materializes. “It’s like finding a perfect apartment online and then you go to see it and it’s not what you thought.” It’s actually not even there.

“We chose to work on redirect tracking protection because we know trackers have used redirects to work around third-party cookie blocking,” said a Mozilla spokesperson.

WTF is redirect tracking?

Redirect tracking is a way for companies to track someone when they’re navigating between two sites. When a person clicks a link on Site A to visit Site B, they may be redirected to Site X before moving on to Site B. This redirect allows Site X to drop a first-party cookie on the person’s browser so that the cookie can be used to recognize the person when they navigate between other sites that redirect to Site X. 

Wouldn’t people notice if they’re being redirected to sites they didn’t intend to visit?

Not necessarily. Redirects can happen within milliseconds. To use the aforementioned example, Site X would never have to actually appear on a person’s screen for that person’s browser to be redirected to the site before moving on to the site they meant to visit.

Why would companies use redirects to track people online?

With the third-party cookie on its way out and the online advertising is trying to come up with a replacement identifier. In the meantime, companies have to come up with other ways to track people around the web. Methods, such as device fingerprinting, are also under siege for compromising people’s privacy. Using first-party cookies is one of the most reliable methods for tracking people online, but it requires people to visit a site in order for that site to be able to drop a first-party cookie. That’s a challenge for many ad tech companies since most people are unlikely to ever intentionally visit their sites. Using redirects to force people to technically “visit” an ad tech company’s site is one way around this challenge.

How common is redirect tracking?

In a research paper presented at the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium in July, a group of computer researchers analyzed redirect tracking across the top 50,000 sites, as ranked by traffic analytics firm Alexa. Of the sites analyzed, the researchers found that “11.6% of the scanned websites use one of the top 100 redirectors which are able to store nonblocked first-party tracking cookies on users’ machines even when third-party cookies are disabled,” according to the paper, which cited Google’s DoubleClick and Facebook as the top two redirecting domains it encountered.

Do other browsers block redirect tracking?

Yes. The anti-tracking feature in Apple’s Safari browser, called Intelligent Tracking Prevention, began blocking redirect tracking in 2018. However, Google’s Chrome browser — which has a 66% share of the global browser market, per StatCounter — does not block redirect tracking. A Google spokesperson said redirect tracking is not relevant on Chrome because the browser continues to support SameSite cookies and that it’s move to phase out support for third-party cookies will include protections against alternative tracking methods.

How do browsers block redirect tracking?

It varies. Safari seems to be the most aggressive. Returning to the earlier example, Apple’s browser recognizes if Site X is only serving as a redirect tracking intermediary and wipes any data, such as first-party cookies, that Site X tries to store in a person’s browser to use to track them later.

Firefox is not taking as strict of an approach. Instead of immediately wiping any data stored by Site X, Firefox will allow Site X to store a first-party cookie in a browser for 24 hours after the redirect happens, according to a Mozilla blog post announcing the redirect tracking prevention feature. Additionally, if a person had directly visited Site X outside of the redirect context — for example, if Site X is a search engine or social network that also operates an advertising business that tracks people around the web — then Firefox will allow Site X to keep first-party cookies stored on that person’s browser for 45 days.

Why would Firefox allow redirect tracking for 24 hours?

Firefox’s 24-hour grace period seems to be a recognition that redirect tracking is not only used for persistently following people around the internet and that blocking redirect tracking altogether could impair more legitimate ways that companies use redirect tracking, such as to measure when people click links in a company’s email newsletter that navigate to a third-party site.

“Acceleration” is the hot topic when it comes to discussing how businesses will be impacted by the coronavirus and fashion is no exception.

For high-end and designer brands, traditional fashion week promotion and classic in-person retail experiences have been the norm for decades. And while many have hesitated to make a deep dive into e-commerce, according to Jill Manoff, editor-chief of Digiday-owned fashion vertical Glossy, that’s changing, and rapidly.

“It’s all about maintaining that exclusivity. If they put a website out there, anyone could have access,” said Manoff. “But you’re missing out on sales.” 

With department stores and luxury storefronts closed, however, these brands are being forced to consider an alternate way of engaging with customers for the first time ever. And this is being seen in designers’ earning calls, such as Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren, who are reporting decreases in wholesale revenues approaching 80% for the quarter. 

As a result, digital platforms like Instagram are entering a renaissance period where brands are relying on the platform as a way to be discovered by new potential customers — but also to sell right in the app. 

In the most recent edition of Digiday’s show The New Normal, Manoff discusses how fashion’s traditional business operations are being challenged and where opportunities lie for high-end brands with Digiday Media’s president and editor-in-chief Brian Morrissey.

Emerging from the pandemic 

Manoff said that two of the big winners from the economic crisis coming out of the coronavirus crisis were athletic apparel brands and Instagram. The former stems from people wanting to be comfortable while at home and the latter comes from the fact that while they’re at home, they’re filling all that time scrolling on social media. 

The big advantage of Instagram, however, is that it has positioned itself as the next generation department store.

“It’s the mall for direct-to-consumer brands,” said Manoff. It’s now a discovery tool for new brands that crop up seemingly every day. It’s a shopping platform with in-app purchasing capabilities. It’s an advertising tool for both top-of-funnel awareness driving and bottom-of-funnel, direct response purchasing. “Instagram is the go-to tool for everything,” she said. 

Damage done 

Indoor malls and department stores have both been challenged for years, but the absence of foot traffic for months due to coronavirus social distancing put their peril in high relief.

“Department stores used to be the go-to. It used to be the place for discovery and convenience,” said Manoff. Now people have begun to rely on Instagram to find out what’s next in fashion. And not only that, but shipping times have gotten fast enough that going to a physical store feels less convenient in some ways, she said. 

Fashion week is another pandemic pain point. It has long been institution for selling fashion buyers on the latest releases and market designer brands to people in the industry. But gathering hundreds of people in one international location after the next multiple times a year during the lingering global coronavirus crisis will likely be impossible, at least in the near term. Now, there are digital and virtual options for releasing new collections.

First time discounters

Some brands that don’t normally have sales and promotions are starting to go that route for the first time, according to Madoff, but they are not being overtly upfront about it. 

“They’re putting some fancy lingo around it or they’re moving it to a different site and calling it an outlet,” she said. 

This follows department stores and store distributors cutting their orders substantially this year with stores shuttered and less foot traffic for those that remained opened. In short, designer brands are sitting on piles of unsold spring and summer inventory.

Moreover, designers have migrated to selling on Amazon for the first time. “There’s no getting around it now,” said Manoff, adding a quote from one designer who took that exact step: “What you were judged for before you won’t be judged for now.” 

Print advertising is too aspirational 

Print magazine advertising is top-of-the-funnel marketing, but during a recession, marketers are more interested in direct response plays that prove their budgets are making a direct impact on a company’s bottom line. 

Manoff said that while some designers have returned to print in places like Italy, , fashion ads in magazines like Vogue are aspirational than direct purchase drivers. “Brands that are not Gucci are not putting their money there because that’s not reaching a large audience right now,” she said. “Everybody is telling me that Instagram is everything. Very few are telling me that they’re advertising on print.”