NEWSLETTER #137 / November 4, 2018
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THE STRANGE CASE OF THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
For years I've been writing about the stupidity of marketers and advertisers who are obsessed with young people and ignore the most valuable market in the history of markets -- people over 50.
Today we're going to get a little more "granular" and talk specifically about the mystery of why advertisers ignore women over 50. First the facts:
Forbes has called women over 50 "super consumers ...they are the healthiest, wealthiest and most active generation in history."
Women over 50 are the single largest demographic group with incomes over $100,000
- They control 95% of household purchasing decisions
- Contrary to the inane bullshit that they are "stuck in their ways," 82% will try new brands.
On average, baby boomer women make more money than millennial men. Median weekly earnings:
- Highly coveted Men 25-34: $791
- Completely ignored Women 55-64: $795
If Americans over 50 were their own country, they'd be the third largest economy in the world -- larger than the entire economies of Germany, Japan, or India. Between now and 2030 they will grow at almost 3 times the rate of adults under 50. And among adults over 50, women do the majority of consumer spending.
And what percent of marketing activity is aimed at people over 50? According to a 2016 report by Nielsen -- 5%. You read that right, 5%.
In what universe does this make any sense? The answer is obvious -- the stale, fossilized, 30-years-out-of-date universe of marketing.
If there is one thing you need to know about advertisers today it is this -- we are totally obsessed with collecting data, and totally incompetent at understanding it.
Facebook's Weekly Flame-Out
Part 1:
The three most important words in the English language are "wait a minute." These words are usually spoken by someone with good sense to someone with no sense at all.
The outstanding 2-part Frontline program "The Facebook Dilemma" makes it clear that there is no one at Facebook to say "wait a minute." There is no adult supervision in this playpen of arrogance. If you haven't seen the show, I urge you to watch it here.
The unmistakable takeaway from the documentary is that Facebook is run by callow oafs who have memorized an idiotic mantra of "connecting the world" -- whatever that infantile horseshit is supposed to mean -- and respond to every disaster they create with insufferable babble about "having a conversation" about it and then doing nothing.
If you want to understand the damage they have wrought, the blood that is on their hands, the lies they have told, and the incompetence of their so-called leadership, do yourself a favor and watch this thing.
Part 2:
If you assume that every time Zuckerberg opens his mouth a lie is born, you won't be far from reality.
In July, the Z-man asserted that in order to make sure bad guys weren't manipulating Facebook like they did in the 2016 presidential election, Facebook would...
..."build AI tools to go find these fake accounts, find coordinated networks of inauthentic activity and take them down...so that anyone who is advertising, especially around political issue ads, will have a...very high standard of transparency. Higher than what you have in TV or print...we’re also even going so far as verifying the identity and location of every single advertiser..." Yeah, and I'm the fucking queen of France.
In a wonderful demonstration of bloody-mindedness (and a demonstration of Facebook's thorough incompetence) Business Insider pulled a great gag. They tried to buy ads on Facebook in which they said the ads were "paid for by Cambridge Analytica." If you remember, after Facebook was nailed to the wall for their Cambridge Analytica scandal, they supposedly totally banned the company from their platform. The punch line? Facebook took the ads.
Not to be outdone, using Facebook's political ad tools, Vice had no trouble getting approval to run phony ads on Facebook claiming to be Mike Pence, 100 US Senators, and ISIS..."including ads 'Paid for by' Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer... All 100 sailed through the system, indicating that just about anyone can buy an ad identified as “Paid for by” a major U.S. politician....What’s more, all of these approvals (by Facebook) were granted to be shared from pages for fake political groups such as “Cookies for Political Transparency” and “Ninja Turtles PAC.”
No, you can't make this shit up.
Part 3:
In a show of grand futility, the parliaments of the UK, Canada and other unnamed countries are planning an unprecedented joint hearing, called the "international grand committee on disinformation and fake news" to which they have summoned Mark Zuckerberg to testify.
Zuckerberg will testify at this thing when I win the Nobel Prize for vacuuming.
In another act of futility, the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) fined Facebook £500,000 for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook spends more than that to have Zuckerberg's hoodies fumigated.
Advertisers Whining About Apple
Apple ceo Tim Cook has been an advocate for privacy and has been railing against the unconscionable abuse of privacy that is rampant in the tech industry.
It's become apparent that Apple's policies are starting to piss advertisers off. A few weeks ago, Apple introduced a new feature in its Safari browser which prevents advertisers from tracking us from site to site. It's called ITP-2 (Intelligent Tracking Prevention.)
Since over 50% of mobile devices use the Safari browser in the U.S. this is a big deal. Of course, advertisers are all up in arms that they can't follow us everywhere. One genius said, "This makes the entire ecosystem, including Facebook and Google, weaker."
We can only hope.
You Can't Escape. Don't Even Try
On the other hand, in another realm tech creeps have taken a further step to tracking us everywhere. Now they can follow us even after we've deleted their apps.
According to Bloomberg, T-Mobile, Spotify, and Yelp now employ technology called "uninstall trackers" which take advantage of holes in the iOS and Android systems to follow us even after we uninstall apps and think we've rid ourselves of these cockroaches.
According to one tech ceo, "the tools violate Apple and Google policies." Since when did violating anything stop anyone in the cesspool of ad tech from doing whatever the hell they want?
Mouthing Off
- I recorded an episode of the "Marketing Today" podcast this week with the great Alan Hart. I'll let you know when it gets posted.
- I'll be speaking in Lithuania and Belgium in a few weeks. More info as the dates approach.
- The great George Parker says, "Bob Hoffman’s new book, 'Laughing@Advertising,' is a scathing indictment of the current state of the ad biz…done with a wonderful combination of sarcasm, obscenities and humor."
So buy it quick, before I run out of obscenities.
