Having just returned from 12 glorious days in Europe (Prague -> Slovakia (wedding) -> Budapest) sans children, one thing has stood out. The world has resumed position. As we travelled from city to city; ✈️ planes, 🚂 trains, 🚕 taxis, and 🚃 trams, the tourists moved about without masks and got on with 👀 sightseeing like it was the 90s. And it felt amazing. My body kicked into backpacker adventurer 🎒 mode once again and 20km walks across cobbled streets in sandals were normal, and joyous.
We can wait for some ‘moment’ to occur, or we can get on with what’s in front of us right now. In business and personal lives, of which mine is simply one life, I’m doing today.
With my marketing hat on, the highlight of the trip was most certainly the advertising for the ever-so-honest Dracula Labyrinth in Budapest. The eerie tunnels promote the myth that 🧛🏻 Dracula was imprisoned in the Labyrinth. I loved the dark and misty walk, but what caught our attention was the brochure headline “Europe’s 8th most popular tourist attraction”. Even Dracula, with all his brand awareness, needs a little social proof to draw in the crowds. Build it and they will come they said…let this be a modern marketing lesson!
Valentina xxx
Welcome Google Analytics 4
As I said in the July newsletter, change is inevitable, and with that, it’s time for a Google Analytics revamp. What you currently know as Universal Analytics will be sunset 🌅 from 1 July 2023. Yep, we’re giving you close to a year to get used to the fact that all your familiarity with GA is getting a make-over and it’s time to get familiar and comfortable with Google Analytics 4.
GA4 is a complete rewrite of the Google Analytics you knew, which includes a new data model, a new interface, and integrated data sources (finally!).
Data sources have needed a refurb for a while. The old GA meant we collected ‘hit’ data into categories:
- Events
- Page views
- E-Commerce
- User Timings
- Social Interactions
- Exceptions
- Screens
The new GA4 data model doesn’t collect data based on “hits”, but instead focuses on Events, making it easier to track.
This great article delves into the value of GA4 and what you can do with the integration capabilities and the insights that come with it.
Insta’s Features Keep A-Comin’
It’s hard to keep up with Insta at the best of times, but this past month has seen a huge (and welcomed) turnaround with the interface dropping the TikTok-esk approach to content. 👏👏 Finally, the Kardashians have been useful in vocalising their poor sentiments about the platform’s changes and Insta reverted back in no time. Let’s hope it stays that way. In other Insta updates and features:
- you’ll have noticed the influx of ‘suggested and sponsored’ posts; now you can snooze 💤 them for up to 30 days
- a new feature called Dual Camera is out, which enables photo or video to be taken simultaneously using both cameras 📷 📷
- merge of Videos to Reels means that EVERY video you post will now be fed into the stream of Reels
- Reels Remix updates include a remix of photos, expanded remix layouts and “add your clip” features
- in the new 📍 Map Search, users will be able to explore 📍 tagged locations close by alongside the ability to filter locations by specific categories
- implemented API’s for use by external platforms, giving content creators the flexibility to create and schedule Reels content externally
- turn your Reels into paid ads with the latest Boost promotion feature
Hungry for more deets? Check out the full list of updates by month.
Over 55’s Retirement Community
Woodside Bundanoon is an architecturally 🏗️ designed community for active over-55s. The developers of this gorgeous destination approached Banter as locals understanding locals – and came armed with a logo and renders to work with.
Our project team set to work – to complete the brand guidelines complementing the logo; design and build the website and then embark on a rich experience of creating the fly-through video animation that truly brings modern living to life.
It was such a fun project to work on and also so rewarding to see the fruits of our labour. You can almost feel the breeze on your face 🍃 with the video.
Hope you love it as much as we do.
A Marketing Partnership: Pentalym
When we first met Matt Shields, Founder and CEO of Pentalym, we were blown away by his technology business that had its early beginnings at CSIRO. It was clear he had invented something that could change business operations for the better, and in some cases, even save lives.
Matt knew his real-time digital inventory management system worked; pilots in hospital settings in partnership with Medtronic, global leaders in healthcare technology solutions, had delivered outstanding results. 👩⚕️🏥🩺
What Matt needed was a marketing partner who could help position Pentalym for growth, on a global scale. That’s where we came in.
We created a bespoke Marketing Strategy for Matt and presented it to him and his investors earlier in 2022. We re-defined Pentalym’s key messages and made a series of detailed tactical making recommendations.
We are now in full marketing implementation mode in partnership with Matt, rolling out:
✅ An updated website
✅ Refreshed brand guidelines
✅ Launching and managing social media channels
✅ Creating video content
✅ Designing and copywriting marketing collateral, including targeted posters for a recent astronomy conference Matt attended in Munich.
✅ Development of graphic animations
“Meeting Banter Group has become the catalyst for many great things.
I’ve just returned from Europe and, yes we turned some heads.”
To be part of the growth and evolution of such an innovative business is a true pleasure for the whole Banter Group team.
Find out more about Pentalym’s better way of managing inventory…and get ready to be amazed. 😮
Less than 5 min reads for you
This section: Short reads, 👀 not just about marketing.
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3 Reasons to Stop Paying Influencers Based on Follower Counts
I’ve said it for years: Don’t chase 🏃 follower counts. Yay for being backed up by others! For years, advertisers have sought massive audiences, incentivising publishers to rack up users without vetting for bots or fraud. They’ve rewarded digital platforms for scale while punishing premium publishers for fostering smaller but high-quality audiences. But now privacy changes are forcing advertisers to seek highly engaged, verified users.
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11 Types of Marketing
Love a good infographic. Here’s one looking at 11 types of marketing that should be on every brand’s radar. It covers foundational approaches such as advertising and content marketing, as well as more unconventional tactics such as guerilla marketing.
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Multisearch in Google Lens
You gotta love LENS. Please tell me you use it! Looking for the perfect pair of shoes? Or care instructions for your fickle fiddle leaf fig? A picture speaks 1,000 words – and you no longer need words to make your search work. 🔎
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Brilliant Campaign: Toxic Lip Gloss to Raise Awareness
Sid Lee, indigenous-owned beauty brand, Cheekbone Beauty, and Sephora Canada have launched a range of lip glosses. Not to the public. They can’t be sold. They are infused with water from indigenous communities in Canada. That water is contaminated with lead, mercury and e.coli. The three lip glosses are therefore named, Lucious Lead, E.Coli Kiss and Mercury Shimmer, and the campaign asks, “Would you put it to your lips?” 💋💄
While Cheekbone Beauty recognises it’s unacceptable to sell contaminated products to the public, it asks to know why it’s acceptable for many First Nations communities and their drinking water. The campaign coincides with Indigenous History Month and aims to highlight the water problem in indigenous communities.
Fabulous work!
Maccas Does Personalised Drive Thru
I’m lovin’ it alright!
I’d like to think we all indulge in the guilty pleasure of some Maccas every now and then, right?
How about, you pull up to drive through, some computers read your number plate and all your favourite orders are turned into recommendations on the drive-through menu screen? The perfect personalised experience right or a whole new meaning of creepy?
Maccas has been using big data for some time, and now partnering with IBM’s Watson. The approach takes in historical transaction data, along with catalog and menu items and marketing campaign KPIs, and analyses the collected dataset using machine learning to break apart each customer’s personal history and compare it to similar customers in order to then predict future behavior.
This dynamic menu board concept is being tested in selected drive-through lanes in Chicago. This Maccas lover gives it ✅ 🍔 😁.
Catch you next time 😃
