📦 - ‘Tis Scammer Season

DTC 661 - Meta Ads Manager Hacking, Adobe 2024 Holiday Predictions, and Gen Z TikTok Scripts Monday, October 7, 2024 Good morning, Amazon plans to offer more video ad slots in 2025, including new shoppable ad formats. This is great news for advertisers who want to tap into Prime Video’s 200 million monthly viewership. P.S. Scroll down for an update on the U.S. dockworkers strike. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: 🛍️ Adobe shares their 2024 holiday shopping predictions when it comes to customer’s shopping habits. 🚨 Protect your Meta Ad dollars! Here’s how to prevent your ad account from getting hacked. 😆 And…why these hilarious Gen Z scripted TikTok videos are blowing up on social media. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: [Adore Me](, [Chuffed Play](, and [Birth for Humankind](. 👋 CHEAT SHEET 🏋️ Ready or Not, Here It Comes—Black Friday. The Olympics of the Ecommerce World As exciting as Black Friday is, the problem is that everyone is doing it. So, how do you catch shoppers' attention? Don’t worry — [Omnisend is here with an email and SMS cheat sheet]( to help make this your year to shine. It has: - A comprehensive checklist of steps to stand out (including the important business of when you’re going to need coffee) ✅ - What emails to create 📨 - The perfect timing to start your promotions ⏰ - Real examples of subject lines that grab attention and texts that actually get read 👀 - How to carry on the effect of Black Friday and let your sales shine throughout November 💸 Download the Omnisend BFCM Lookbook, print the checklist, and prepare one step at a time. This year, be ready. [Download the Lookbook]( *Sponsored Q4 SHOPPING PREDICTIONS 🛍️ Important Adobe Holiday Trends To Watch Adobe is optimistic about the 2024 holiday shopping season. After analyzing over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories, Adobe expects U.S. online sales to hit $240.8 billion this year, an 8.4% growth YoY. Adobe shares, “Before the holiday season, months of persistent inflation have led shoppers to embrace cheaper goods across major ecommerce categories.” But they predict this will change for the 2024 holiday season as more shoppers embrace expensive goods thanks to steep discounts. Here are a few more Adobe’s 2024 holiday shopping predictions: - Retailers will offer steep discounts: Customers can expect discounts of up to 30% off listed prices. Retailers will offer the deepest discounts during Cyber 5 (the period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday). - Some brands will have holiday deals starting this month: Consumers will see holiday deals beginning in October to compete with Amazon’s Fall Prime Day event. - More customers will be turning to Buy Now Pay Later payment options: Adobe predicts BNPL will drive $993 million in ecommerce sales, and about three-quarters of those sales will happen over mobile. - These product categories will have the steepest discounts: There will be record-high discounts for electronics and sporting goods products. - Shoppers are warming up to AI chatbots: AI chatbot usage has increased this year and in an Adobe survey, 7 of 10 consumers said generative AI enhances the shopping experience. 20% of respondents said they use AI to find the best deals. The takeaway? For brands offering more expensive products, this is the time to create noise around your brand offerings. Start campaigns early, offer competitive discounts, and diversify your payment options with BNPL to attract new and returning customers. Leveraging AI can also help your brand stand out as more customers turn to AI chatbots to help them with their decision-making. LEGO 📩 Don’t Even Pretend — You Want To Know How LEGO Does Their Email Marketing Back in 2020, LEGO Colombia’s subscriber base grew so much, it became a challenge to manage. If you want new results like that, you can’t keep playing by the old rules. 🚀 To pull this off, [they made a power move](: switching their ESP to Omnisend. The payoff? ➡️ 37% open rates across all automations ➡️ 10% click-through rates While smaller brands might not always be able to copy the whole playbook of industry giants, sometimes, just one winning play makes all the difference. Ready to learn from the giants? [Read LEGO Colombia’s Story]( *Sponsored AD FRAUD ALERT 🚨 Meta Ad Manager Hacking Is On The Rise Don't get spooked, but a massive influx of online hacking and fraud is happening right now. Meta Ad accounts are getting compromised because of sneaky hackers looking to divert your funds into their pockets. 💸 [Pilothouse]( warns there's been a lot of news about Meta ad accounts getting hacked. The culprits end up accessing the brand's ad manager account and using the account to fund their own malicious ads. Oftentimes, it takes a while for a brand to notice, and by then, ad dollars are already down the drain. To make sure this doesn't happen to your brand, here's how you can protect your ad account: The solution is simple. Go to your settings and turn on your 2-factor authentication now! This is the best way to protect your account from hackers. With it being Q4, scammer activity is on the rise. Turn 2FA on now to protect your account. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Have you seen this TikTok trend that’s been going viral? It’s easy to replicate for any brand and bound to put up big numbers. The video starts with the message ‘Letting Gen Z write the marketing script’ and features the founder or an older employee reading the script full of Gen Z lingo with a deadpan delivery. This is a great way to increase your watch time and engage with your audience using humor! Can't view the image? [Click here]( 💸 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS - OpenAI [raises $6.6 billion and reaches a $157 billion valuation](. - Pepsico [to acquire Siete Foods for $1.2 billion](. - Vouch, the world’s first hiring platform for creators, [is acquired by MrBeast](. ⚡ QUICK HITS 😵 💫 Is BFCM prep driving you mad? Avoid the Panic Thursday before Black Friday. More than 100k brands trust Omnisend for their email and SMS, making $73 for every $1 spent, on average. [Start for free here](. * 📰 NEWS - Amazon [will ramp up Prime Video ads in 2025](. - U.S. dock workers [reached a tentative deal to suspend their strike until January 15th](. - Google AI Overviews [rolls out ads in the U.S. on mobile](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Got a B2B Biz? Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. [Talk to our team to learn more](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 💯 [AKNF 442:]( Unlocking Premium Amazon A+ Content - ✨ The Art of Storytelling [with Niclas Bornling from Craft Sportswear]( - 👻 [AKNF 441:]( Crush Your Halloween Campaigns on Meta! - 🍃 Driving 5x Digital Growth: [How Salt and Stone Optimizes Sales]( - 💰 [AKNF 439:]( Maximizing Google Ads Profitability - 🏜️ Dosso Beauty [Tackling Hair Deserts with Hypoallergenic Products]( Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. 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