📦 - Key Tactics for Thriving Lunar New Year Campaigns

DTC 475: Media Mix, ASC+ Insights, 2024 Digital Trends, Lunar New Year Campaign Tips [DTC X Keen]( Friday, January 19, 2024 Good morning, After a long week of tech layoff announcements, Google warns job cuts will continue in 2024. Keep an eye on the tech space and potential changes to ensure you’re aware of any possible impacts for your brand. Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - Advantage+ Shopping Campaign (ASC) insights to elevate your Meta ads. - Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with these 5 Lunar New Year campaign tips. - And…how to adopt a data-driven mentality. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Circle K, Jade Fine Foods, and Eclipse Legal Services 👋 This newsletter is brought to you… IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KEEN 💪 Which Parts of Your Media Mix Are Doing the Heavy Lifting? Which Are Coasting? [KEEN]( Many DTC founders and execs have embraced “omnichannel” as the word of 2024, but remember… Each new marketing channel has knock on effects — some positive, some neutral, and some (like coupon sites) can even be parasitic to your profitability. You want to know the halo effect of a potential direct TV campaign on your Amazon sales? You want to know the point at which your Meta Ads budgets hit negative returns and you start burning cash? Want to drive a more predictable P&L? That’s why Keen created their [modern media mix analysis platform]( that helps you plan, measure, optimize, and forecast your marketing investment. With models trained on 40 years of academic research and 10 years of metadata, Keen ingests your data and produces a predictive profit model for your future revenue. [See The Platform In Action and Start Your Free Trial Today]( 📰 NEWS - Meta says [AI assisted ads boost ROI by 32%](. - Amazon’s [new AI tool answers shopper’s questions](. - Google [will release a generative AI feature called Circle to Search](on January 31st for select Android phones. - Uniqlo [sues fast fashion brand Shein]( for selling knockoffs of its best-selling crescent moon bags. AD PERFORMANCE TIPS 🚀 Five Advantage+ Shopping Campaign Insights Are you looking to maximize your performance using Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns? The [Pilothouse]( team shares how Meta’s Creative Shop team’s insights can be applied to your business. *These insights are based on over 70 official split and/or conversion lift tests. Top 5 Creative Insights Boosting Performance in ASC: 1️⃣ Diverse Ad Creatives Improve Performance Meta’s [case study on eyewear brand Caddis]( demonstrates how results can differ when you run similar ad creatives versus diverse ad creatives which use a variety of ad formats like video and photo. As a result, the brand saw a 13% lift in purchases when running its diversified ad creative. 🚀 2️⃣ Mixing Hi- and Lo-Fi Assets Campaigns that incorporate both high and low-fi creative elements see better results. Subscription-based skincare brand Agency [saw a 7% improvement in CPA]( compared to campaigns using either hi-fi or lo-fi assets exclusively. 3️⃣ Mixing Static & Video in ASC Campaigns featuring a mix of static and video elements [demonstrated an 8% improvement in CPA]( compared to campaigns using static assets exclusively. 4️⃣ Mixing Promo & Evergreen Assets in ASC Successful creative differentiation has been achieved by blending evergreen and promo specific creative. Campaigns that incorporated promo creative (promo featured on the asset) alongside evergreen assets [experienced a 10% improvement in CPA]( compared to campaigns exclusively using evergreen assets. 5️⃣ Creative Volume in ASC In ASC, increasing asset volume positively impacts performance. [The sweet spot is 17 to 20 assets]( which consistently outperform those with only 4 to 6 assets (with one exception where the product's high price point played a role). This prompts an interesting question about the necessity for different strategies when selling high-priced products in ASC. Consider exploring this aspect in your 2024 testing plans if applicable. The takeaway? If you want to maximize your performance with Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, use these valuable insights to enhance your advertising strategies. As we move further into 2024, these proven strategies can elevate your ASC campaigns and stay competitive. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NORTHBEAM 👀 What’s In and What’s Out in Digital Marketing for 2024? [Northbeam]( Is your marketing team ready for this new era? Northbeam, the industry leader in marketing attribution, put together[this free 2024 Marketing Preview]( to help you prepare for profit this year. Q1 2024 is a make or break moment for marketers, and a lot of us have a few questions, like: - Will 2024’s economic headwinds affect consumer spending or not? - Will generative AI deliver actual efficiency, or just hype? - Will customer acquisition costs continue to perilously rise? Those and other critical queries were researched, compiled, and answered in Northbeam’s free 2024 Marketing Preview. Download it for free right now, and set yourself up for success. [Get The 2024 Marketing Preview]( Or, [reach out to Northbeam and discover how first-party attribution]( can transform your marketing team into a lean, mean, profit driving machine. Q1 LNY TIPS 🐲 5 Ways to Create a Stellar Lunar New Year Campaign Don’t miss out on key holidays like the Lunar New Year (Feb 10th) when creating your Q1 marketing calendar. More than 1.5 billion people in the world celebrate this holiday, so why not capitalize on this time that’s centered heavily around gift giving. If you have a huge customer base that celebrates the holiday, or want to widen your reach, this is a prime opportunity to see a lift in sales. 📈 Here are some tips and tricks to put together a culturally appropriate Lunar New Year campaign that helps increase your AOV and turn first-time customers into repeat buyers. 1. Use a positive color like red Just like how red and pink are colors often associated with Valentine’s Day, the color red is strongly associated with the Lunar New Year since it symbolizes good fortune and joy. [Clinique red limited edition LNY Product] [Clinique’s red limited edition LNY Product] Brands can use this color as a way to connect with consumers who celebrate Lunar New Year by using it in their product packaging, product photography or through their ad creatives. (Also doesn’t hurt that red is a powerful color and easily recognizable.) 2. Incorporate the zodiac animal into your product or messaging. For 2024, the Year of the Dragon symbolizes strength, good fortune, and success which makes it a great fit for many product categories, especially health and wellness. 🐉 Be creative with how you use this figure in your packaging and your limited edition product offerings. The luxury leather goods brand Delvaux incorporates this zodiac animal into their unique [limited edition Nano Lunar New Year bag](. [Delvaux Cool Box Nano LNY bag] [Delvaux Cool Box Nano LNY bag] 3. Drive return customers with red envelopes Red envelopes are customarily exchanged during the Lunar New Year and are commonly stuffed with cash and well wishes printed on the front. 🧧 For retailers, gift your shoppers with a red envelope once they reach a minimum spend to help increase your AOV and encourage return shoppers. 💰 Beauty retailers like Sephora have gifted customers in the past with red envelopes containing $8 off vouchers. [Sephora’s red envelope for LNY campaign] [Example of a Sephora’s red envelope for LNY campaign] 4. Numerology is important when setting your prices This might seem like a small detail, but numbers are important in Chinese culture, so avoid using the number four in your campaign (which sounds similar to the word for ‘death’ 😨). When determining your selling price, stick with lucky numbers like 2, 3, 6, and 8. 8 sounds similar to the word fortune and is an attractive number to use when you are setting your price for your product or bundles. [Tower 28 Beauty] [Tower 28 Beauty’s pricing pays close attention to numerology and uses only lucky numbers] 5. Make sure your campaign shows cultural appreciation and not cultural appropriation Spanish luxury brand [Loewe]( did an excellent job this year of creating a very thoughtful LNY campaign. 👏👏👏 Rather than resting too heavily on the color red and a dragon design, they took it one step further, and worked with Chinese jade carvers to come up with new designs specifically for LNY. [Loewe’s LNY jade pendants] [One of Loewe’s LNY jade pendants features an emerald-green bok choy which symbolizes wealth and abundance.] They also released a [behind-the-scenes video]( about how these master jade carvers created these unique pieces. Consider these Lunar New Year campaign tips when you craft your marketing strategy. Colors, numerology, and zodiac signs should be kept top of mind. Be creative to capture customer attention and keep your campaign message focused on bringing in good luck for the New Year. ✨ SPONSOR DTC 📥 Promote your product to 160,000 digital marketing professionals DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. [Talk to our team to learn more](. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE If your goal this year is to be more data-driven, here is a step-by-step on how to get into the right mindset. [Jess Chan] Can't view the image? [Click here]( 👀 BANTER [Paul Musgrave] When you’re trying to lower your screen time but it’s a lost cause. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 🥘Danielle Walsh and Steph Chen from cookware brand [Anyday on the Power of Storytelling]( - [AKNF 369:]( Avoid the Q1 Hangover and 3 Pillars of Success for 2024 - 😎 Nick Shackelford’s CBD brand [BREZes Hits $1 Million in 8 Months]( - 📝[AKNF 367:]( Steal our Google Ads Promo Bible! - 📦 [Unboxing the Supply Chain]( with Ingredient Brothers’ Eran Mizrahi Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](