Finals, Here We Come

Like the weekend, TFC is coming in hot. On Wednesday night, they beat the Montreal Impact 3-2 in regulation time, then threw some salt on the wound and scored 2 more in overtime. Now onto the finals. Let's go TFC!

This week, outside of sports, there was a big data announcement coming out of a big agency, we do a quick recap of the big shopping weekend last week, and we wrap up with a preview of the next newsletter and a #FBF. Missed last week?

Big Agency is Watching You

As you probably know, your online browsing is tracked (hello, cookies). Cue Spotify to use this information to create some clever outdoor ad campaigns.

You know who else is gathering your data? GroupM.

What do you mean?

It's called mPlatform, and GroupM (the world's largest buyer of advertising) is using it to bring together digital and data analytics services for mobile, social, search and programmatic advertising.

Why the big fuss?

It's all about integration. By connecting all of these data sources, it allows agency staff a holistic view of all WPP data sources. They will be able to access the new tech platform, media planning tools and reporting dashboard, which encompasses data on 1.5 billion to 2 billion consumers. As they put it on the WPP site:

The platform will improve advertisers’ ability to use audience-defining insights from hundreds of data sources to find and communicate with their consumers across all media.

Want to know more? Check out AdAge, Business Insider, and Marketing.

Sorry, Not Sorry

Sorry: a commonly used word here in Canada. Canadians are known for being polite, so it came to no surprise to our friends south of the border that Black Friday was no exception. In the States, Black Friday has the rep of being hectic, but Canadians like to do mega-savings a little differently. Sorry, much differently.

You know who isn't sorry about Black Friday? Patagonia. Or One Percent For The Planet. Patagonia promised to donate 100% of their Black Friday revenue to the environmental organization. So kind. How much did that donation end up being? 10 Million dollars. 5 times more than they expected.

Did you score big on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Well according to reports from Adobe, a lot of people did. Here are the spend stats from Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Black Friday (& Thanksgiving Day):

• Black Friday set a new record by surpassing the three-billion-dollar mark for the first time at $3.34 billion
• Black Friday became the first day in retail history to drive over one billion dollars in mobile revenue at $1.2 billion, a 33 percent growth YoY.
• Mobile performance: Conversions improved over holiday averages, with smartphones at 2.4 percent, tablets at 4.6 percent and desktops at 5.5 percent
• Top promotion drivers: Retailers saw an increase in sales coming through Shopper Helper Sites like RetailMeNot and CNET (16.5 percent share of sales), email (17.8 percent), display (1.2 percent) and social (0.9 percent).
• Looking for details around popular products, toys, and discounts? Here is the full read.

Cyber Monday

• Congrats Cyber Monday, you are the largest online sales day in history With $3.39 Billion (a 10.2% increase YoY).
• Mobile performance: Conversions were higher over holiday averages, with smartphones at 1.9 percent, tablets at 3.7 percent and desktops at 4.3 percent (compared to holiday averages of 1.3, 2.9 and 3.2 percent, respectively).
• Top promotion drivers: Search ads (35.5 percent of sales) and direct sales (23.8 percent of sales) drove the majority of sales on Cyber Monday, but both are down compared to the holiday average (40 percent and 28 percent, respectively).
• Thanksgiving weekend mobile performance: Mobile accounted for 56 percent of visits (smartphones: 45 percent; tablets: 11 percent) and 37 percent of sales (smartphones: 25 percent; tablets: 12 percent) and totaled $3.46 billion in sales.
• Want more details around discounts, social buzz, and Thanksgiving weekend performance? Here is the full read.

2016 Best in Class

Who doesn't love chocolate? Wasn't that cute? Well, according to AdWeek, that ad was one of the most viral ads in 2016? Check out the other 19 on the list. Next week, we want to feature SMM's best in class. Have something you want to share? Send it in.

#FBF

Flashback Friday. Last week, if you didn't scroll past the Mannequin Challenge video and missed the answer from the interns last week, no worries, it's back again. You're Welcome.

Ask The Interns

Recap: Always Prepared Annie asked how to start account planning for digital in 2017. Of course, the interns have goods.

Annie, we love that you are getting geared up for 2017! Of course we have some best practices when it comes to account planning. Follow these 8 steps and you will have created a killer, informative, and impactful proposal to take out to your identified key clients.

1. Objectives

What are your client's objectives? What are their needs? It is important to understand what they want, so you can provide insights and produce solutions that align with their business needs.

2. Key Contacts

This is critical. You need to make sure you have the right people at the table when solutions are being proposed and decisions are being made.

3. USP - Unique Selling Proposition

What is great about their product or service? This could be key to figuring out what solution will work for them and what messaging they should be taking to market.

4. Competitors

Who else is going after their business? What are they doing to get business? Are they doing it better? Who are the leaders in the market? All of these questions and more are important so you are able to understand where they play and how they can stand out.

5. Customer/Target Audience

Did I say contacts were critical? Well this is super critical. You need to know who they are going after before you can create a well-rounded, balanced, proposal suggesting where they should be spending their money.

6. History (2015 & 2016)

Take a look at their spending and trends this year and the year before. This information will show you where they should keep spending, and where they should start spending.

7. Proposal (2017)

So, now that you have gathered information for 1-6, build a solution. Remember, you have a big extended team to help you out, and make sure your proposal is comprehensive, impactful, and a winner.

8. Next Steps & Timelines

Now that you have a solution, what are you going to do about it? Having next steps and timelines planned in advance creates efficiencies and ensures you know where to focus your efforts for 2017. Who doesn't love getting organized?

Now that was a lot of information! Are you a visual learner? Well, here you go.

ps. Content suggestions/feedback/questions go here.