The Things in Marketing, Tech, and Data We Noticed

February 2021 Edition

At [B]RIGHT, we illuminate data-informed digital solutions to help your brand succeed in an increasingly complex marketing landscape. Which means we help brands grow based on data, and research, and a hefty dose of proven processes, tactics, and channel-specific strategies.

We take the guesswork out of your marketing strategy.




As the time passes more slowly than a newborn turtle’s beach crawl to the safe harbor of the ocean or faster than a binge-session of Bridgerton (so I hear), our pandemic-plagued existence continues to give us blessings and strife.

Enough philosophizing, let's get down to brass tax with this month's important happenings in marketing, tech, data and all things digital.

iOS 14’s Impact on Marketing

Apple says privacy is a fundamental human right and at the core of everything they do. That’s why with iOS 14, they’re giving you more control over the data you share and more transparency into how it’s used.

From a marketing standpoint, the major news is iOS 14’s privacy updates and what it means for a brand’s (read: marketer’s) opportunity to harness third-party data. From our POV, we love it. Not a lot of marketers would be seemingly delighted with less data to use for targeting and segmentation and activation, but by golly, we’re 100% for it. User privacy (which is one of our identified drivers of change in this marketplace) is an incredibly important aspect of our online lives, and we need to support and laud any time tech companies, which are usually morals- and ethics-averse, do something that helps the end user.

Updated features:

  • Receive a prompt when an app wants to track you across apps or websites owned by other companies for advertising, or wants to share your information with data brokers.
  • Share only your approximate location rather than your exact location
  • Privacy practices of every app in the app store is easily viewable before you download it
  • Recording indicator activates anytime an app is using the phone camera or recorder

For us, we have to work a little harder. But that is such a privileged and minor inconvenience that it’s just a blip on the radar. More of this.

Microsoft Saves Democracy

"The Defending Democracy Program will explore technological solutions to preserve and protect electoral processes; and defend against disinformation campaigns."

-Microsoft

Not to be outdone, look at what good old tech dinosaur Microsoft mandated this month. They’re saving democracy. This is good. This is big. And (I apologize if I sound a bit jaded) after all, these tech conglomerates are all at once the catalyst, enabler, and beneficiary of the disrupted state of our union. On the [b]right side … if you want to affect meaningful change in this country, the buck literally stops when the buck stops. So there’s that.

Features of the program:

  • Preventing the hacking of political campaigns
  • Additional steps to support electoral integrity in Europe
  • Protecting elections by using secure verifiable voting
  • Jan Neutze: Defending Canadian democracy from cyber

We Demo Social Media’s Newest Darling App: Clubhouse

What’s the deal with Clubhouse?

There’s always a next. The shiny new thing we pursue. The one thing all early adopters feel smug about having beta access to before the lowly peasants in the rest of the social sphere do. Well, rejoice, peasants. I am here to (smugly) tell you what Clubhouse is, why it’s (maybe not) important to your brand (at least right now), and who is using it.

I, as one of the chosen, received a much-coveted invite (after many weeks of groveling, pleading, and begging to the social media teknogods). Finally, I was deemed worthy. And after spending a few minutes (at least 24 or so) auditing the app experience, popping into audio chat rooms about digital media marketing, mindfulness, women entrepreneur tips, and more.

I can hereby declare that Clubhouse isn’t so much a social app as it is another space for you to Zoom with your camera off.

Clubhouse

"I feel that this app isn’t the app we need right now, but rather the app we deserve."

More meetings, but the kicker here is that you can CHOOSE the meetings you join. Again, I apologize for my tone (that’s a $5 fine because I get the show), but I feel that this app isn’t the app we need right now, but rather the app we deserve.

The UI is a bit Basecamp-ish, but it’s easy to use and figure out. There are subtle design elements that make it easy to pop in and audit chat rooms (without disturbing anyone), and there seems to be a lot of options for content (if you’re in the tech + social + marketing space, that is).

I do like the idea of using an audio-only app. I haven’t been told, lately, that I have a face for radio, but my hope is that eventually people will update this reference and tell me that I have a face for Clubhouse.

There is, however, the fact that this app is highly non-inclusive to a portion of the population, the HoH/deaf people, and this seems to have been a decision made concertedly, which I can’t really align with. Hope that adding captions is part of the roadmap, because if not, it’s probably not going to be a long journey for this particular endeavor.

In conclusion (your honor), we truly hope that you are coping, taking care of yourself, and progressing. Taking everything day by day. We’re constantly checking ourselves and our team to ensure we’re all in a good space.

We hope to see you or talk to you or listen to you or attach ourselves to you in the near future. Let’s make the future [B]RIGHT together.

That was too much, right? I should’ve quit while I was ahead.

Until next time.

Niclas Hulting | Get to know the author

At [B]RIGHT we take the guesswork out of your marketing strategy. So you can run your business with greater clarity and confidence, give us a call.