Acadia

This week, with help from our partners at Acadia, followers on our consumer social media platforms were encouraged to show their support of The ALS Association by participating in the 10th anniversary of the #IceBucketChallenge. Join our mascot, Red Rufus, and Red Roof’s Room In Your Heart℠ in demonstrating your support by posting your own Ice Bucket Challenge video to help raise awareness, or donating at: https://lnkd.in/gMUGjyTV Together, we can make a difference. #RedRoof #RoomInYourHeart #IceBucket10  

“Don’t rush the process.” - Tyler Dixon Differentiating your brand and building brand equity on Amazon is more important than ever.  For many brands that can call for evaluating your selling model on the marketplace whether it’s 1P, 3P or 2P. This week on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, I’m joined by Tyler Dixon, E-commerce Manager at the brand Reduce, to discuss a journey a number of brands consider and embark on: the transition from a reseller model on Amazon to owning their presence directly.  A reseller model on Amazon can be attractive for many reasons including reduced operational burden, tapping into marketplace expertise, and a perception of risk mitigation.  That said, many brands recognize limitations to the model as well: 🔸 Loss of control, including over product assortment 🔸 Operational risks 🔸 Lack of data Once the decision is made to move to a 3P model, brands have to follow a detailed playbook to ensure a smooth and successful transition.  Tyler and I discuss how he approached the decision to move to direct ownership of Reduce’s Amazon channel and how he engendered buy-in from his team and decision makers. Listen by searching for “ecommerce braintrust” in your favorite podcast app, or streaming via the link in the comments. 

So, what just happened? Google was found guilty of using its dominant market position to stifle competition by securing exclusive agreements with major device manufacturers and browser developers, ensuring its search engine remained the default choice for users. By spending billions on these contracts with companies like Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla, Google effectively shut out competitors and maintained its monopoly. The court ruled that this behavior violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, restricting consumer choice and innovation in the search market. This ruling is significant. It marks the first major antitrust decision against a tech giant in the internet era. The US government's renewed focus on regulating big tech could lead to substantial industry changes. For us, this means potential shifts in ad prices and strategies. Google may also need to improve its search quality, which has waned in recent years. Additionally, there’s an opportunity for new players like Apple and OpenAI to enter the search engine market. The court will decide the penalties and changes Google must make, but an appeal is likely. This ongoing case could reshape the online advertising world and open new opportunities for competitors. Google will appeal the decision. As marketers and SEOs, we must stay vigilant. Adaptability is our strength. Change is inevitable, but our resilience and ingenuity will guide us through. The sun will rise again tomorrow. Whatever happens, there will likely be fragmentation ahead. The decision is significant, but implementing meaningful changes will be a complex challenge that may take years to materialize. Consider the impact of AT&T's breakup, illustrated by the "Baby Bells" that emerged. Increased competition led to lower prices, innovation, and technological advancements. The same could happen here. Google’s monopoly may be challenged, paving the way for a more diverse and competitive market. For a generation that never knew a world without Google, it's hard to imagine what shape this could take: fragmentation, competition, contraction, expansion, reabsorption. If Google no longer existed, our work would continue. We would still be focused on creating solid user experiences and practicing organic, effective marketing strategies. Our goal remains the same: to connect buyers with sellers and companies with customers. Let's stay focused, continue to innovate, and remember that every challenge is an opportunity in disguise.

Say it with me: Budget changes are not always about us. When I was an employee at Coke, I never understood why I had a budget of $10MM on Fanta at one moment and then I would wake up and have $7M. When I was coming up the agency ranks, I would get upset and take it very personally when a client would come around in the September time period cutting budgets and telling me they had "money swept back to help plug EBITDA gaps." I took both personally. It always felt personal. Budget loss meant personal failure. But, I realized slowly what you can see in this new survey from e-marketer, which is that budgets, for the most part, ebb and flow based mostly on financial performance. If you are a cheese marketer, the fluctuation of Dairy prices could be what dramatically change marketing budget, far more than your incredible (or not incredible) work on Search, Social, Creative (or whatever). I have been guided by mentors who have helped me to realize 3 things: a) It is never "my budget" in the first place. Money is fluid. b) As proud as you can be about the work you are doing and its importance, there is always some sort of business driver that is even stronger than marketing. c) Dont equate your worth with budget. Some of the best moments in my career where doing less with more to help a client. Once had a CMO come to our team saying...we have to hit the same goals with 30% budget, can you help us? The marketing industrial complex is tuned to equate budget/spend with greatness. The complex is also trained to equate budget with self-worth. Neither are true. As the chart reminds us below, there is always a lot going on and we need to always see the context. Note to self, remember to re-read this post on hard days:)

In this industry, middle management is where value is destroyed or created... Are you spending enough time focused there? Most are not. Times in my past, I was not. Doing a bit better with it now. Think about the rough math. CEO’s manage eight or so people.  Those eight people each may manage another X people (or whatever) more. Those X people are shaping the front line people your clients & customers speak too.  The odd thing in most industries (mine included) is that most of the focus and investment is against "executive training" which includes all matters of private coaching, presentation training, financial training and whatever else. At most companies, middle management is left to fend for itself, and figure it out. Which is hard. Managing people is about as natural as Waterskiing. Which is to say, it's not. Lean back...and let the boat pull you up...huh? I dont have the answer, and as you know, I dont use LKDN as a "performance-bro-know-it-all-BS-advice-column"....but I will share a few things that I have tried or have seen others do in this area: 1. For a fraction of what you pay for executive coaching, there are a number of experts I have used who do group sessions for emerging leaders at costs that are reasonable. I have one I love. DM me if you want to be connected. 2. Take your incredible executive team, and create some content and a curriculum. It wont be perfect, but it will be good and appreciated. We did The Acadia Leadership Series for our emerging leaders this year. I am proud of how it went for a first time series. It was great to talk to this skip level of next gen leaders. I believe and hope they felt cared for. 3. I have seen some C-suiters take on "Reverse Mentors" or adopt some folks at different early stages of management. I saw a CEO take on as a "reverse mentor" an emerging "Director of Performance" at their company. This helped the CMO stay in touch with the ground (the real), and helped the Director learn from the CMO. 4. Books - You want to see someone light up? Go by them Good to Great or The Hard Thing About Hard Things or The Trusted Advisor, and write a note on the cover and give it to an emerging manager. Shows you care and gives instruction all for under $20. 5. Don't "assign this to HR". This is YOUR thing to figure out. HR can help you. Be a team with your HR and people ops experts. But, let me finish where I started. None of us spend enough time trying to help emerging managers reach their greatest potential. But, unlike a lot of intractable or expensive problems, the 5 ideas above are pretty available and cost effective. Just sayin'

We are looking for a Retail Account Manager, experienced with Amazon Seller or Vendor Central #amazon #brandmanagement #clientrelationshipmanagement

2024 Prime Day is in the books! It was another year of client wins, testing, learning, communication, collaboration, and patience. We had over 100 Acadia retail experts working around the clock and around the globe to make sure this #PrimeDay was the best our clients could have. It was not without its challenges - platform outages, Sponsored Brand campaign anomalies, increased CPCs and of course, ramped up competition across categories. Our team has poured over the data in the last 48 hours to find the most important trends and results and drafted a comprehensive recap of #PrimeDay2024. Highlights in this recap include: 🔸Fewer coupons, more PEDs 🔸More orders, lower value 🔸For non-participating brands, a boost On a personal note, I cannot say enough about the team I get to work with each and every day. Prime Day might last only two days but the work that goes into preparing for and executing spans months. The level of commitment, collaboration, grit, good humor and truly, excellence, I saw from our team at Acadia was inspiring and I count myself as an incredibly lucky person for being able to work with this group of people. You can read our full Prime Day 2024 recap by following the link in the comments. Jordan Ripley Emily Ostrander Ross Walker Emily Peterson Gary Hammerschlag Armin A. Ken Beemer Olivera Bojovic

We are often only as awesome as our backdrop allows... ....and we are often not as crappy as we think we are when the backdrop is working against us. Hard to debate that President's Lincoln and Roosevelt were both very good at their jobs. They died as legends. Would they be so remembered if not for the backdrop of Civil War and WW2? The Miracle on Ice 1980 USA Olympics team was incredible. No question. They are legendary because they beat The Soviet Union at a peak Cold War moment. The backdrop was epic, movie worthy even:) There have been times where I have been a great CEO. There are times where I have been a so-so CEO. In truth, what often differed was the background of each moment. I was once CEO during a moment of economic deceleration, and there were many moments that I felt like I was lifting a boulder up a hill (anyone reading this feel like that right now for any number of reasons?), and could not make a single good choice. Which was the "real" truth? Is the CEO of a solar energy company brilliant during an oil shortage? Is the CEO of a luxury watch maker an idiot during a financial crisis? Is the CEO of a furniture company that was brilliant during covid (everyone bought couches) now less smart because sales are down now? Which is true? As I get a bit older, I am learning how to slow down a bit more before saying black and white things like "X is such a great/bad leader" or "Y is such a great/bad company" or "X is so great/bad at their job." I am working harder to try and separate fundamentals from macro, and working really hard to avoid hyperbole. I still fail ALL THE TIME (see what I did there:)? I am working to understand if someone just has an unfair assignment, or bad boss or drew a short straw. I am working hard to understand on the other side if someone is just drafting off good luck. My point is, I am working harder to inspect the BACKDROP.

This week on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast I’m joined by Acadia Retail Operations Manager Tamara Vukovic to discuss the update to fees we saw earlier this year on Amazon.  In previous episodes we’ve discussed each of the fees, what they mean for brands and what to expect with their rollout.  This week, Tamra and I dig into how they’ve played out for brands. We discuss the way Amazon’s fee update practices have always followed a bit of a ‘carrot and stick’ approach and this latest round is showing some clear carrots for brands who have strong, optimized operational practices.  Case in point?  The introduction of new sizing tiers for products. The implementation of granular size tiers and the adjustments in FBA fulfillment fees are designed to help sellers optimize their shipping and handling costs, ultimately benefiting those with efficient inventory and shipping practices. Tamara is an operational whiz on Amazon and has clear perspective on how the dust has settled with the 2024 fee updates.  Listen to her take by searching for “ecommerce braintrust” in your favorite podcast app, or streaming via the link in the comments. 

Are Sponsored Brand ads a key part of your #PrimeDay strategy this year? If so, I'm curious how it's playing out. We're seeing a number of anomalies across SB ads from product images with no product titles at all to deal badging covering the product title itself. It looks like it's time to pivot to more emphasis on Sponsored Products and also time to ensure your primary image offers a clear view of your product title. Juan Munoz Dominguez Emily Ostrander Dusan Tepavac Carlos Sastre Garulo Ross Walker