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- Your ATTN Please || Wednesday, 2 July
Your ATTN Please || Wednesday, 2 July
ROAS. CPA. CPC. CPM.
Marketers love a clean metric. One that’s easy to calculate. Easy to report. Easy to believe. But here’s the problem: just because a metric is clean doesn’t mean it’s telling you the truth. Hello incrementality, the unsexy, under-measured, but incredibly important thing every marketer should be thinking about (but maybe isn’t…yet…).
-Sophie Randell, Writer
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?
Not your average “online” event 👀
Join us for this immersive event designed for anyone who wants to understand how AI is reshaping the future.
TechTALK is a 2-day virtual summit hosted entirely in the metaverse. Think SIMS meets TED talks, but way more interactive and way less buzzword-y.
Over 2 days, you’ll get:
✔️50+ talks on the latest in tech innovation
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Plus, you’ll hear from 2 of our own:
👉 Stanley Henry is speaking about how AI is transforming creative industries
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And yep, marketers, this is for you. Because if you touch audience behaviour, brand strategy, or anything digital? What’s happening in tech is definitely your business.
15-16 July | All online | $99 USD
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?
Cannes Lions award revoked for AI use, NASA X Netflix collab & IG content becomes Google-able
Cannes Lions award taken away because winning ad used AI.
As enthralled as the world is with AI-generated content right now, it hasn't come without its ethical concerns. Just ask Consul, who lost their Cannes Lions award after it was discovered they used generative AI in their entry without disclosing its use. And because the jury wasn't aware this was AI content, they weren't able to judge the creative accurately.
According to a statement from Cannes Lions, “Cannes Lions exists to celebrate creativity that is real, representative and responsible.” Apparently, AI-generated content does not fall into that category, at least not yet. Following this decision, the awards entity introduced new guidelines around use of AI in entries. These include "a code of conduct, transparency standards and the use of AI-detection tools for future competitions."
NASA's coming to Netflix.
Unless you're a space nerd (no shade!), you probably didn't know NASA Plus was a thing. Since late 2023, NASA has been streaming spacewalks and rocket launches for those who are into that kind of content. But soon, they're hoping to piggyback off Netflix's audience by bringing this content to the streaming service where people are already camping out.
It's a reminder that having incredible content isn't enough. It has to be distributed on a channel where your audience can actually see it. So, if you've always wondered what Earth looks like from the International Space Station, soon you'll be able to find out—without having to hunt it down.
Instagram content will now appear in search engine results.
Last week, Meta announced that content from public Instagram profiles will now be automatically indexed for SERPs (search engine results pages). Google already shows YouTube and TikTok content as results to search queries. But up until now, Meta hasn't wanted its content indexed (unless it met certain requirements).
But starting 10 July, content from all public profiles will be automatically indexed unless the user opts out. The good news? This offers a great opportunity for smaller businesses to be discovered on Google via their social content. The bad news? For it to be helpful, you'll need to put your SEO hat on when writing your IG captions now.
- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡
DEEP DIVE
What is incrementality and why does it matter?
Would this result have happened if we didn’t spend the money?
ROAS might tell you what you got. But incrementality tells you what you caused. And there’s a very real difference between the two.
Wait, but what’s wrong with ROAS?
Let’s say you run a paid ad and get a bunch of conversions. You calculate your return on ad spend and think, "hell yeah, we crushed that". But did you really? Maybe some of those customers were already coming to you. Maybe some would’ve converted organically. Maybe the ad simply intercepted a decision that had already been made.
That’s the dirty little secret behind clean metrics: they can’t tell you what would’ve happened if you did nothing.
Incrementality asks a question that really matters. It’s about causality, not correlation.
It asks, "If we hadn’t spent this money, would the result still have happened?" It’s like the grown-up version of performance marketing. But it’s also… really hard. And that’s probably why more marketers don’t measure it.
A performance agency Ad Week spoke to said that less than 1% of their brand clients had proper incrementality testing in place. That means most marketers are flying blind, and over-attributing wins to paid efforts.
The cost of this? Misallocated budgets of 10–30%. That’s not just waste. That’s missed opportunity.
This is easy enough for me to talk about on paper, but what does measuring incrementality actually look like IRL?
It starts with:
Media mix modelling (if you’re fancy or flush with data)
A/B testing regions or audiences (exposed vs. control groups)
Time-based pauses (turn spend off and watch what happens to sales)
Geo-holdout testing (spend in one area, not in another, and compare)
It doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. But it does require discipline and a willingness to admit that some of your “wins” might not have been wins at all. And that’s okay! Because that’s an opportunity to pivot.
Basically, what I’m saying is: make your work to make a difference.
The marketing world is a little obsessed with the word “performance”, but how many actually test whether their performance mattered?
ROAS and CPA make you look good. But incrementality tells you if your marketing is actually doing its job. So next time you pull a report and see the numbers looking slick, ask yourself the hard question: would this have happened without us?
If you don’t know the answer, it’s time to find out.
-Sophie Randell, Writer
TREND PLUG
“My dream date. Cute.”
I’ve been trying to dodge this season of Love Island like the plague.
But then Huda asked a girl how her date went. And she says: “It was just like sitting on the beach…” And Huda, deadpan, goes: “My dream date. Cute.” The way she says it? It’s not thirst. It’s like... emotional damage.
This trend isn’t about romance. It’s about hearing someone casually describe a situation that would’ve rocked you to your core. Creators are using the sound with on-screen text describing something someone else did or said; usually small, specific, and vibe-heavy. Then Huda’s voice drops, and it hits.
Examples include:
How you can jump on this trend:
Use the sound and lipsync the line: "My dream date. Cute". Overlay text that describes a situation someone else experienced but that you secretly crave. Keep it niche. Keep it unserious. Keep it kinda sad.
A few ideas to get you started:
They said "You don’t need to make a deck. Just pitch it how you talk."
My client said "I trust your taste. Just do your thing."
They called me the "funny one" in the brainstorm
- abdel khalil, brand & marketing executive
FOR THE GROUP CHAT
😲WTF: The next generation is so COOKED
✨Daily inspo: a gentle reminder
😊Soooo satisfying: the SOUND
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Caesar Pasta Salad
TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST
Want even more “YAP”ing? Check out the full podcast here.
ASK THE EDITOR
How do you grow a personal brand without feeling like you're constantly selling yourself? And how do you grow a personal brand for a project that does not exist yet? -Elena
Hey Elena!
Instead of thinking of your personal brand as selling yourself, think of it as sharing your experience. Your goal should be to create content people can connect with rather than content that's self-promoting. And if you're wanting to leverage your personal brand for a project in the future, now is the ideal time to start building your brand.
Even if you don't know what this project will be yet, your content can centre around that process of figuring it out. If it's something you're building now, document your journey as you bring it to life. Invite your audience into your process, and, if you get that right, you'll build a following that's invested in your success. So instead of thinking of building your brand as self-promotion, think of the story you're going to tell. Then, create content that gets that message across.
- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡
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