Snack Dilemmas, AI Quirks & eCommerce Investment

Welcome to Crew's monthly round-up of news, marketing and CPG topics you might have missed.

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?? -?Be The Light. That was the campaign theme we created with Trinity Western University. You can see the whole concept come to life in this heart-warming video. We're super proud.

?? - Amazon is Increasingly partnering with social platforms.?In what must feel like a blow to small retailers, both Meta and Snapchat will now let users link their Amazon accounts to these apps for easier purchasing. The move is a new strategy for Amazon, who is paying attention to TikTok, and it's increasing relevancy.

?? -?Would you give up your favorite snack brand to save money? According to the consumer insights company Suzy, only 25% of snack lovers would be willing to try new brands as a way to cope with rising prices. A further 23% of people are so loyal they wouldn't switch, even if it meant spending extra.

??? - A Black Friday sales pricing tip. Wondering if you should choose a fixed value, or percentage for your sale? Our tip is to lead with the largest number:If 25% off equals $10, go with 25% over $10.But if 25% off equals $50, go with $50 over 25%.

?? - Consumer product e-commerce investment down in 2023.?According to data from Crunchbase, the crossroads between e-commerce and consumer products didn't draw as much investment this year as compared to past years. While $130 million was invested in consumer DTC in 2023 (and yes that's still a big number), it's a huge drop from 2021 when more than $5 billion was committed.

?? - So where did the capital flow? Well, at least in the Food & Beverage space it went into things that were healthy, convenient, fermented, and highly-caffeinated.

?? - Uh oh. Our predication came true. Last month, we shared how ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak, and quipped that "We'll worry more when a partnership with Boston Dynamics is announced." Well, guess what happened. The video is absolutely worth a quick watch.

?? - Bard is available in 230 countries, with a notable exception. North Macedonia, and Republic of the Congo have no issues exploring Google's artificial intelligence-powered chatbot known as Bard. But Canada continues to be left out. It's believed the AI software is being withheld as a result of the company's continued fight with the federal government over Bill C-18.

?? - And, the 2023 Word of the Year is... "AI" has been named the word of the year by Collins dictionary. The word's popularity has quadrupled over the past year. Even more so in this very newsletter.

?? - Agency Pro Tip: SEO scale (without added value) is no longer a viable strategy. When it comes to SEO, if you’re going to create a site with lots of content, your pages need to do more than just answer a simple question, or provide commodity content. "The best way to think about SEO is that your content strategy needs a reason to exist other than 'SEO’. When you think this way, the benefits of your content creation efforts start to expand into other platforms and channels, such as social, email marketing, and PR." says Brad Marshall, Crew's Director of Demand Generation.