Meta’s Markup

Would you pay $499 US per month for Meta’s latest Verification for Business service?

This enhanced offering will give you a blue checkmark for your brand’s Facebook and Instagram profiles, plus a suite of new elements and pricier subscription tiers designed to cater to a wider range of business needs. But it’s a big expense – is the investment going to be worth it?

This enhanced service promises to boost your brand’s visibility and credibility online with features like search optimisation (to elevate your profile to the top – or near the top – of search results) and the capability to include multiple links in your Instagram Reels. Additional perks, such as employee impersonation protection and enhanced support aims to safeguard your online presence.

But is this the sort of thing that brands would be willing to pay for, and how transformative could it really be when it comes to engagement strategies and overall brand perception?

Time will tell!

Bonza’s Hard Landing

We were super excited when low-cost air carrier Bonza entered the market, so we were sad to see its demise this month (although news just in is that perhaps the brand can be saved).

Bonza’s failed venture into the Australian airline market does underscore a stark lesson for marketers and brands: merely entering a market with competitive prices isn’t enough. In this article, Bryden Campbell from Brand Rebellion highlights that while Bonza did capture attention with its low fares and punctuality, its inability to deeply connect with customers beyond cost was a critical shortfall. In a sector dominated by established players like Qantas and Virgin Australia, new entrants need to emphasise unique value propositions. Campbell’s insights suggest that understanding and strategically responding to market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive pressures are crucial for any brand aiming to disrupt entrenched industry leaders.

Google Revamp

Google has just streamlined its product structured data documentation, which is a must-read for anyone involved who has an e-commerce site, and / or one with product reviews. Product structured data is important for online stores and review sites because it helps them show up better in Google searches and when utilised well can have a significant effect on traffic and earnings. Previously crammed into a single lengthy page, the content has now been neatly divided into three distinct sections: an introduction, product snippets, and merchant listings. This reorganisation not only makes the information more digestible but also highlights specific details like markup choices and enhanced product features, which are essential for achieving richer search results.

Need help understanding how to leverage structured data for your website to ensure maximum visibility and engagement in Google’s search engine results? Send Laurence an email and we’ll answer any questions you might have.

Game on!

It’s game on for LinkedIn!

The professional network known for connecting the world’s suit-and-tie set is now adding a playful twist. Spotted in the wild back in March, these new in-stream games have officially hit the platform, promising to cut through the daily grind with a splash of fun. From word puzzles to logic challenges, LinkedIn is rolling out three brain-teasers designed not only to entertain but also to ramp up in-app engagement.

This raises another hot topic of conversation  – if you’re a frequent user of the platform, you may have noticed more and more users posting “non-work” content, or posts with a very tenuous link to work, and it is dividing the LinkedIn community. 

This all comes off the back of a satirical post that went viral last week, where Bryan Shankman posted a photo of him proposing to his girlfriend, telling people what it “taught him about B2B sales”.

It begs the question: what should you post on LinkedIn, and what shouldn’t you post on LinkedIn? Should you ever blur the lines between personal and professional on LinkedIn?  In an age where personal branding is paramount, blending professional and personal content can make the platform more engaging and relatable. But, in our opinion, if you do it, the linkage between work and play needs to be obvious – and clever.  At the end of the day, you want users to continue to want to engage with you on the platform – not unfollow. 

 Let us know what YOU think! 

Freshly Squeezed

Have you seen the latest Apple iPad Pro ad?

Apple has apologised after the new ad struck a sour note with audiences, particularly the creative community. The ad, meant to showcase the ultra-thin and powerful new iPad Pro, depicted cultural and creative icons like pianos, guitars, and cameras being crushed into oblivion, only to be replaced by the new iPad. This visual metaphor, intended to highlight the iPad’s capabilities and thinness, was criticised by figures like Hugh Grant on X as symbolising Big Tech’s destructive impact on culture. Despite the ad’s backlash, it’s ranking in millions of views online.

We can see both sides to this really – it’s visually impactful and it’s clear what they were attempting to achieve with this. However, it also seems to symbolise a troubling message about technology’s role in overshadowing traditional creative tools and artistry. And as marketers, brands need to balance innovation with respect for the cultural elements that inspire and enrich their audiences’ lives – especially when many of those will be creatives who use the iPad for their artistic work. Whoops!

Keen To Dive In?

If you love what we’ve shared above and want to be kept in the loop with our weekly email, The Brief, you can sign up here. We’ll only send you things we love and think you’ll find useful, and you can unsubscribe at any time. And if you need some help exploring any of the above within your own marketing strategy, or you need a rebrand, a custom website built from scratch, Google or social ads, print materials, blog posts – or the whole lot – we’d love to chat. Drop us a line here.