DIGITAL MEDIA DIGEST: MAY‘18
A monthly look at the world of digital from NORTH’s point of view
Google Does Its Part To Stop Predatory Rehabilitation & Addiction Centers
By Devon Brown, Performance Marketing Manager
Opiate and alcohol addiction have become the national public health crises of our time. Over 67,000 people died of opiate addiction last year alone, more than over a decade of war in Vietnam. Another estimated 88,000 died from alcoholism. Surrounding this crisis, a multi-million dollar industry of addiction treatment centers have flourished. And while a good number of these addiction and rehab centers are legitimate, many are not.
Spending tens of millions of dollars on advertising, the inexperienced “pill mills” lure new patients, usually desperate and vulnerable, into their doors. Unaccredited, sketchy, disorganized, or even downright fraudulent, these addiction centers have low success rates; and reports of medical neglect, shaming practices, and even death—while in the care of in-house facilities— has been reported.
Last year, an AdGooroo study estimated about $78 million dollars was spent on Google platforms last year for addiction treatment centers. Alcoholism was the 3rd highest disease by paid search ad spend, second only to heart disease and diabetes, with $21.7MM spent on the top 4 keywords alone. The top 5 drug and rehab center keywords reached spending totals of $15.6MM. The cost-per-click on some of these keywords was as high as $36. As a Verge Article from last September put it, “some pay huge sums of money to show up in the searches of desperate people with the right insurance.”
So, in September of last year, Google suspended all rehab facilities from advertising on any AdWords platform. In their statement, Google stated the decision was made to help protect consumers from deceptive or unfit providers.
Then, a few weeks ago, roughly 6 months since the ban, Google announced a new certification process for addiction treatment centers. They will be partnering with LegitScript, a company that specializes in the vetting, certification and payment solutions for pharmaceuticals and medical providers. The certification will be based on 15 different criteria including: success rates, criminal background checks, compassionate practices, insurance billing practices, and evidence-based care.
John Horton, CEO of LegitScript said in a statement that this vetting is crucial for patients to differentiate between “effective, evidence-based, and compassionate drug and alcohol treatment services, and fraudulent drug and alcohol treatment centers that take advantage of patients’ recovery efforts and insurance billing opportunities.”
This is the same certification process required of advertisers for pharmaceuticals and medical providers. In-person addiction treatment centers, support groups, and crisis hotlines will all be subject to the certification.
There is long way to go to combatting all levels of the crisis, but this is one step in the right direction that will help families and substance abusers who are ready to help themselves. Mad respect to Google for leaving millions of dollars in revenue on the table to do the right thing.
Instagram Becomes Even More Shoppable
By Caroline Desmond, Director of Media Strategy
The next time you open Instagram, you may notice some additional features on the business profile pages of brands you follow. On Tuesday of last week, Instagram announced it would begin allowing Instagram users to take further action on posts that inspire them without ever having to leave Instagram with the addition of action buttons on Instagram business profile pages. This easy access represents a significant opportunity for brands in light of the fact that Instagram reports that “200 million daily active Instagrammers visit a business profile each day.”
Action buttons currently available to business profile pages include: Reserve, Get Tickets, Start Order, or Book. To facilitate the backend functionality, Instagram has already partnered with a number of popular, third-party partners including: Acuity, Atom Tickets, Booksy, ChowNow, Eatstreet, Eventbrite, Fandango, GrubHub, MyTime, OpenTable, Reserve, Restorando, Resy, SevenRooms, StyleSeat, Tock and Yelp Reservations.
TechCrunch reports that in some instances involving payment (e.g., via Atom Tickets), users can even pay for tickets within the app via Instagram’s new native payment feature. Instagram quietly launched this featured earlier this month to allow consumers to register a debit or credit card in their account settings and establish a security pin to enable in-app purchases.
Other companies just open up a browser window within the Instagram app to allow users to complete a purchase. Fandango is already taking advantage of this capability. Last Wednesday, Engadget reported that Instagrammers can procure movie tickets via the “Buy Tickets” button on Fandango’s Instagram profile page. I have already used this feature and can attest to the speed and efficiency of it.
In addition to making it easier for consumers to go from discovery to action, Instagram has also rolled out updates to its direct messaging feature — Instagram Direct — that will help businesses better manage messages from interested Instagram users. Updates include the ability to see direct messages from new consumers in the main inbox (versus the pending folder) and the ability to flag messages for later follow-up. Moreover, in the future, businesses may not even have to type replies to some queries. In its May 8th blog post, Instagram noted it will begin testing “quick replies” to address commonly asked questions “in the coming weeks.”
This latest wave of business-friendly updates promises to accelerate a growing trend in Instagram as a shopping platform. We have long thought of Instagram as a platform through which consumers can discover and be inspired to buy. Despite initial backlash by users to brands on the platform, Instagram now reports that 80% of its users follow a business account. Since Instagram launched shoppable posts in the US last March, Instagram has reported lifts in traffic to brand pages by as much as 44% as well as lifts in purchase volume directly attributable to Instagram.
As more retail and service oriented brands can demonstrate measurable ROI, it’s possible Instagram may one day expand these new action-oriented features to other brand categories — like Consumer Packaged Goods. Imagine, for example, if Instagram continues to expand its partnerships to include online grocery delivery (e.g., Instacart). Then users could tap to order all the ingredients in an amazing food gram to be delivered direct to their door. Time will tell.
Marketing Food Allergies
By Izzy Kramer, Media Planner
Nowadays, you can’t throw a stone without hitting someone who keeps to a restrictive “free-from” diet; it has become a matter of identity. In most countries, “free-from” relates specifically to gluten-free products, but in the United States free-from has become anything that is free of the eight main allergens: wheat, dairy, tree nuts, soy, shellfish, eggs, fish, and peanuts. This is due to heightened consumer awareness and interest in removing allergens from their diet. It seems that, of the population of free-from dieters, there are two groups:
Group one: those who have restrictive diets due to a legitimate, diagnosed food allergy. “15 million Americans face food allergies” which is up from 12 million Americans in 2010 and roughly 5% of the entire US population. And these are just those diagnosed.
Group two: those opting into the healthful trendiness of free-from diets. According to a 2017 Food Allergy and Intolerance report published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., “non-allergic food sensitivity, also known as food intolerance, is on the raise and is defined as difficulty in digesting specific foods unlike the adverse immunologic reaction seen in allergies.”
Despite the reason why people are choosing free-from diets, a majority of consumers purposefully seek out and remain loyal to brands who meet their demands of making food that tastes good and that lend to their allergy needs. Sure, dieting and diet crazes are nothing new. They come and go, decade after decade, and are always replaced. The trendiness of free-from diets is like every other diet we’ve seen before. However, the root of it, following those legitimately allergic to certain foods, is what makes free-from dieting different. This creates a lucrative and niche selling and targeting opportunity for brands.
First, the selling opportunity. The global market for Food Allergy and Intolerance Products is projected to exceed $24.8 billion by 2020.
The continued increase is driven by numerous factors including the rise in food hypersensitivity and allergies as mentioned before, but also the rise in incidences of Celiac and Crohn’s disease, the increasing number of diabetics, sensitivity to food additives, increased use of sulphur dioxide and sulphites as preservatives, the popularity of healthful lifestyles, the increased access to free-from foods both in grocery stores and restaurants, celebrity endorsements of free-from diets, and the labeling and packaging of food.
Unfortunately, when it comes to diseases those aren’t going away anytime soon, and brands can help in providing products that address food sensitivities. But, it is this last factor I want to focus on because food labeling and packaging is where the rubber meets the road.
Labeling and packaging of food is the last point of marketing before a product is purchased. The majority of purchasing decisions are made at point of sale.
According to Mintel’s 2017 Food Packaging Trends report, since 2011 the percentage of food packaging with claims of “low/no/reduced allergen” has tripled to 32%. The same goes for gluten-free messaging on food packaging up to 30% since 2011.
Bill Roberts, Senior Analyst of Food & Drink at Mintel, states in a 2017 Free-From Food Trends report, “almost three quarters of consumers (73%) seek specific free-from claims in their food purchase, yet the reason behind those choices range from allergy diagnosis to overall wellness to, in some cases, an interest in a specific diet.”
Brands have noticed this audience’s attention to detail and have taken action by slapping various allergen-free labels on products. Allergens have become buzz words used to attract a growing and substantial consumer base restricted to buying certain products. At times, it can come off as disingenuous, especially for brands who have jumped on the free-from bandwagon. However, if it is done correctly, meaning there isn’t an influx or ingenuity to free-from information on packaging, it can be the sole reason someone picks one allergen-free brand over the other.
Which brings me to the second opportunity: targeting. Brands can go even further by taking the time to understand the differences between the two groups in this consumer audience. By understanding the reasoning for sticking to a free-from diet, brands can distinguish between someone free-from dieting for a health reason or someone attracted by the trend. In doing so, brands can better gauge the long-term business opportunity of producing product specifically designed for special diets. (Someone who is just going along with the trend is more likely to break out of that trend. They are more able to do so because eating that slice of pizza won’t send them spiraling into abdominal pain.)
This comes down to analyzing consumer behaviors and past purchases, something now possible via mobile location data and store loyalty card data. For example, store loyalty card purchase records might show how long a consumer has been purchasing free-from products and what type of free-from products a consumer buys. Someone who buys gluten-free pasta may be a very different consumer than someone buying almond milk. Mobile location data might show whether a consumer frequents restaurants catering to particular free-from diets.
In short, understanding how genuine the free-from consumer is, is just as important as the consumer keeping an eye out for how genuine a free-from food company is.
