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Quote of the week: “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy

Well, Leo. I thought to change myself in hopes that my #blog can change the word. I like this quote – It’s Michael-Jackson-Man-in-the-Mirror-y, the exact type of motivation I needed after my last post about #changes.

New format for my posts – seeking any and all feedback! I plan on sharing at the beginning of each week something brief. It will feature a short recap of a few things I learned and a quote of the week.

Cookie-Bombing

There is a phrase in the world of advertising called “Cookie bombing” that refers to a scam Agencies use to boost the numbers on their paid ads – either on websites or social media. With a name like “Cookie Bombing,” I needed to dig deeper. From what I understand after reading [this article] by Digiday, a marketing industry newsletter an example of cookie bombing would be this:

Imagine you are scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, etc. and you see this [image] with the caption “Just Chew It” – this imaginary world is one where Nike sold cookies – this ad just showed you the most beautiful cookie you have ever seen. You drop your phone, walk 500 ft to the other side of your tile-floored 1-bedroom apartment, onto your patio overlooking all of Manhattan (reminder, imaginary). You take a deep breath, the thought of biting into that cookie…sensational. You decide life as you know it cannot continue until you get that cookie for yourself. Head back inside, lightheaded, open your rose-gold macbook surf your way onto the tidal-wave that is Nike’s Cookie page and BOOM a dinky ad featuring a stale-looking cookie half-eaten on the floor in low-resolution fills your browser. Before the ad is done loading you have exited out and are finally able to order the cookie…1-hour delivery (imaginary) and you are satisfied.

As a result of cookie-bombing – the creative genius in-house at Nike that made the ad that brought you to your knees is not going to get any credit for it because the Agency in charge of some of Nike’s cookie ads made the one dinky ad that pops up right before you purchase – and gets all the credit for attribution.

This sentence from Digiday’s piece sums up the problem nicely – “Marketers are losing out because they’re spending all this money that is being pushed into non-viewable ads, not aesthetically pleasing ads or ads that don’t drive brand recall, even ads that aren’t being seen — they’re just shoved in there using cookie bombing to get that last-touch attribution. It’s a waste of marketers’ ad spend.”

And that’s “cookie-bombing” – not nearly as exciting and delicious as you would expect. What a shame.

source: https://digiday.com/marketing/brands-turn-blind-eye-confessions-former-agency-exec-attribution-scamming/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=daily&utm_content=190208

The Godfather of Caffeine

In case you didn’t see the google doodle on Friday – it was celebrating the birthday of 19th century scientist Dr. Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge “The Godfather of Caffeine.” If you couldn’t tell from any of his 3 names – he was German. Several parts of his story were fascinating so let’s start with coffee. After taking his discovery of the poisonous effects of “atropine” to his professor (the legendary Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) Goethe suggested Runge begin studying the chemical properties of coffee beans and discovered caffeine. If that weren’t enough for him to enter the pantheon of scienticians like Einstein or Galileo – he went on to also discover “the first effective antimalarial compound.” Good on you, Friedlieb!

To me, the most amazing part of Runge’s story is this – while he was studying the effects of atropine fellow students knew him as “Dr Gift” – the German word for poison.” How many people have nicknames as amazing as Dr. Poison – that ALSO translate to an almost equally cool nickname in another language like “Dr. Gift”? Outstanding, truly.

source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2193138-friedlieb-ferdinand-runge-the-godfather-of-caffeine/