Matt McCain & Jaimee Latorra: Why Performance Marketing Doesn’t Have to Suck | SIC 2024

Performance marketing is the bane of many creative agencies, or so they think. There’s a perception that reliance on data to inform creative strategy leads to milquetoast creative that does little for a brand in the long run. But it doesn’t have to be that way, argue agency Little Hands of Stone founder Michael Boychuk and Matt McCain.

A case in point is their creative work for Rover, the pet-sitting app based in Seattle. The three national ad campaigns the agency has created for Rover have all been honored for their creativity, while also being hewn by performance marketing metrics.

This session will be an engaging exploration with industry pioneers Rover and Little Hands of Stone, as they unveil their secret sauce to turbocharging performance marketing in creativity.

1. WHY PERFORMANCE MARKETING DOESN’T HAVE TO SUCK. (And brand creative doesn’t have to not perform).

2. HERE’S US… Jaimee LaTorra Senior Growth Marketing Manager Rover.com Matt McCain Co-Founder Little Hands of Stone independent creative agency

3. TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS

4. PERFORMANCE MARKETING PRIORITIES Demonstrably positive results. Efficiency and ROI. Hold even upper-funnel to high performance-focused standards. Video should drive new biz AND engagement + brand awareness.

5. CREATIVE PRIORITIES Break from category with unexpected ideas. Connect emotionally. Accomplish biz objectives with human truths. Win trophies and travel to accept them.

6. PERFORMANCE MARKETER’S POV OF CREATIVE PEOPLE: Storytelling + emotional impact over results. Risky ideas that aren’t quantifiable or performant. Won’t compromise “artistic integrity” when data suggests different approach.

7. CREATIVE’S POV ON PERFORMANCE MARKETING “PEOPLE” Risk-intolerant. Ruled by platform’s rules. Won’t compromise “proven tactics” and use words like “performant”. Don’t care about trophies.

8. Drive new bookings on the platform Meet key test & learn objectives  Build brand and category awareness Develop an evocative creative concept that demonstrates Rover’s distinct brand positioning and provides a thematic bridge for a suite of RTB-specific videos that support a set of test-and-learn and brand awareness objectives.” ONE SHARED (HARD) ASSIGNMENT: “ OBJECTIVES:

9. 64% feel guilty leaving pet home alone. 54% say having pet limits ability to make travel plans. CUSTOMER INSIGHT: They hate being away from their pets.

10. CUSTOMER REALITY: They’re a pet we’ve never met with trust issues.

11. *Okay, maybe a tiny bit of worry still. MAIN TAKEAWAY: Connecting with uncompromisingly passionate pet care through Rover frees you to get away without a care in the world.*

12. PERFORMANCE MARKETING RULES AND HOW WE BROKE OR EMBRACED THEM.

13. RULE 1: HAVE CLEAR CAMPAIGN GOALS & MEASURABLE KPI’s Ensure specific performance objectives can be tracked towards a clear goal.

14. EMBRACED Without results, funding would stop. But we we had to create an emotional connection (establish trust) before we could sell RTB’s.

15. Customer Journey Objective Reason to Believe Primary KPIs Awareness Deeply engage pet parents while introducing Rover Personalized Care View rate, brand lift Trust & Safety Consideration Ease & Simplicity Purchase /Conversion Educate on unique benefits of using Rover Click-Thru Rate, Consideration Lift New bookings lift, Cost-per-conversion Demonstrate ease of booking pet care

16. RULE 2: ITERATE ON PROVEN TACTICS Tweak a campaign that’s shown proven success.

17. BROKE Tempting to double-down on previous campaign because of record-breaking performance. But wondered if there was a stronger way to build trust and feature RTB’s.

18. CARE INSTRUCTIONS VS. “TO MY HOOMAN” 30% stronger click-thru rate 13% lift in consideration 18% lower cost per conversion “ ”

19. RULE 3: INTRODUCE BRAND IN FIRST :05 “Introducing your product or brand in the first 5 seconds is positively correlated with all brand metrics”. Ensure your brand identity is prominent and easily recognizable to build brand awareness. :

20. EMBRACED Weave branding into the story, not a slapped-on logo.

21. RULE 4: TEMPLATE-BASED DESIGN Use reusable design elements to streamline creation of ads. Makes it cheaper and easier to churn out variations.

22. BROKE & EMBRACED

23. MATT’S OPINION:

24. MATT’S OPINION: 100% HELL YES

25. JAIMEE’S OPINION:

26. JAIMEE’S OPINION: KIIIINNDDDA?

27. High-Level Story Flow | How Rover Works ~:20-:30 Video

28. RULE 5: PRIORITIZE BROAD APPEAL WITHIN YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE Resonate with a wide segment of audience to maximize reach and engagement.

29. BROKE Rover’s DNA is to embrace weirdness of pet parenting. LHoS would rather be loved and loathed than liked.

30. RULE 6: SHOWCASE PRODUCT FEATURES Give customers specific idea of features and benefits, especially in lesser-known category with complicated experience.

31. EMBRACED Don’t just show the features. Show how they affect you emotionally.

32. FEATURES:

33. RULE 7: SHORT FORM DRIVES PERFORMANCE Concise, impactful content to quickly capture attention and drive action, especially where attention spans are short.

34. BROKE Long form can help build emotional connection and memorability. Google’s algorithm prioritized long form and our viewers stuck around.

35. 2X view rate for long vs short (+98%) 5% increase in ad recall

36. IN CONCLUSION…

37. BIGGER RISKS BRING BIGGER LEARNINGS If risks are incremental, so are learnings. Stay true to brand and know not everyone will love you.

38. CRYING CAN MEAN CLICKING Emotional connection can lead to deeper engagement and drive performance.

39. DON’T BE SUCH A PURIST Know best practices for your expertise. But try strategies from other disciplines.

40. THANKS. [email protected] j aimee . [email protected]