Behold the Power of the Boycott.

Last week was a big week. After  3 out of the 5 honorees for the Kennedy Center Honors announced that they would not be attending , and the other 2 indicated they were likely to follow their lead, President Trump announced that he would not attend.  Wow. 

So it seems to be a good time to look again at the power of @grabyourwallet and @slpng_ giants.

1. As of the beginning of June, Sharon Coulter founder of grabyourwallet, reports that 22 companies on the list have dropped Trump products, and the grabyourwallet website has 2 million unique visitors each month. (Kramer, 2017)

2. Breitbart, the favorite target of sleeping giants, has lost 90% of its advertisers in two months, and visitors have declined by 53% since November.  Click-through rates on the site are a dismal 15%.  (vs. 32% for the New York Times)   (Bhattarai, 2017)

3. The exodus from the Manufacturing Council started with Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier and quickly escalated, so by the next morning 6 CEOs had resigned.  Then Sleeping Giants took up the cause, and tweeted the names and contact information for the remaining CEOs. By the next morning the group announced they were disbanding.  And the Strategy & Policy Forum followed suit.  The Infastructure Council was abandoned before it was even started. (Paletta & McGregor, 2017)

The Council for the Arts, which was comprised of Obama appointees, quit the next day too.  (Hipes, 2017)

4. Then Sleeping Giants began tweeting the names of charities who intended to hold their fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago, and singling out their directors, with names and photos. It's a moving target at the moment, but as of yesterday, 16 charities had canceled.  Since Mar-a-Lago makes $100K - $275K per event that has to hurt.  (Dangremond, 2017)

5. On Monday a New Jersey chapter of the United Way canceled its scheduled event at Trump's New Jersey golf club.  One imagines they will not be the last to do so. (Shelbourne, 2017)

6. Meanwhile, Trumps' attacks on CNN have really done wonders for the network.  Their ratings in second quarter 2017 were their best since 2003.  (Kruzel, 2017)

7. And the "failing New York Times," clearly isn't, as they gained 93,000 subscribers in 2Q, and revenues were up 9% versus year ago. (Ember, 2017)

Money talks. And boycotts work.  Expect to see more.

Kramer, M. (2017, June 4) Grab your wallet, boycott Trump and participate in “A sprawling landscape of resistance” salon.com  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/boycott-trump_partner/

Bhattarai, A. (2017, June 8)  Breitbart lost 90 percent of its advertisers in two months: Who's still there?  chicagotribune.com  retrieved August 19, 2017, from

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/national/ct-breitbart-advertisers-20170608-story.html

Paletta, D. & McGregor, J. (2017, August 16)  Trump’s business advisory councils disband as CEOs abandon president over Charlottesville views. washingtonpost.com  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2017/08/16/after-wave-of-ceo-departures-trump-ends-business-and-manufacturing-councils/?utm_term=.5a27053930d9

Hipes, P. (2017, August 18) Another Presidential Council, This One Focused On The Arts, Quits On Donald Trump.  deadline.com.  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://deadline.com/2017/08/donald-trump-presidential-committee-on-the-arts-and-humanities-quits-1202151717/

Dangremond, S. (2017, August 18)  Eight Charities Have Canceled Their Mar-a-Lago Galas This Week.  townandcountry.com.  Retrieved August 19, 2017, from http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a12033310/mar-a-lago-charity-fundraisers-canceled/

Shelbourne, M. (2017, August 22) New Jersey charity pulls out of event at Trump golf club. thehill.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/347419-new-jersey-organization-pulls-out-of-event-at-trump-golf-club

Kruzel, J. (2017, July 3)  Trump’s Pants on Fire claim that CNN ratings are ‘way down’.  politifact.com retrieved August 19, 2017, from  http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jul/03/donald-trump/trumps-pants-fire-claim-cnn-ratings-are-way-down/

Ember, S. (2017, July 27)  New York Times Reports Strong Quarter on Digital Revenue Growth.  nytimes.com.  Retrieved August 19, from  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/business/new-york-times-company-2q-earnings.html?_r=0

Programmatic: Garbage in, garbage out.

If you are under 50 you may not have heard that saying before.  But it was a common phrase in the early 80's when computers were first used to select print media.  After we would do a computer run, we would adjust the results by hand to incorporate data that the computer didn't.  At that time it meant adding Southern Living and Sunset to our media plans to compensate for the fact that shelter books under delivered in the south and west.  Had we not made those changes, our plans would have been garbage.

Fast forward 35 years and we seem to have forgotten that lesson. 

In 2016, 51% of digital display advertising was bought by computers.  Growth of 31% is estimated for 2017.  And programmatic buying is spreading to tv, radio, and digital out-of-home. (Elkin, 2016)

But what happens without the human touch?  You end up on the Sleeping Giants boycott list because you are advertising on Breitbart.  Surprise!  Consumers may have not noticed your display ad before, but they are now, and not in a good way.

Similarly, I remember when advertisers were reluctant to go on YouTube because of the exploding Mentos videos.  And yet they are now advertising on racist content and terrorist sites. 

At what point did cheap tonnage come back into fashion?  Given the 80/20 rule, i.e., 20% of buyers account for 80% of sales, it doesn't make sense. 

So I was not surprised when JPMorgan Chase & Company admitted after pulling their ads from YouTube last month and reducing their presence from 400,000 websites to 5,000 that their impressions didn't change.  More importantly I would bet that more targeted reach will increase their effectiveness.  Is it any wonder that they are now planning to reduce the number to 1,000 "human-checked" channels?  (Noto, 2017)

Maybe it's time for you to get human again too.

Elkin, T. (2016, November 28)  Programmatic To Grow 31% In 2017, Ahead Of All Other Channels.  mediapost.com.  retrieved April 21, 2017, from, https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/289841/programmatic-to-grow-31-in-2017-ahead-of-all-oth.html

Noto, A. (2017, March 30)  Chase pulls YouTube ads, sees little change in impressions.  bizjournals.com  Retrieved April 21. 2017, from http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2017/03/30/chase-pulls-youtube-ads-results-remain-same.html

All boycotts and bumps are not created equal.

According to @grabyourwallet, @resistance controls 2/3 of the wealth in this country.  I'm not sure where that figure came from, but given the success of both the @grabyourwallet and @slpng_giants boycotts it certainly appears that this group has the financial strength to back up their promises.

Thanks to an ill thought out bullying attempt, Nordstrom's released data that indicated sales of Ivanka Trump products dropped 70% in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of October.  Wow.  Overall the brand was down 32% for the year.  (Gottfried, 2017)

LL Bean had flat sales in 2016 and is currently seeking a 10% headcount reduction.  (Anderson, 2017)  Uber and Under Armour are tripping over themselves to try to back track on their earlier support of  Trump.

On the other hand, Hamilton is still sold out, and Starbucks doesn't seem to have lost any momentum.  I guess you can't boycott something you never bought in the first place.

Fox News, up 35% in January 2017, (Katz, 2017)  is benefiting from Trump support, but CNN's audience is up 38%.  (Katz, 2017) and the "failing" New York Times, added more subscribers in the last three months of 2016 than all of 2015  (Rodriguez, 2017)  Saturday Night Live is having its best year since 1995, and Colbert is now beating Fallon in the late night wars.

In terms of the "Trump Bump," i.e. the effect of his tweets and comments on brands, it's a mixed bag.  Early comments negatively affected various industries, but Nordstrom's stock rose 4% on the news that they would no longer carry Ivanka Trump products. (Calfas, 2017)

I am reminded of the expression - "May you live in interesting times."  It's actually a curse you know.

Gootfired, M. & Kapner, S. (2017, February 11)  Internal Nordstrom Data Show Sales Decline for Ivanka Trump Brand.  wsj.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/sales-of-ivanka-trump-footwear-apparel-fell-32-at-nordstrom-last-year-1486814580

Anderson, C. (2017, February 9)  L.L. Bean offers retirement buyouts to trim workforce by 10%.  pressherald.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.pressherald.com/2017/02/09/l-l-bean-offers-retirement-buyout-to-trim-workforce-by-10-percent/

Katz, A.J. (2017, January 31)  January 2017 Ratings: Fox News is No. 1. For 15 Consecutive Years.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from  http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/january-2017-ratings-fox-news-is-no-1-for-15-consecutive-years/319139

Katz, A.J. (2017, January 31)  January 2017 Ratings: CNN Ranks No. 2 Across Cable News.  adweek.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/january-2017-ratings-cnn-ranks-no-2-across-cable-news/319141

Rodriguez, A. & Mejia, Z. (2017, February 3)  Thanks to Trump, the New York Times added more subscribers in three months than all of 2015. qz.com.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://qz.com/901684/thanks-to-trump-the-new-york-times-added-more-subscribers-in-three-months-than-in-all-of-2015/

Calfas, J. (2017, February 8)  Nordstrom stock gains over 4 percent after Trump tweet.  Retrieved February 17, 2017, from

 http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/318597-nordstrom-stock-gains-over-4-for-the-day-after-trump-tweet