The Creativ Brief: Networks and Their Effects
Network effects refer to the phenomenon that the more people use a product or service the more valuable that product or service becomes.
Social media/networks are the primary example. The more people that use a social media service the more valuable the network becomes for both consumers and advertisers.
Marketplaces like Zocdoc, Uber, and Amazon gain value by connecting ever increasing buyers and sellers.
You as a professional experience network effects. By increasing the diversity and reach of your professional network, one enjoys an increasing number of career opportunities and value leveraged for employers.
As we’ve grown as a business, I’ve seen 3 distinct network effects.
We provide more value to clients as the quality and size of our marketing consultant network grows.
We drive more value to publishers, partners, and the media because our client base becomes more robust.
We again become more valuable to clients because as our network grows, so do the opportunities we can bring to our customers.
Thanks for being part of our network.
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3 Stories Dominating Media and Tech Headlines
Meta Publishes Report examining major consumption trends of changing media consumption habits. Researchers Meta found 4 major shifts in consumption that relate to media buying and planning for marketers:
The rise of content creators
The Rise of short form video
The rise of messaging
Driving impact with AI
Why it matters: Online platforms continue to multiply and demand attention. In turn, this creates new entry points, touchpoints, and channels for marketers to explore to connect with consumers. Getting ahead of trends is key.
TikTok's ad-free Subscription TikTok is currently testing an ad-free version of their app in a single English-speaking market outside the US at a price point of $4.99.
Why it Matters: Standard Media Index found that as of November, TikTok parent startup ByteDance’s share of big agency spending on socials jumped to 11%, with companies like Pepsi, Doordash, and Amazon among the top spenders. TikTok hopes to expand revenue with ad-free subscription.
Social media traffic to top news sites craters according to Axios. Axios’s new report found that traffic referrals to top news sites from Facebook and X has collapsed over the last year.
Why it matters: A slower ad market and a mass consumption shift to short-form video has decreased the amount of click through-traffic to big news outlets. News business models that focused on generating traffic through clicks from social platforms are in an impossible position.
Client Spotlight - The Creator Strike Guide, THE FIFTH
The WGA labor strike that has halted production in Hollywood ended last week. The SAG-AFTRA strike continues. What does that mean for brands working with SAG talent or creators for current marketing campaigns?
The Fifth’s VP of Operations, Shannon Reed investigates on The DRUM.
Chart of the Week - Networks Visualized
Graphic by Wes Morton
Network effects can be expressed visually in the graphic above. Networks grow exponentially because…
each added nodes (N) connects to multiple nodes in the network
Multiple connections create clusters of nodes with more connections
In the visual above, you can see that the simple addition of 4 nodes to a network creates 2^4 = 16 total additional connections in the vertices from the previous 8.
To learn more about networks and their effects, I recommend reading Bharat Anand’s seminal book on network effects, The Content Trap: A strategists guide to digital change.
One Fun Thing - Networking at The Grill by The Wrap
Creativ Strategies grew our network at The Grill 2023 by The Wrap. Hosted by the Hollywood editorial newsroom, the conference featured dozens of panels and networking sessions with executives from FOX, CAA, Mattel, BBC, MIT, Stanford, Sony, WarnerBros Discovery, and more.
We wrote up our major takeaways from the conference here.