In 2011, Insiders at Ebay were convinced their Google search ads were increasing website traffic. After all, the data showed that the more money spent on these ads, the more people clicked on the link to the Ebay website. In reality, the ads weren’t causing more people to click on the link – they were simply guiding a growing number of people who were already looking for it. Ebay eventually switched off the advertising and found a negligible impact on traffic, soon realising it was spending $20m on ads for nothing.
Business & Brands
Half the planet is on Facebook (pretty much, with 3 billion users). But it’s original target audience was very niche: it exclusively targeted Harvard students, before slowly expanding to other colleges across the US
With a list price of $3.7 million, Ferrari’s new “hypercar” was revealed to the public in October with a twist: It wasn’t available for sale.
Fiat recently made the bold decision to stop selling gray cars. CEO Olivier Francois said this was “reinforcing Fiat’s leadership as the brand of joy, colors and optimism.” The strategy doesn’t come without its risks, with gray being the most popular color for new cars in many of Fiat’s most important markets. But a strengthened commitment to the brand’s vibrant Italian roots will help it to resonate with customers looking for a more exciting choice of car.
First Direct effectively told people: you can’t visit us in store, because we don’t have branches, but instead we’ll give you brilliant customer service over the phone. The company’s two million customers now get to enjoy an average 39 second telephone wait time versus eight minutes for the wider industry.
Mike Harris questioned whether banks even needed physical branches. The success of First Direct shows they don’t. The absence of stores means virtually all of its staff are on the customer service team, providing an average call wait time of 39 seconds, versus the industry norm of 8 minutes.
France has over twice as many companies with 49 staff as with 50. Why? At 50 employees, companies are must abide by a range of regulations including mandatory works councils and more stringent dismissal procedures.
Gail’s’ distribution is focused on neighbourhood spots with above average income. As co-founder Tom Molnar says, “we’re not in places like Oxford Street as we’re not trying to get people through the till really fast.” In fact this focus on affluence has been so successful that the Lib Dems used it as a tool in their 2024 election strategy; aggressively targeting towns outside London with a Gail’s, and winning a record 72 seats as a result.
In 2017 George Clooney sold his tequila brand Casamigos for $1 billion, and it became the fastest growing spirit brand of 2022. There’s no doubt it tastes good, but there’s also no doubt his fame contributed to its success. Clooney is one of several celebrities to create a successful alcohol brand; David Beckham & Haig Club, Ryan Reynolds & Aviation, Kendall Jenner & Gin 818 Tequila
Google pays $26.3bn to make its search engine the default on smartphones and browsers. It recognises that simply being present is enough to drive usage.
In January 2016 Halo Top ice cream was making a few hundred thousands in revenue, but its big break came when a GQ writer detailed eating nothing but Halo Top for 10 days. According to co-founder Doug Bouton, “it put millions of eyeballs on the product” and doubled the brand’s sales within a month.
When you use Grammarly’s (premium) plagiarism checker, it warns you that “we are checking your work against billions of webpages. It may take a while.” It’s not frictionless but it gives you confidence that the results will be legit.
Greggs has focused on occasions to expand its customer base. Although traditionally a breakfast bakery, extended opening hours means the evening (post 4pm) is now the business’s fastest-growing meal time. It even won a licence to open its Leicester Square branch until 2am on weekends. And with sales up by 20% in 2023, the ambition to ‘mean more to more people’ is certainly paying off.
Gymshark events & flagship store