If 2020 was defined by Covid, 2021 was surely defined by iOS updates and the “death of the cookie”.
But 2021 was more than a “great tracking reset”, it was also the year of experimentation. Exploring new channels, diversifying marketing strategies
Apple Resetting the Rules of the Game
If we had to pick one phrase most e-commerce brands would associate 2021 with our guess would be “iOS 14”. This year, following Hurricane Covid, Apple threw a wrench into the advertising engine and restricted the ability for apps to track their users. This in turn deprecated many tools advertisers and brands relied on to inform their targeting decisions.
As performance and growth marketers, our entire team was prepared for Apple’s iOS 14 update and shifted our marketing strategies to limit the impact on our client’s businesses. While the battle for data left some on the sidelines waiting to understand the implications of the changes, many brands forged ahead resetting their strategies and diversifying the platforms they chose to advertise on.
Death of the Cookie
In reaction to Apple’s privacy shifts, Google announced that the way we use cookies and Google ad-tracking tools could change dramatically with its efforts to phase phase out the third-party cookie on Chrome browsers by 2022.
The third-party phase-out was initially announced in February 2020, but Google accelerated buzz around it this month when they announced that they won’t be building “alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use them in our products.”
ATTN has built strategies around this move to focus retargeting strategies around first party data and contextual advertising.
Platform Diversification
Through 2021 we saw an explosion of interest in TikTok and Connected TV as top-of-funnel brand awareness and middle-of-funnel conversion focused channels.
Marketing Efficiency Ratio
One of the biggest challenges for e-commerce brands has continued to be the muddy waters of tracking conversions across multiple channels. Because all platforms act as data silos, never sharing conversion or customer data with competing platforms, brands get stuck de-duping their conversions trying to figure out what is working best for them.
In 2021, our strategists focused on creating reporting that would help brands understand the effectiveness of their overall marketing strategy in driving acquisition and retention. This meant shifting to marketing efficiency ratios at the full funnel level and drilling into each channel to understand how to improve how each channel was self reporting.
ATTN Agency Growth in 2021
Through 2021, in our THIRD year, ATTN Agency realized an unbelievable 162% year-over-year growth. This growth was accomplished by providing exceptional services to our existing clients, on-boarding several amazing new clients while simultaneously expanding our core service offerings.
We expanded our core service offerings to include full post-product creative services for all paid channels, including statics, gifs, animations, video, and HTML5. ATTN Agency also launched Connected TV under programmatic and paid search.
Bringing On The Best of the Best
ATTN Agency brought on several new key team members to ATTN, nearly quadrupling our agency size from the year prior. Each new team member has brought incredible energy, enthusiasm, and ideas to ATTN.
Performance Team Growth
Shaun Malinao – Campaign Manager (Paid Search)
London Smith- Campaign Manager (Paid Search)
Kevin Kovach- Senior Campaign Manager (Paid Social)
Brooke Hartwell – Senior Campaign Manager (Paid Social)
Caleb Biggs-Matthias – Campaign Manager (Email & SMS)
Reese Ferguson – Account Manager & Coordinator
Design & Creative Team Growth
Roshan Louise-Julie – Creative Designer
Shivali Tandon – Creative Designer
New Partnerships
Strategic Partnerships & Acquisitions
Raindrop Branding & Advertising
In 2021, ATTN Agency began to formalize a strategic partnership with Raindrop Branding & Advertising, a creative agency based out of San Diego, California that boasts over $750,000,000 in trackable revenue from its creative assets. Additional accolades include 2x Emmy Award-Winners, and the #1 performing Youtube ad of 2020.
With this partnership ATTN and Raindrop are combining scroll-stopping creative and laser-focused strategies to drive significant impact for our shared clients.
Insaan NYC
In 2021, ATTN Agency completed the acquisition of Insaan NYC, an email and SMS marketing and creative agency based out of New York, New York. The acquisition bolsters ATTN Agency’s capabilities in email and SMS production, marketing automation, copywriting and creative services. This will further help to provide e-commerce brands with customer retention solutions that deliver personalized customer experiences and drive business impact.
The Future of ATTN Agency
Looking ahead, 2022 is primed for opportunity for ATTN Agency.
We are forecasting another year of aggressive month-over month growth driven by a continued focus on e-commerce as a way for brands to drive down their costs and reach new customers.
We continue to look for top talent we can bring on to our team, to help us consistently improve each of our services lines. Through 2022, we anticipate several new hires across all departments, but we also expect hiring to be very competitive as brands and agencies compete for the best of the best.
For that reason we continue our focus on providing competitive salaries and benefits, including profit sharing and commissions; comprehensive health care; paternity and maternity leave; remote team building events; matching 401k, and much more.
We continue to explore new service lines to provide more comprehensive marketing solutions for our clients.
Looking ahead with excitement,
