Holiday Prep

As we prepare to brine the turkey and bake pies this Thursday, it is a wonderful opportunity to prepare for the holidays – and the onslaught of retail media coverage. While I can’t wait for that slice of pie, here are a few of my favorite finds that make the week go a little faster to help get you to the long weekend:

• Turkey Pardon – Turkey’s ‘Drumbone’ and ‘Wishstick’ were able to join previous White House turkeys at Virginia Tech’s “Gobbler’s Rest” exhibit after an official pardon. But not before spending some quality R&R at The Willard Intercontinental Hotel over the weekend, courtesy of the National Turkey Federation, who supplies the turkeys every year to the White House. 
• Black Friday or Bust – While consumers prepare for the annual trip to early morning sales, a growing trend for Black Friday is actually spent away from the crowds. A new report from App Annie predicts that time spent doing mobile shopping via apps will grow 45 percent in the U.S. during this week, compared to the same time two years ago, and also expects apps to generate over six million hours of shopping on Black Friday on apps such as Amazon, Wish, Etsy and Zulily alone. Is this representing a shift away from the Black Friday in-store shopping craze?
• Naughty or Nice? – Pinterest, in the spirit of the holidays, has launched “Pinterest Secret Santa,” allowing users to find friends or family on Pinterest and create custom boards based on ideas that those friends and families have been saving. Or, use the “Secret Santa” to select a persona and find a gift that will fit your family member – such as a pet person or a world traveler. If you want to get started on your gift giving, you can check out the concept for yourself here.
• Social Media Video Watching – As attention spans continue to get shorter, it continues to get harder for brands to get customers attention, especially on social media. For example, Facebook users spend an average of 1.7 seconds with any piece of mobile content on the platform, compared to 2.5 seconds on desktop. Recent research from Nielsen has found that brand recall, awareness and purchase intent is much higher with video impressions that are only two-seconds. So perhaps that short-attention span isn’t such a bad thing? To help make the most of those two-seconds, Adweek offers some suggestions to break through the noise.