Gen-X, Millennial Media Opps: LinkedIn selects Golin as social AOR (Score 30)

LinkedIn brought in Golin as its global social media AOR in July 2021. The agency will be tasked with engaging LinkedIn's user base with content and dialogue across different social sites. It will also provide insights to help LinkedIn produce relevant social media content. I believe this replaces incumbent of about three years EP+Co. 

Per Pathmatics, LinkedIn earned 7.3b impressions YTD through Facebook ads (72%), desktop video ads (11%), desktop display ads (10%) and Instagram ads (6%). It placed the majority (96%) of these ads site direct onto sites such as facebook.com, youtube.com, instagram.com, yahoo.com and finance.yahoo.com. It placed the remainder (4%) through a variety of indirect channels onto sites such as espn.com, komando.com, mathway.com, foxnews.com and forbes.com. It spent around $52.1m on digital display ads YTD, more than double the $18.4m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend fell 37% from $42.3m in 2019 to $26.6m in 2020. 

Magellan reports LinkedIn placed about 2.2k podcast ads over the last year. 

According to iSpot, LinkedIn spent around $19.4m on national TV ads YTD, a 34% increase from $14.5m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend fell 24% from $27.2m in 2019 to $20.7m in 2020. This year, it placed ads during programming such as "Morning Glow," "Tyler Perry's Boo 2! A Madea Halloween," "Keven Can F... Himself," "Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin" and "Never and Again." 

Sellers-- LinkedIn targets a wide range of job-hunting individuals, but I believe it is primarily targeting Gen-Xers and millennials. It targets other businesses as well. It reaches these demographics through digital display and national TV ads. Spend fell significantly in both channels during 2020, most likely due to Covid-19, but it has increased so far this year. It also invests in radio and local broadcast ads, per Kantar. Sellers should contact this company offering ad space. 

Agency & martech readers-- LinkedIn tapped media AOR iProspect in April, with 215 McCann helping its in-house team on creative work. As you know, agency reviews commonly follow one another, so start contacting LinkedIn to offer your services. I recommend offering creative assistance as media and social are secure for now.