Millennial, Gen-X Opps: DuckDuckGo launches campaign about internet privacy

DuckDuckGo just debuted a rather unsettling ad campaign across TV and radio. It shows how people fear being watched and mined for data as they browse the web. "Watching You" offers a solution, though - DuckDuckGo's search and browser options can help take back people's privacy. The TV spot will run nationally in 175 designated market areas (DMAs), on streaming platforms such as Roku and Paramount+, in primetime and during MLB games and the NBA playoffs. As far as radio is concerned, the company's new ad will run nationally on more than 5k stations, SiriusXM and streaming platforms. Mirimar came up with the initial concept for this new ad. 

So far this year, iSpot reports DuckDuckGo has spent approximately $2.5m on national TV commercials, an increase of around 5x from the approximately $5.1k it spent within the same 2021 timeframe. The company ended up spending approximately $151k on this channel last year and did not utilize it in 2020. DuckDuckGo's 2022 commercials have aired during programmings such as FBI: International, FBI, CBS Saturday Morning, The Late Late Show With James Corden and SWAT.

According to Pathmatics, the company has allocated roughly $2.7m toward digital ads YTD, 41% less than the roughly $4.6k it had allocated by this point last year. In 2021, DuckDuckGo's estimated full-year spend rose 4% to $11.3m from that of the $10.9m in 2020. Since the beginning of 2022, the company has earned ~405.9m digital impressions via desktop display (59%), mobile display (18%), Facebook (15%) and Twitter (8%) ads. Most of this year's desktop display ads have been placed site direct onto destinations such as wordpress.com, tumblr.com, drudgereport.com, counterpsyops.com and stridentconservative.com.

Right now, DuckDuckGo's target demographic appears to consist primarily of millennials and Gen-X. Remember, along with TV and digital, the company is investing in radio. Sellers should contact sooner rather than later to secure ad dollars from the new campaign.

Agency & martech readers - We are still confirming whether DuckDuckGo is working with Mirimar on an AOR or project-by-project basis; we will, of course, let you know. If it's now the company's AOR, it would have replaced Arnold Worldwide, which DuckDuckGo named its creative agency partner around a year ago.