Hands free? A Neuralink competitor called Synchron connected its brain-interface device to an Apple Vision Pro, and it basically lets a disabled man control digital devices with his mind — see for yourself.

In this Open Letter:

• Make ads great again: Clawing back R1 trillion in ad revenue losses.

• Starlink’s Chinese cousin, SA’s lucky startup 7 & PnP’s big bucks.

• Engage: Great local startup events coming up!

• How you pay for big-ticket items: The results are in.

• Startup fuel: Share this and get 100+ SA business ideas.

TRENDING NOW

Clawing Back R1 Trillion in Lost Ad Revenue

Let’s face it, cookies were great for marketing – re-targeting ads alone could boost revenue by up to 33% if you used it right.

Until they weren’t…

The war on cookies (or trackers installed on websites to track and share information) kicked into gear in 2018 with GDPR regulation going into effect. 

Recently, Apple’s new privacy laws and Google’s announcement it would stop support for third-party cookies entirely in 2024 ended the era of businesses using cookies to track engagement and better target potential customers. 

Now, we’ll admit, the increased privacy is great for marketers giving us the creeps…

But it’s caused a much bigger problem for virtually every business on the planet (yes, yours too!)... cookie armageddon brings with it CACs of doom.

And it’s not just about conversions, those targeting tools were great for collecting the type of customer data and insights that we in tech use to plan and service customers better – a practice also taking a knock in the post-cookie apocalypse.

Ad fatigue is a real thing…

People are served anywhere between 4’000 and 10’000 ads per day – prolly too much to process. 

And with 96% of people thinking ads aren’t truthful, and over 51% thinking the ads they see are not relevant to them, it’s no wonder over 40% of internet users have ad-blocking software – an expensive exercise costing businesses around the world around $54 billion in ad revenue (that’s R1 trillion) this year alone. 

Marketing is unimaginably massive.

Global digital ad spending is hovering at around R17 trillion and locally as much as R14 billion per annum.

It’s too early to tell, but Deloitte has predicted a bloodbath of advertisers struggling to find quality prospects, re-engaging potential customers and measuring the success of their campaigns. In fact, it seems to believe only the top 61% of high-growth companies who have the capital to build first-party data channels will have a chance of making it – their article reads like a bit of a eulogy to negative-growth companies.

So with most of the ad spend not yielding the results it used to, where will the money go to get the same kind of impact?

Getting users to engage and share data willingly

After years of getting requests to execute interactive digital campaigns in short amounts of time, local gaming and animation studio, Seamonster, spun out an entity to do just that called Hailr.

Hailr is a low-code platform that enables marketers to build interactive, web-based campaigns and games that make digital campaigns more appealing, more engaging, and finally helps collect some of the data cookies used to capture (and maybe even more), completely out of free will from the customer or participant. 

And some of the things they can pull up within 4 weeks are pretty neat…

• Scan a QR code in a broadsheet to play an interactive game and win a voucher. This collects data, enhances the impact of the broadsheet and tracks conversion through the redemption of the voucher.

• Take a social media campaign up a notch by offering an interactive game when users click it.

• Scan a QR code while in a line at a physical retailer to play a game on your phone while you wait, with a chance to win some prizes - all in exchange for some of that sweet, sweet data.

Some campaigns have seen up to 37% basket size increases at some of the top retailers in SA, with an average conversion rate of 70% with some of their other clients. And with the likes of Sanlam, Clicks and KFC building these branded engagement games and platforms, they’re bringing digital advertising innovation to some old hands in the marketing game.

Hailr is but one local startup capitalising on this major change, and we are sure many more will come…we are watching this space.

IN SHORT

🍀 Luck of the Irish. 7 local startups have been selected to participate in the 3rd edition of the Irish Tech Challenge SA 2024. The startups include Smartview Technology, Momint, The Awareness Company, Athena, AdBot, Samanjalo, and Credipple.

🛰️ Starlink’s Rival. China is creating its own Starlink with the launch of the first batch of satellites as part of Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology’s “Thousand Sails Constellation” plan.

🤖 CurroBot. Local independent school, Curro, is again hosting SA’s edition of the World Robot Olympiad with 755 teams of nearly 2’000 learners from 160+ schools competing at this year’s event.

💰 Chipping in. The Pick n Pay Group has overshot its rights offer by R4.3 billion — more than double what it set to raise in its bid to recapitalise the business and to turn around the trajectory of the struggling retailer.

🙈 Recession time? Fears of a recession in the US sparked by slower job growth, industry layoffs, and housing market concerns saw major indices take a dive. PS If you have any crypto, look away for a while…

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with CRM tools like Hubspot and business strategy development with Metavolve.

CHECK THIS OUT

The right time to involve a lawyer

A study by Harvard Business School found that startups that seek legal advice are four times more likely to succeed than those that do not.

And if you’re raising funding (now or down the line) a National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) survey says that 90% of venture capitalists consider the legal preparedness of a startup as a significant factor in their investment decisions.

The reality is that most founders and business owners avoid involving lawyers because they are scared of the associated costs. But not all legal services should cost you the farm.

For years, Dommisse Attorneys have been helping South African startups with:

• MoI and shareholder agreements to help navigate co-founder and shareholder relationships.

• Offshoring IP and setting up abroad to make your startups attractive to foreign investors.

• For the sale of shares and fundraising, get a great team on your side to help you avoid blind spots and protect your interests.

Need legal advice for your startup? Get in touch with Dommisse Attorneys today to explore how they can set your startup up for success.

Engage SA’s Most Vibrant Startup Community

Want to get valuable connections on tap?

Last week in our online community, we…

• Helped Leigh find a valuable connection to get MVPs rolled out in schools.

• Connected Danei with the best CRM consultant in the biz.

• Got Piet connected with a fire AWS expert.

• And sourced a high-quality merch contact for Renier (wonder what for…?)

We also have our first in-person event tonight (which is sold out!), and an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session is coming up with Philip Joubert, co-founder of Offerzen (previous founder of SnapScan and involved in early builds of many startups you know) on Friday 16 August at 12:00.

Philip will be talking about assembling a winning team and answering your burning startup questions!

Also, it's all systems go for our first Cape Town in-person event. Get more details here.

This event is exclusive to The Open Letter Pro members, so sign up today and get access to all our events for free, PLUS join our online community of 40+ startup founders and operators.

What You Said…

We asked how you pay for big-ticket items, and saving up is the game…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💰 Save up (67%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💳 Credit card (18%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💵 ⁠Borrow from my partner (3%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🐖 ⁠Emergency fund (6%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 ⁠BNPL (6%)

Your 2 cents…

Wise words, Vakele, gotta learn that delayed gratification is the most valued.

Good one, Leslie, helps you stay frugal and smart.

Wow, Graham, that’s definitely an inspiration!