Insights from Below Deck: November 2023

Oatly cleverly bends Paris advertising rules

In a city where advertising on murals must be more art than ad, Oatly came up with a cheeky way to blur these lines, turning heads and raising smiles along the way. Painting walls in a graffiti style with captions such as “This piece of art is here to tell you that we know ads are not appreciated here!”, the brand then transformed these murals by moving and parking painted objects such as boxes, portaloos, and even a van in front of each mural, adapting them into something more in line with traditional advertising.

Google Search ranking improvement aims to surface ‘hidden gems’

In a bid to promote more ‘authentic’ content, Google has rolled out ranking improvements aimed at showcasing more content that shares personal insights and experiences. As part of its core ranking system, this ‘hidden gems’ update could mean you’ll start to see more search results from forum posts, social media posts, blog posts, and more. 

This may impact where sites rank for a given query, so keep an eye on the search results and see if your keywords and content are impacted by this new algorithm.

Sam Altman fired, then rehired, as CEO of OpenAI

Barely a year after ChatGPT burst onto the scene, its parent company has been through significant turmoil. After the OpenAI board abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman for mysterious reasons, the vast majority of its staff threatened a mass exodus to Microsoft. 

Now, after just four days of exile, Altman has been reinstated in his position at OpenAI. This event follows a letter signed by 505 of OpenAI’s 700 employees, telling the board to resign. Whether or not you believe in the brilliance of OpenAI and Altman, one thing’s for sure - its employees definitely do.

The Buy with Prime app is now open to all Shopify merchants

The Buy with Prime app for Shopify is now open to all merchants, no longer limited to invite-only access. Merchants can leverage Amazon's fulfilment network, allowing Prime members to seamlessly shop on external e-commerce platforms, checkout using their Amazon account, and experience end-to-end e-commerce functionality within a single checkout button - all managed by Amazon.

The Shopify app opens the Buy with Prime service to all merchants, simplifying adding catalogues, promotions, and order syncing. Shopify merchants can add the Buy with Prime badge on their websites, further fostering sales through Amazon.