After Elon Musk made brands stop spending on ads, Twitter had to launch a huge promotion to attract customers back

The Financial Times reports that Elon Musk’s Twitter is offering brands generous incentives to advertise on the social media platform. This is a move to boost business after billionaire Elon Musk’s approach to content moderation has led many major marketers to limit spending.

In an email sent to advertising companies, Twitter said it will launch “the biggest advertiser sale ever” in December, bringing in more impressions if brands spend a certain amount.

According to the email, advertisers who spend $350,000 will receive “50 percent value added” — meaning they receive additional impressions worth half of what they spend. An investment of $200,000 will provide advertisers with “25% added value” or additional impressions worth a quarter of what they spend.

Another email sent to a separate agent, for example, contains the same offer for US brands, as well as slightly different offers for brands in the UK and the rest of the world.

The push to attract advertisers comes as Musk, who closed a $44 billion deal for the social media platform in October, has increasingly alienated brands and advertising companies from Twitter. He relaxed Twitter’s content moderation policies, rescinded the suspension of accounts that broke the rules, and laid off more than half of its workforce, including many ad sales teams.

Brands including Mondelez, Carlsberg, United Airlines and General Motors have stopped advertising on the platform, while dealers including Omnicom Media and Interpublic Group have advised their customers to pause their spending. All of that has dealt a blow to Twitter’s $5 billion business.

Currently, Musk is struggling with an annual interest payment of up to $1 billion after taking on $13 billion in debt to finance the acquisition of his business.

According to the email, Twitter’s offers will last through December, inviting brands and agencies to speak by phone to discuss “timely” scenarios.

Musk, who describes himself as a “liberalist,” is allowing all speech on the platform as long as it’s legal, although “negative/hate speech” won’t enhanced in the user’s feed. The company no longer enforces its policy of banning misinformation about Covid-19, although in a blog post on Wednesday the company said none of its policies have changed and that the trust and safety team remains “strong and well-resourced”.

Tensions between Musk and advertisers escalated when the billionaire businessman personally called executives who had cut spending to scold them. In the case of Apple, one of Twitter’s biggest advertisers, Musk on Monday publicly criticized chief executive Tim Cook for cutting spending on the platform.

After several job cuts and departures, Twitter’s ad business team has shrunk to the point where many agencies and brands no longer have any contacts at the company. Others are complaining that Twitter’s advertising system also crashed during Musk’s overhaul.

According to industry insiders, while the December deals Twitter is offering are enticing, some brands are still unconvinced. An agency executive said it would “not influence advertisers’ decisions”.

One person commented: “I don’t think any client is willing to take the risk.”

Source: Financial Times