“Marketing is not a battle of things, it’s a battle of perceptions,” argues Al Ries, an American marketing strategist. And he is correct. However, in today’s media ecosystem, successfully changing customer impressions is no easy task.
Consumer trends are prompting marketers to be more daring in their approaches, resulting in more data-driven campaigns and audience-centric storytelling.
Furthermore, firms now have access to a variety of channels, ranging from social media to email marketing, brand awareness campaigns to Google AdWords. The offline and online worlds are your oyster. However, each channel necessitates a different level of refinement — you must tell the same tale in a different way.
The competition for customers’ attention — and their money – is becoming more intense. So, how can brands differentiate themselves? We’re looking at what constitutes a truly effective marketing campaign in the run-up to Advertising Week.
Reddit’s brand recognition Super Bowl commercial
Brands are bidding for Super Bowl ad time. It’s also logical if you want to reach out to your target demographic. According to our research, more than one-third of NFL fans say they learn about new products from television commercials, and 41% of Americans watch or follow the NFL.
So that eye-catching Super Bowl spot will set you back a pretty penny. 30-second commercial slots are expected to sell for roughly $6.5 million in 2022, making them the most costly in NFL history.
Some businesses have gone above and above in the past, extending the slots by 15 or 30 seconds. Reddit, on the other hand, chose a unique strategy for its video marketing campaign: go tiny or go home.
Reddit made a major risk, and it paid off handsomely. It purchased a five-second Super Bowl ad slot.
It began with what appeared to be a normal automobile commercial, then cut to a glitch-like screen, displayed some text, and then switched to horses racing through a field. What’s going on here? Yes, it is correct.
The ad was so perplexing that many people mistook it for an accident.
And that draws people’s attention at an event like the Super Bowl. But it was over in the blink of an eye.
Viewers raced to social media to learn more about the incident. They were greeted by a Reddit Tweet, which has since received 464,000 views on the social media network.
It became one of the most talked-about, attention-getting, remembered, and shareable ads of the day, according to The New York Times.
They took a chance with their content selection, but it paid off.
“Squeezing a full page of text into one of the shortest spots in Super Bowl history might seem unusual, but it was certainly weird in the right way,” Ellie Bamford, head of media connections at R/GA, the New York agency behind the ad, noted.
What does this mean for brands? Less is sometimes more. Consider thinking beyond the box. Also, don’t be afraid of the unfamiliar.
Dove’s ‘Reverse Selfie’ video marketing campaign
By the age of 13, 80 percent of girls have distorted their appearance online. It’s an oblique remark, but it’s accurate. We are forced to compare our behind-the-scenes life to everyone else’s highlight reels because of social media.
In social feeds, attractive kids aren’t just seeing other people’s Facetuned features. They’re seeing plastic surgery filters added to their own faces (some of which have even been banned).
These can easily be shared on Instagram stories for others to see, but teenagers can also spend hours alone imagining how they’d look with bigger lips, smaller features, or clearer skin.
The video commercial depicts a female getting dressed for and shooting a selfie, then editing and sharing it — but in reverse. It all comes to a close with a simple view of the girl, whose young age is immediately clear when we see her uncut, bare face. ‘The strain of social media is damaging our daughters’ self-esteem,’ reads the slogan.
Here’s why it’s so important right now. In the beauty industry, there’s been a bit of a revolt. Some audiences are attempting to end the era of perfection and usher in a new era of authenticity and inclusion.
According to our findings, 27% of Gen Alpha girls aged 12 to 15 want to see a diverse range of characters in TV shows and movies, and 42% believe their role models are real people in their lives.
Unpolished appearances are gradually becoming more popular. ‘Photo-dumps,’ popularized by Gen Z celebrities like Emma Chamberlain and Olivia Neill, have started to proliferate on Instagram, as have ‘finstas,’ which are more honest, unfiltered Instagram accounts for a small group of pals.
Meanwhile, globally, 42% of Gen Zs want brands to be honest, and in the United States, Gen Zs are less interested in influencers and celebrity news than they were a year ago. In 2022 and beyond, these trends will undoubtedly alter the face of influencer marketing.
In fact, in an effort to counteract the systemic mental health impacts of social media, Ogilvy UK has announced that it will no longer engage with influencers who modify their bodies or appearances for commercials.
Unprocessed photographs are progressively making their way into the mainstream as social media filters become more ubiquitous. But, as Dove correctly points out, we must solve the issue at hand in the interim. And it’s kicking off the discussion.
