Hi ,
Welcome to the Future of Marketing – where each week, we share how top brands and marketers are harnessing the power of user-generated content.
Brands are no longer creating ads and content for the sake of it. Instead, they are fixated on the conversations taking place online, and using this content to connect with consumers, lead important conversations, and influence behavior.
According to Ogilvy, “The challenge is to mobilize consumers in support of the company and its brand by focusing not on what the company does or how it does it, but by explaining why it does it.”
By understanding the latest trends and user insights – their challenges, needs, and motivations – brands can align closer with the voices and minds of their customers.
Learn the rules, then break them
If people didn’t know about Burger King’s push towards no artificial preservatives, this ad will have you questioning your next meal. While 60% of online mentions were negative – describing the Moldy Whopper ad as “disgusting” – the negative brand association could be a sign of genius, as the ad has generated 21 million impressions and a 500% increase in social mentions.
The ad, which features a captivating timelapse of a rotting Whopper, is a prime example of using controversy to generate social buzz.
Controversial or not, the ad also generated over 1.8 million views on Youtube in one week. In this case, the saying, “all press is good press” proves to be true.
Rebuilding trust in social media
Twitter is increasing its efforts to become a reliable source of information by using hashtag campaigns and AI to prevent bots and people from manipulating important information across the platform.
Coronavirus is on the loose, the stock market is down, and notable brands across Asia are feeling the negative impacts of the chaos. To make matters more challenging, people don’t fully trust the information they read on social media.
From the latest news to updated stats, a quick search of #coronavirus on Twitter will lead users to access the most credible and reliable sources of information first.
Dance challenges lead to surging brand impressions
While some brands are scratching their heads about TikTok, others – like Mucinex – are already taking advantage of its mind-blowing potential. Mucinex promoted their latest product, Nightshift, by inviting users to participate in their second TikTok dance challenge.
The hashtag TikTokers used to share their dance, #BeatTheZombieFunk, generated 1.5 billion views in nine days. We’re not kidding when we say it is worth keeping an eye on this platform.
Ride-hailing meets ad-tech
Uber signed a deal with Adomni, an ad-tech company, to display digital out-of-home ads – giving drivers a new stream of income, and the company a chance to offset its 2019 losses. The double-facing ads will display on top of Uber vehicles, and offer advertisers programmatic options to dynamically change creative based on location and time of day.
This is a far cry from traditional OOH and a move towards more personalized content experiences for the consumer.
Hard G vs. Soft G – the debate ends here
These images have been used for visual communication since the beginning of the world wide web, and we still can’t agree to the pronunciation of the word “GIF.”
To help us get to the bottom of the truth, Giphy and Jif cleverly partnered up to deliver a limited-edition peanut butter jar and a #JIFvsGIF campaign to help users spread the word (pun intended).