8
Bright ideas for inspiring brands.
Bright ideas for inspiring brands.
Insight Report.
Youth. September 2012
As we jump into another Freshers' week we thought it's only appropriate to tap into our youthful side. We’ve been working with youth brands for the past decade and it's always been important to keep close to what makes this key audience tick in a fast-paced world.
This report takes a look at how the connected generation and youth audiences communicate with brands on their own terms.
This youthful insight is bought to you by Andy Vincent, Laura Newman-Cardwell and Rebecca Johnson. LOL. OMG. Etc.
Insight Report. Youth.
Insight Report. Youth.
Creating an offline experience online.
The experience of university starts from the moment that acceptance letter is opened. With the rise of social media, students are able to form networks and begin conversations about their upcoming experiences earlier than ever before.
Freshers' week is a time that creates some of the most lasting memories of a student’s life. To ensure they get a piece of this pie, the deals website Student Beans has created an online Freshers' Fayre, where students can get information and deals in a similar way to the traditional fayre held in the graduation hall.
Students face over-exposure to brands every day – so they now need to go deeper, be smarter, and integrate themselves into the student lifestyle. In the US, brands such as RedBull and KFC are taking the online experience back offline and becoming a must-see around campus with free promos and simple attention grabbing tactics (logo on the bum, anyone?)
The offline goes online, and then back offline to ultimately be talked about online again, and brands need to keep up!
Taking community online.
RedBull Doodle Art (New Zealand) http://tinyurl.com/d95ztno
KFC Double Down http://tinyurl.com/d9f2zma
Student Beans launches Freshers' Fields http://www.studentbeans.com http://www.freshersfields.com
Conversation. Involvement.
Online/offline.
Insight Report. Youth.
Demonstrating lifestyle experiences through content.
Youth brands often try to associate themselves with a certain lifestyle or experience that their audience are passionate about. From dance music to sports, brands fight tooth and nail to build these positive associations and create a real point of difference.
Harnessing the marketing reach of Twitter, Jack Wills have introduced ‘Seasonnaires’ who act as brand ambassadors but more importantly as friends of the audience. Tweets between them roll over constantly, offering their young audience the opportunity to be included, and crucially, be like them – wear the clothes, attend the events and meet other like-minded young people. Wills have cleverly built a world around their brand and enticed their audience in to being part of it.
Like Wills, Blackberry – in collaboration with T4 – funded the production of ‘Summer Daze’, a ‘structured reality’ show following the lives of a group of cool, young people as they attend and work at various festivals. Blackberry delivered multi-platform coverage of the show, and created an online hub streaming exclusive content, links to Twitter feeds and news updates.
Experience & content.
Jack Wills Seasonnaires http://www.jackwills.com/en-gb/seasonnaires/summer
Blackberry Summer Daze http://uk.blackberry.com/campaign/summer-daze
Inclusion. Hub.
Lifestyle.
Insight Report. Youth.
How a generation of smart-phone users are driving content views.
Mobile plays a huge role in the lives of young people – calls, texts, BBM, social and photo-networks, everything is aimed at sharing while on the move. Many brands have begun to tap into mobile-sharing amongst younger users, harnessing their power to become walking, tweeting, pinning brand ambassadors.
We were proud to work on Radio 1's hugely successful Hackney Weekend, which featured an up-weighted mobile campaign with a huge stacked ‘Hackney Weekend’ sign at the entrance to the event. All day enthusiastic attendees were busy having their pictures taken in front of it which subsequently flooded social media sites. Brilliantly simple, this led to Hackney Weekend globally trending on Twitter for the entire weekend.
Mobile sharing.
Studio Output work for Hackney Weekend http://www.studio-output.com/hackney-2012-branding
BBC Radio 1 Hackney Weekend http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend
BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra Academy http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01d77xq/features/academy-home
Always sharing. Always moving.
Look at me.
Insight Report. Youth.
Creating digitally-led experience in the real world.
The world of digital and experiential/events often don’t cross paths with each other – something that we think limits innovation in a field where collaboration can, for most users, result in an incredibly rewarding experience.
Online shop Very.co.uk demonstrated how to do this successfully V Festival this year with their festival tent. The tent allowed customers to buy new clothes at a virtual shop and have them delivered within an hour to the site. Customers were encouraged to visit the tent via Twitter to receive free gifts and post about their purchases while blogs and Facebook updates ran throughout the festival.
In a similar way to Radio 1 at Hackney Weekend, Very.co.uk have put something physical in a place where their audience are, presenting them with the opportunity to engage and share, rather than just assuming that because they do share content, they will.
Continuing to integrate the digital and real, but for a younger audience, Disney turned the experience of a shopping trip in Times Square in to a magical moment. The augmented reality billboard engaged passers through interaction with their well-known characters, actually going beyond their target demographic and capturing the imagination of those young and old.
Taking digital to events.
Disney Augmented Reality billboard http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DRRu5dKRfTU
Very at V http://www.vfestival.com/v-info/sponsor/very.co.uk
Integration. Interaction. Engaging.
Insight Report. Youth.
Gaining mainstream exposure through clever collaborations.
PR exposure is vital for fledgling and underground brands – smart relationships can help to generate this.
In the US, adhesive bandage company Band-Aid have sustained their popularity through their well known cartoon and superhero-themed plasters. Realising that even their younger audiences are now ultra-tech-savvy and need something more than just a jazzy pattern, Band-Aid have bought these partnerships in to the digital world and collaborated with the Muppets to bring Magic Vision. Through AR technology your Band-Aid bandage becomes a stage to 'entertain away the hurt'.
In a different type of collaboration VO5 have recently launched a series of adverts under the campaign 'Express Yourself' which provides hair styling demos/mini music videos and asks the audience to upload their own videos showcasing their singing and songwriting talent. Teaming up with Shazam, viewers are encouraged to 'Shazam' the advert to release extra styling footage and more tips.
Collaboration.
VO5 Express Yourself http://www.facebook.com/VO5ExpressYourself http://www.youtube.com/user/vo5expressyourself
Band-Aid Magic Vision http://www.band-aid.com/magicvision
Exclusive. Connections. Tech-savvy.
Sam Allen Head of Business Development +44 (0)20 7239 9283 [email protected]
If you'd like to see more, just get in touch…
Studio Output / London Unit 4, The Piano Works 117 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3BX+44 (0)20 7239 9270 [email protected]
Studio Output / North 2 Broadway Lace Market Nottingham NG1 1PS+44 (0)115 985 3444 [email protected]
