Youth Marketing: Disruptive Visual Story Telling
In TrendsNow that visual storytelling is the new buzz for brands that are trying to appeal to the youth market, breaking the mould is becoming all the more essential for them to get noticed. Brands like Audi, Samsung or even Game of Thrones are realising that in order to get Afrillennials’ attention, they need to go where no one has gone before, portray the world as Millennials view it and make them go, “Yes! Finally a brand that gets us”. Let’s look at how these 3 brands stood out in the myriad of distractions and why their campaigns are loved by the youth.
Image Credit: Destiny Connect
The Face Of Audi Q2
When Thando Hopa, stepped out as the face of Audi’s Q2, she broke the stereotypes of who is usually casted for screenplay, but also the stereotypes of what defines perfection or beauty. Blonde, blue eyes and albinism are hardly ever part of the same conversation. However, Thando has driven a very successful narrative for her career and life, despite the fact that she doesn’t fit the conventional mould.
For generations Afrillennials have been the targets of being boxed and categorised, researched and prodded for clusters of information relevant to groups of their generation, when all they want, is to be seen as individuals, each with their own unique purpose.
While hashtags like #lawyer, #model #activist and #Untaggable highlight Thando’s diversity, Audi has effectively acknowledged the youth are undefinable. Not forgetting that Thando is representing Audi’s Q2 model, the brand has certainly made its association with the Afrillennial market.
Samsung’ Cover Is Blown
“Unbox Your Phone” is a new campaign by Samsung announcing that something’s coming on 29 March 2017. Now we all know that the youth’s fear of missing out has them at the edges of their seats to be the first to see what exactly that is, with most hoping it’s the Samsung S8. Check out their “Unbox your phone” campaign here:
After Samsung’s exploding Note 7 saga, it only makes sense for the brand to blow their cover, so why keep the reveal a secret? Well, Forbes reported massive leaks on the coming Samsung S8 from increased resolution to a wider display, removal of buttons and other radically redesigned features. All unconfirmed by the mobile giant however, and only to be confirmed on its launch.
By throttling the youth’s curiosity, Samsung has Afrillennials coming to them instead of depending on them to stick around to see their ads. We’ve seen the rise of ad blockers and premium subscription models that remove ads altogether, which goes to show that everyone is trying desperately to escape all the noise brands are making.
The challenge marketers face is that they’ve lost control over the viewer completely. While brands used to control what content we consume, we now live in a space where everyday people have control of media, content, conversations and decision-making journeys.
Game of Thrones Season 7: On Ice
Disruptive marketing is rooted in creativity and innovation, so HBO recently made fans watch ice melt on Facebook Live for a full 69 minutes to find out when Season 7 of Game Of Thrones will be out. While you’d expect an article of sorts or a riveting trailer announcing the premiere, Game Of Thrones decided to heat things up a little. Fans could live stream the melting block and participate in social feeds by typing “FIRE” in the comments as the crew blazed the block with fire to melt it down.
Fans were particularly impatient when the melting didn’t go as planned, making light of it with punny Game of Thrones punch lines.
At least the crew popped in to keep the anticipation lit. Millennials felt a little cheated to eventually find out they have to wait till 16 June to see the new series but it was also pretty shocking that in the end the crew needed to go through a lot of effort and use not one, but two flame throwers to melt the ice. In the end, the youth embraced the unusual behaviour and while the concept had a meltdown and didn’t go as planned, the youth don’t love Game of Thrones any less. Watch the teaser and get in on some of the icy action, here!
What’s So Disruptive About That?
A lot of brand stunts are visually appealing but serve no purpose what so ever, leading youth on to the next one. The fact that these brands managed to get the youth to stop and stare, is disruptive already.
Young people associate themselves with the content they love, so be relevant, engaging and entertaining, discover what’s missing from their lives and show them just that. Get to know where young people are and how to speak to them so that it’s easier for them to latch onto your visual hook.
And if you’re still missing the mark with nothing but a seat on the content consumption brand-wagon, get in touch with Student Village on 011 885 3918 or email [email protected].