In today’s incredibly competitive and diverse business ecosystem, where virtually every conceivable product and service is never more than a few clicks and keystrokes away, brands have to do more.

They have to create experiences that capture attention, delight and educate their fans, and leave lasting memories that help instill positive brand associations in the minds of customers.

Experience Is a Teacher

The brand experience is the culmination of a variety of touchpoints: websites, stores, social media channels, promotions, loyalty programs, events, and more. Everything the brand says and does is an opportunity to evoke a sensory response in its audience, which in turn has the power to generate emotions, analytic thoughts, and even feelings of identification or spiritual connection.

Brand experiences (like all experiences, really) are sensory, we take them in via our senses and filter them through our personal perspectives. Creating an emotional connection to a brand and lasting relationships with customers is impossible without touchpoints that hit on all our major senses.

The key to designing and orchestrating powerful brand experiences is crafting each touchpoint and sensation to maintain consistent — and consistently positive — brand associations.

Think serving cheap instant coffee at a car dealership won’t affect the sales process? Think again. Subtle details like that accumulate and the potential customer draws an overarching conclusion that can become ingrained in their mind. Even the smallest factors can be influential. In one case it was shown that conversion rates for a retailer increased by as much as 27-percent when they gave customers the opportunity to virtually examine a product with a spinning 360-degree view.

When feelings and ideas are especially positive and aligned with an individual’s own interests and values, the experience helps differentiate the brand from its rivals. That in turn, inspires greater brand loyalty and ultimately increased conversions, which in the case of brands, is often sales but also includes less direct but still vitally important wins like new subscribers to a social channel and new brand advocates and ambassadors.

In fact, a massive 70-percent of business leaders surveyed by Qualtrics, maker of cloud-based experience management solutions, said that building better brand experiences will translate to improved brand awareness and differentiation. Forrester Research shows that boosting those somewhat qualitative metrics, in turn, helps generate more objective measures of brand success like increased revenues.

To harness the full potential of unified brand experiences there are a few terms you’ll want to be able to differentiate.

The Tech-enabled Buyer’s Journey

Interest in better aligning brand activity to customer preferences and creating memorable brand experiences is a big part of why automation and artificial intelligence are of growing importance for modern marketers. Cool projects like an automated boba tea bar that serves up beverages via robot are enabling novel and exciting experiences at scale.

Another major impetus for the push towards more experiential branding has been demographic shifts. Millennials are famously more inclined to spend on experiences rather than material possessions.

Their younger cohorts in Gen Z, having come of age in troubled economic times, are slightly more focused on saving money but still less interested in conspicuous consumption than older generations like Gen X and the Baby Boomers — and they are more likely to expect a full-fledged experience for their money, regardless of what they are buying.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, those shifts in consumer behavior are accelerating. According to Salesforce, 76-percent of Gen Zers and 73-percent of Millennials say they want companies to translate their existing products and services into digital experiences.

Digital experiences like Marriott’s Portal to Paradise, an AR app that lets trip planners see what their dream destinations would look like if they were right in front of them. Or, stream platform Twitch’s snappy and colorful landing page heralding their rebrand. They know their fans are interested in everything they do and want to hear about the behind-the-scenes in a fun and interactive way.

Five Brands Making Smart Investments in Experiences

In 2021, the brand experience isn’t just a component of the customer value proposition, it’s a primary driver; failing to deliver unique, memorable, and rewarding experiences can relegate even brands with innovative offerings to irrelevancy.

Here are five brands that have taken that lesson to heart and are instead building experiences that are tailored to their audience and generating positive buzz:

Carolina Herrera 212 Heroes “Forever Young”

What does Carolina Herrera — the octogenarian high fashion designer, famed for dressing First Ladies from Jacqueline Onassis to Michelle Obama — have to do with the gritty, raw world of street skateboarding?

Ok, granted the streets in the new interactive game released on her company’s website, 212 Heroes: Forever Young, isn’t quite as gritty as the average Tony Hawk Pro Skater level, but it’s still got some edge and the game, despite just being a simple three-button web app, is surprisingly fun and polished and comes backed by a hip cover of an 80s hit for the soundtrack. Along with an interactive microsite featuring videos, profiles of brand ambassadors including Pose’s incredible, Indya Moore, and a cheeky AR application, the game provides a fun, accessible entry point into the world of Herrera’s 212 fragrance.

According to the brand, the vegan fragrance celebrates youth, freedom, and authenticity. And what’s a better metaphor for feeling young and free than barreling down a city street, wind in your hair, ollying over cabs — just you, your board, and the city. Authenticity is a desirable trait across brands right now; 212 Heros is a perfect example of a well-tailored brand experience in that it captures the ethos of the product and market it’s connected to.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey x Shoe Surgeon

Dominic Ciambrone, better known on Instagram as the Shoe Surgeon, is an expert in finely crafted goods that use classic tools, materials, and techniques. The same can be said of Jack Daniel’s, the famed distiller that has been producing its old No.7 brand whisky for over 146 years. So a collaboration between the two was a smart match when Jack Daniel’s wanted to share the attention to detail and high level of craftsmanship that goes into its Tennessee Honey liqueur.

They built an interactive 3D experience called Finely Crafted where users can virtually walk around the environment, watch videos, learn about the shoemaking process and the materials used with visual guides, and collect digital ‘honey’ that gives them a chance to win a drop for an exclusive pair of Tennessee Honey shoes created by Ciambrone.

The experience also helps to highlight both brands’ attitudes that the process is as important (and as interesting) as the outcome. When the customer takes that first sip of Tennessee Honey or laces up their bespoke leather kicks, the knowledge that they were produced slowly and carefully by artisan hands that love what they do adds to the experience.

Amazon Salon

As a brand built on technology, Amazon understands that getting ahead of the competition as a new innovation becomes more established is a powerful competitive advantage. It comes as no surprise then, that the etailer has decided to open a brick and mortar hair salon in London.

Taking up 1,500 sq. ft., the Amazon Salon will offer AR hair consultations where customers can virtually see what their new do will like well before the scissors and dye are needed. For those in need of a new look, it’s a modern tool for doing an old thing in an improved and interesting way. For Amazon, it’s a chance to experiment with the latest technology trends, lead through innovation, and form stronger relationships:

“We want this unique venue to bring us one step closer to customers, and it will be a place where we can collaborate with the industry and test new technologies,” said John Boumphrey, the brand’s UK Country Manager.

Experience M&M’s

M&M’s have become so ingrained in our culture that it’s easy to forget just how forward-thinking their marketing has been from the beginning. From their incredibly long-lasting tagline “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands,” which prompted their first big customer, The U.S. Military, to purchase the candy for soldiers serving in tropical regions during World War I, to their early campaigns from the 1950s that featured anthropomorphic candy characters and cartoonlike storytelling, the Mars company seems to have always had an understanding of just how important making personal, emotional connections were going to be to the longevity of the brand. The M&M voices have been played by the likes of Jon Lovitz, Jon Goodman, and Vanessa Williams.

Today the brand continues to harness the power of experience, putting it front and center as a section on their website dedicated to the brand experiences they’ve crafted over time. And there’s a little something for everyone. You can pick candies based on your mood that come with curated Spotify playlists to set the vibe. Craving something a bit more personalized? They’ve got you covered there too. Pick your favorite colors, upload a photo or other design, choose your own packaging, and voilà you’ve just created your very own one-of-a-kind M&M’s.

Consumers can even visit major stores virtually, like the recently opened flagship location at the Mall of America, where they can travel through the shop and purchase candy and merchandise as if they were picking those items up right off the shelf. M&M’s latest flagship branded retail experience is a 24,000 sq. ft. temple to fun, activity, togetherness, and our shared love of all things chocolate. Chock full of personalization stations, exclusive merchandise, a Wall of Chocolate, and a tour of Peanut Peak with a rooftop lookout, the location pays homage to both the candymaker and the Minnesota home of the Mall of America.

“M&M’S aims to inspire fans to find ways to connect with each other, all while creating better moments and more smiles,” said Patrick McIntyre, Director of Global Retail at Mars Retail Group. The new M&M’S Mall of America store champions the fun ways fans can connect with others — and you truly see this come together in the immersive experiences only the M&M’S Mall of America store offers.”

Intersect by Lexus

Forrester has been ranking brands on their CX index for many years now, and luxury automaker Lexus is perennially at the top of the list. According to Mike Tripp, the brand’s VP of Guest Experience, the key to that accomplishment “…is being crystal clear about your purpose or what you stand for.”

Forrester’s research backs up that claim; brands with stakeholders that trust, understand, and enjoy the customer experience have customers that are:

That mindset is powering their recent return to physical retail in New York City. Intersect by Lexus is a newly reopened space in the city’s trendy Meatpacking District that serves as a North American hub for delivering branded experiences. But, you won’t find any cars there. Instead, visitors are immersed in the Lexus lifestyle: the materials, the smells, the refined taste, and the attention to detail that buyers of luxury goods demand.

While wandering through their thoughtfully curated galleries, coffee shops, fine dining, and retail spaces — all of which are adorned with subtle nods to the brand such as a spindle grille and even a minicar wall — potential Lexus customer’s are exposed to the brand, taking it in with all their senses, and primed to form lasting memories and meaningful brand associations.

LACMA x Snapchat: Monumental Perspectives

When it comes to creating integrated experiences that mesh the digital world with the physical, the team at Snap must be included in the conversation. Most people can probably point to the incredibly fun and easy-to-use camera lenses created by Snapchat as their first seamless, enjoyable Augmented Reality experience.

Their latest collaboration with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art builds on the pioneering, shared augmented reality experiences developed for their Landmarkers, Local Lenses, and City Painter technologies and adds an element of social responsibility into the mix to take their community-building efforts to the next level.

Funded in part by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which aims to transform the way our country’s histories are told in public spaces, Monumental Perspectives brings together 5 innovative artists to create site-specific augmented reality monuments and murals across the city in celebration of LA’s diverse, communities, histories, and perspectives.

In 2021, It Takes More to Stay Top of Mind

The days of lifelong brand loyalty are, sadly, long done.

Today, options abound, switching costs have never been lower, and consumer attention is incredibly difficult to grab and hold. Brands that hope to not just compete but thrive under these conditions have to be more than a good option. They have to create meaningful experiences that connect with their core mission, align with their customers’ preferences and values, and create positive memories that stay with their fans long after the experience has ended.

There is a reason brands like Heineken were early adopters to marketing at music concerts and festivals. They understand that experiences filled with powerful sights and sounds stick with people, and they want their name and logo connected to those happy memories. The pandemic may have put a temporary pause on the next amazing branded beer garden at Coachella, but without question, they will be back.

The return on investment for smart, branded experiences is too appealing, and the cost of missing out is too high.

Gigasavvy is built to create incredible, memorable, unique, brand-boosting experiences on and offline. Contact us to learn how we can help your brand create positive memories that connect and influence.

It’s noisy and busy in the marketplace, perhaps more so than at any time in human history.

We were promised that the internet would democratize access to information, tear down geographic boundaries, and make interacting with people and businesses all over the world as simple as clicking a button.

For better and for worse, that all happened. We’re still grappling with the externalities, but a digital economy and a connected world are no longer thought experiments. They are essential parts of our daily lives.

For brands and advertisers, that reality is a double-edged sword. Their outreach can travel further and more efficiently to larger audiences, and with more precise targeting and data feedback than they ever dared hope for a decade ago — but so can the competition’s message.

“Modern consumers are inundated with content and branded communication from a growing list of channels. In a media ecosystem that hits the average consumer with over 6,000 marketing messages daily, it can seem impossible to get noticed (or hold everyone’s attention if you do). Anything boring, subdued, inauthentic, or commonplace gets tuned out.”

– Mitch Fait, Creative Director, Gigasavvy

To separate your brand from the rest, you have to be willing to put real skin in the game and go for something bold.

Audiences Have Seen and Heard It All Before

Attention is a scarce and fleeting resource. To capture and keep it, brands have to act boldly, making creative decisions that are just a half step outside their comfort zone.

They have to innovate faster, take more chances, iterate on successes, and brush off and learn from failures. Most of all, adaptive brands and companies must direct their energies towards strategies that will separate them from everyone else in the minds of their target market to inspire durable brand loyalty.

The alternative isn’t much of an alternative. It’s stagnation and ultimately extinction. Brands that play it safe, rest on their laurels and avoid upsetting anyone undercut their opportunities for growth and let their chance to pivot in the face of changing market forces wither on the vine.

As Atilla Cansun, pharma giant Merck’s former CMO once told an audience at Cannes Lions, brands need to take more risks and “constantly provoke,” explaining, “You can be overtaken in such a short space of time.”

Jorn Socquet, AB InBev marketing head, put it even more bluntly: “As CMOs, we don’t take risks. I think we’re a very lazy bunch who want to protect our jobs. We don’t want to have tough conversations with our bosses.”

Perhaps there was a time in marketing when outright risk aversion was called for, but this definitely isn’t it. Trading your long-term prospects for short-term security isn’t a strategy, it’s a surrender.

Embrace Risk… But Manage It

Whatever the reason for avoiding risk and bold ideas, be it fear or apathy, the consequences are similar. Sinking further and further into irrelevance, while nimbler, more daring, and aggressive rivals steal away market share.

Managing risk is good brand stewardship, but only so long as the goal isn’t to eliminate risk entirely. Nothing of great value comes without risk. Frankly, if a project has no risk, it means one of two things: either the risk was misjudged or the project is of trivial importance.

Winning new fans, breaking into new markets, challenging an established market leader, and shifting public perception require putting skin in the game. So, the question is, who has been taking big but smart risks and finding success?

Here’s the story of three brands that went bold and won big:

Marc Ecko – Still Free

Back in the aughts, streetwear designer Marc Ecko had a problem. His brand was perilously close to becoming mainstream. That’s not a problem for most clothing makers, but for Ecko, it meant losing cachet with its most influential audience, namely the graffiti artists and young, urban demographic that put it on the map in the first place.

Ecko needed a big, crazy move to prove it was as gritty and authentic as ever.

In a guerrilla marketing stunt for the ages, the brand filmed a three-minute video called “Still Free” that purported to show a vandal breaking into Andrews Airforce Base and tagging up none other than Air Force One.

It was all just special effects trickery, but the footage was convincing enough that the Pentagon had to issue not one but three strongly worded denials that America’s most secure aircraft was in fact perfectly fine.

The end result for Ecko was perhaps the first viral marketing coup, with 23 million unique views in just the first two weeks of the video’s release. More importantly, the story was picked up by over 17,000 international news outlets, winning global attention for Ecko.

They had successfully converted a tiny marketing spend into millions of dollars of earned media, and demonstrated to their audience that they hadn’t lost their edge.

Nike – Dream Crazy

Colin Kaepernick probably didn’t realize when he first started taking a knee at NFL games during the National Anthem that his football career was ending and life as a political activist and influencer was beginning.

Once he started on that path, however, battle lines were quickly drawn. One side supported his objection to the treatment of African Americans by police. The other considered his act unpatriotic. Brands as big as Nike don’t typically like to wade right into the middle of a dispute as politically and emotionally charged as that.

This is why the world was stunned in 2018 at the release of a campaign headlined by Kaepernick asking us to “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

The backlash was swift. #BoycottNike immediately started trending on social media and former Nike fans posted videos burning their sneakers and cutting the Swooshes off their clothes. But not everyone was upset. Serena Williams tweeted that she was “…especially proud to be a part of the Nike family today.” Online sales spiked 31-percent immediately following the campaign’s launch.

Three years later, and while the boycott mostly disappeared, Nike is still riding high. Ace Metrix found that only 13-percent of consumers they surveyed said they were less likely to purchase from Nike after viewing the ad. 56-percent said they were more likely, and that number was higher for millennials and Gen Z.

While it might have seemed a huge gamble, in truth, it was in keeping with their brand identity and core values. Nike has long positioned itself as a young at heart rebel brand that embraces the pain that accompanies growth and greatness.

Plus, they are as aware as anyone, particularly given the younger demos they court, that consumers are demanding the brands they interact with and patronize take a vocal stand on the big issues of the day — and lip service won’t cut it. They want to see action.

So, Nike took a risk that is in keeping with its ethos, capabilities, and goals. They didn’t attempt something out of character just for the sake of risk-taking, and, according to Nike Chairman Mark Parker, it led to “record engagement with the brand” (not to mention an Emmy for best commercial).

Wendy’s – Keeping Fortnite Fresh

Wendy’s is a classic challenger brand. It’s not a niche player, but it has little chance of overtaking the dominant market leader. Rather than see that as a limitation, however, it has chosen to take it as a license to have more fun, take more chances, and be fearless in its efforts to define itself as different and superior to other burger brands. And it’s working! Wendy’s is now the No. 2 burger chain in America.

In 2020 they have been anything but square, applying truly innovative marketing and advertising practices to work, increasing sales by 4.8% and rounding out a $10.23 billion year amidst a pandemic, while Burger in contrast fell by 5.4%. Sure, McDonald’s is still the dominant player, with U.S. sales exceeding $40 billion that remained flat this past year,

There are so many great campaigns that come to mind when digging into Wendy’s archives, but one that demonstrates just how intune they are with their audience and current trends, as well as how agile and innovative their marketing team is, would have to be their campaign “Keeping Fortnite Fresh.”

Without an official in-game sponsorship, Wendy’s identified an organic way to make waves across the Fortnite community. When Fortnite announced a new game mode, Food Fight, pitting Team Pizza against Team Burger (a reference to the game’s 2 iconic restaurants, Pizza Pit and Durr Burger), Wendy’s saw their opportunity and seized the moment. Rather than bombarding Fortnite fans with Wendy’s advertisements and interrupting their gaming fun, Wendy’s joined the fray and became part of the story by creating a Wendy’s inspired avatar and announcing their mission on Twitch to destroy all Durr Burger freezers in the game on behalf of Team Pizza. A move in complete alignment with their core brand message and key point of differentiation: fresh, never frozen beef.

And what about the results? Wendy’s amassed more than 1.5 million minutes watched. Their Twitch stream was viewed over 250 million times and mentions of Wendy’s increased by 119% across social platforms.

In today’s competitive landscape you have to break out of the ordinary and serve up entertaining and engaging content if you want to cut through the noise. Companies with a strong brand strategy in place can identify unique opportunities and leverage original ways of communicating to strike gold. But conform to convention and you’re dead in the water.

The Only Way Out Is Through

In the digital economy, things move fast and the rate of change is accelerating. A lack of awareness of what’s at stake, or a lack of urgency in addressing these realities, is brand growth kryptonite, and any brand not growing is dying.

Yet, there are also growing concerns about offending audiences. Fears of being canceled, inciting a social media hate mob, insulting a vulnerable population, or just making the brand look bad are discouraging brand managers from sailing fearlessly into uncharted waters.

The only proven path ahead is to welcome change and have the courage to face the consequences of trying big and bold (but strategically selected and analytically vetted) brand experiments.

As Michael Lee, the Creative Director at oat milk brand Oatly, tells his team: “You have to have a thick skin because there’s a lot of anger and contention.” Lee sees that as a cost of doing business and one worth the price.

The key to pushing creative boundaries is to remain true to your brand’s mission and voice while maintaining a strong connection with the culture and community that supports you. If you remain actively engaged and stay true to these principles, you will identify your unique opportunities to break with convention and run unexpected campaigns that gain attention, build loyalty, and drive growth.

Google’s recent announcement only further confirms that digital marketers need to shift their perspective to thrive in the new economy. But what does all this mean and what can you be doing today to get ahead of the curve?

We answer that and so much more with our panel of marketing leaders from DuckDuckGo, Melissa’s, Sling TV, and Centro as they dive deep into the importance of data privacy and how they’re challenging themselves to be more creative and innovative in the ways they communicate and connect with consumers.

Want to know more about how this will continue to impact your approach to marketing and advertising? Check out our blog No Cookies, No Problem: How To Position Your Brand For Success In A Privacy-First Future.

In the modern digital economy, growth is prized above almost all else. Investors, advertisers, brands, and users all want to be associated with the next big thing.

While TikTok can’t match Facebook’s massive reach, Mark Zuckerberg is unquestionably envious of the Chinese-owned app’s eye-watering growth figures. In 2020, TikTok broke 100 million active daily users and saw overall user growth top 85.3-percent in the U.S., and we weren’t alone. 12 of the 13 countries eMarketer studied saw similar growth rates in the high double to low triple digits.

TikTok will clearly play a big role in the year to come. The question is, how are brands strategically leveraging its unique advantages while avoiding the pitfalls of a still new and somewhat unpredictable social network?

What’s in the Secret Sauce?

As rumors of an acquisition by Microsoft swirled in late 2020, analysts debated whether TikTok’s value was its brand and the youthful demo that was flocking to it, or their highly effective, and mostly secret algorithm — which is uncannily good at figuring out what a user wants and delivering it to them.

The deal never went through, and the details of TikTok’s algorithm remain a mystery, but what we do know is that unlike for example Google or Facebook, which have huge repositories of demographic and behavioral data (much of it submitted voluntarily by the users themselves) for optimizing user experiences and targeting outreach, TikTok feeds three main inputs into its algorithm:

• Computer Vision: Optical detection of scene elements (e.g. “girl in sneakers dancing outside”)
• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Audio portions of videos are transcribed and then analyzed for keywords, tone, and general meaning
• Metadata: Uploaded file names, hashtags, and other user-entered descriptions and comments

What happens in the black box when all that information is analyzed is anyone’s guess, but what comes out, is a user experience that is nothing short of addictive.

Business consultants and futurists have been foretelling of this day for years. Machine learning is finally enabling personalized content delivery at scale in the real world. And also as predicted, users prefer their experience personalized. They like seeing things that interest them, connect to their lives, appeal to their sensibilities, and speak their language.

Risk Management

Investing in TikTok is not without its risks. For one thing, numerous countries (including the U.S.) have threatened to ban it on more than one occasion. India, one of the largest and most active TikTok user bases in the world, just implemented a complete ban of the app over a border dispute with China.

The U.S. ban, which reportedly had to do with foreign censorship and user privacy concerns, never went into effect (and a forced sale to an American company also never happened), and though its status stateside is still in limbo, it does appear the immediate risk of a nationwide ban has passed.

From a brand-safety perspective, advertisers are demanding active moderation and transparency as to content standards. Brands courting a youth demographic are particularly cautious about the content they produce, share, and comment on.

They’d also like more clarity as to whether TikTok is censoring content that is critical of Chinese interests. For its part, TikTok claims it only withholds promotion from content they deem as inappropriately shocking or spam.

What’s clear is that, whether it’s domestic or foreign-based, the honeymoon period with social media has passed. The vulnerabilities are now as apparent as the opportunities. The benefits of engaging with new communities and channels, however, still outweigh the risks for most.

Never Waste Virality

For some brands, the biggest risk associated with TikTok is failing to leverage it when opportunities arise. Paint purveyor Sherwin-Williams learned that lesson the hard way after finding itself ridiculed for firing a young employee that was producing hypnotizing TikTok videos of paint being mixed.

“They sent a signal, as loud as it was unintentional, that employees who do what they’re told are more valuable than employees who think outside the box,” PR executive Andrew Cross told Adweek. “They’ve unintentionally stifled employee ingenuity.”

@tonesterpaint’s 1.6 million followers were outraged. Many chastised Sherwin-Williams and questioned why they hadn’t instead partnered with him, like Ocean Spray did when a skateboarder named Dogface went viral lip-syncing Fleetwood Mac while drinking one of their juices.

Standout Moments

2020 was a breakout year for TikTok because it afforded an incredible opportunity for brands to not just speak to their audience, but interact and have fun with them. Some of the most popular such trends right now include:

Here are several brands that strategically exploited the platform with inventive, co-creative, and inherently viral experiences:

Beats By Dre

One of the most successful TikTok brand activations in 2020 was the branded hashtag challenge, where brands ask their followers to perform a certain task and then post their experience online with an associated hashtag.

To launch a new line of summer colors for their headphones, Beats by Dre partnered with rapper and influencer Ashnikko who asked her 1.9 million followers to collaborate on a series of videos based on each color and tagged with #BeatsDaisyChallenge. The campaign netted 7.1 billion views and 460 million engagements.

We’ve teamed up with @ashnikko to create a colorful video for her new track “Daisy.”
Tap in to join the #BeatsDaisyChallenge on TikTok. https://t.co/zUjfNlAarA pic.twitter.com/GigR9oF2hR

— Beats by Dre (@beatsbydre) July 13, 2020

Dunkin’

McDonald’s is serving up combo meals the way rapper Travis Scott and reggaeton star J Balvin like them, and Chipotle offers a Shawn Mendes bowl. But Dunkin’ has plans to feature some less well-known fans of their menu.
It’s asking brand fans to share their favorite food hacks, inventive combinations of their menu items like “Maddie’s Hack,” a bagel with cream cheese, hash browns, and Snackin’ Bacon, and tag their post to TikTok with #DunkinMenuHackContest. Three winners will have their creations featured on menus nationwide.

Ray-Ban

In response to advertiser demand, TikTok’s Creative Lab launched a gamified branded effect feature in the summer of 2020. Sunglass maker Ray-Ban was one the first brands to go viral with an augmented reality TikTok element that allowed users to directly interact with on-screen branded elements. Users donned a virtual pair of shades and used their own eyebrows as paddles in a game of virtual pinball.

Street Grace

If you think TikTok is only about entertainment and commerce, take a look at the good works an Atlanta-based nonprofit is doing on the platform.

To combat child sex trafficking, Street Grace created a TikTok account called the Help Locker, which debunks misinformation about trafficking and serves as a sounding board and source of education for teens and others looking for help or guidance related to this sensitive issue. The account has generated 150,000 followers and over 3 million likes.

Why Brands Are So Interested

Simply put, TikTok offers better access to young demographics than just about any other digital platform today. Plus, the engagement figures are through the roof. Instagram is bleeding users to TikTok, and that trend will likely continue.

Additionally, whereas Instagram is designed to keep users connected to people they already know and follow, TikTok is optimized to show content that its algorithm think’s they’ll enjoy, regardless of whether they have been exposed to it before.

Because viral content is optimized and discovery is baked into the platform, TikTok is far more likely to elevate small content creators than Instagram.

Speak Your Audience’s Language

Marshall McLuhan, one of the fathers of modern media theory, was the first to assert that “the medium is the message.” The context, in other words, is communicating as loudly as the content, and TikTok’s medium is fast, fun, new, young, experimental, mobile, and ephemeral.

With the reach and effect of paid media gradually diminishing with young audiences, TikTok is an opportunity to connect with them where they are, in the medium they are most comfortable with.

TikTok for Brands Roudtable

Can’t get enough TikTok? Check out our recent roundtable discussion centered around the business case for TikTok and how brands can leverage this technology to create campaigns that engage consumers in new and exciting ways.

Ready to dive into the TikTok universe? Get in touch with us today to begin crafting your own brand experience on TikTok.

For a year marked by lockdowns, 2020 was also paradoxically a time when many people were in motion. We moved from densely packed cities to remote spots in the countryside and transitioned from physical locations to virtual ones.

The gym gave way to live-streamed Peloton classes. The office was replaced by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and other productivity and collaboration platforms. Even school went virtual and many medical services were delivered via telehealth.

Digital transformation was a priority across industries even before the pandemic hit, but after, it became a true lifeline.

Post-Pandemic Pivot

Some brands and companies were slow to change when COVID emerged. Others saw the opportunity to use their skills and creative strengths to quickly develop memorable and innovative solutions.

For example, when the L.A. Dodgers made it to the World Series, Postmates developed a unique at-home experience for fans. Everything from classic Dodger Dogs to a mini baseball helmet filled with chicken strips was made available for home delivery to recreate the stadium experience as best as possible under the circumstances.

Lockdowns forced us to rely far more heavily on digital tools than ever before. And not just the mundane stuff like online spreadsheets and chat rooms. Almost two-thirds of leading consumer brands, invested in AR, VR, 3D content, and 360-degree video in 2020, according to Accenture.

These still early experimentations will only grow more sophisticated, more immersive, and more engaging. We still haven’t seen a killer app in this sector, a piece of content, or a platform that massively drives adoption, but it’s only a matter of time.

In fact, Gigasavvy Creative Director Mitch Fait believes that reality is closer than even many industry insiders realize:

“There has always been a barrier to entry for AR in advertising because you had to force users to download a special app to view content. People resisted using QR codes for the same reason. But, with that tech now native to most phones, there is an opportunity to push AR experiences in ways previously unimaginable to mass audiences.”

Ultimately, technology is only as useful or engaging as the purpose for which it’s deployed, and 2020 saw some ingenious implementations — many of which will stick around in 2021 and beyond.

Digital Togetherness

Humans are social animals. We are driven to share, connect, and congregate. When we couldn’t see each other in person we formed gatherings on messaging apps, video conferencing platforms, and social media networks. We formed digital clubs, live-streamed our days, and shared our experiences through whatever digital means were available. And the platforms responded to this new normal.

Discord, the online service for gamers, artists, and hobbyists, saw a 47% increase in use. Spotify rolled out a plugin-in for listening parties. Twitch, the video game streaming site, broke usage records seemingly every month. Five billion hours were watched on the platform in the second quarter of 2020 alone.

Live viewings jumped 50% on Facebook during lockdowns, and Instagram was up over 70%. Generation Y favorite TikTok broke 100 million active monthly users in the U.S., an 800% increase from 2018.

What’s more, these platforms enabled a far more interactive and engaging experience than legacy media channels are capable of. Viewers could post questions, tag images and videos, share digital stickers and emojis, and even buy products directly in their mobile apps and social media websites.

Virtually There

Another thing that is likely here to stick around in 2021 is the increasing number of incredible interactive virtual events. A record-breaking 12 million players logged into Fortnite to catch Travis Scott’s live virtual concert, Astronomical. J Balvin’s Halloween concert in the battle royale game was also incredibly well received.

Though forced to take their acts online by the pandemic, brands leaned into the opportunity and created experiences that were eye-popping, larger than life, and so engaging that you can bet Fortnite will continue to seek out top artists to collaborate with for virtual events, regardless of whether real-world venues are hosting events or not.

With its runway show canceled, Prada converted its SS 2021 Womenswear Show into a multimedia experience, complete with fully immersive 3D VR. Competing high fashion brand Zegna described its approach as ‘phygital,’ a hybrid solution that merged pre-recorded content with live models.

Rebranding Revolution

Some of the changes brought about by the pandemic will slowly fade away with time. A post-COVID world will hopefully feature a lot less social distancing. But not every new change will disappear. 75% of U.S. consumers tried different stores, websites, or brands during the pandemic. The majority of them said they expect to integrate these new brands or stores into their post-pandemic lives. Gigasavvy Strategy Director Kristy Gulsvig expects the recent interest in rebranding will spread in 2021 and continue growing as brands are required to evolve and adapt to accelerating trends.

“Brands are beginning to invest in rebranding to keep up with changing consumer behaviors and attitudes,” says Kristy. “They are also rethinking the way they converse with their customers. Brands are laser-focused on identifying what consumers truly care about and communicating their values in authentic ways that resonate by tapping into our shared humanity.”

Conscious Companies

An increased demand that brands and companies articulate their position on pressing issues of the day and behave in accordance with their stated core values, a trend that has been attributed to the Gen Y and Z demographics, exploded in 2020 amid cultural upheaval surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, pandemic lockdowns, and growing awareness of environmental risks.

Diversity and inclusion, in particular, were hot button issues in 2020. Accenture found that 41% of consumers have begun deserting retailers that don’t reflect their views on identity and diversity. That trend has implications from the consumer perspective — 66% of millennials say they won’t patronize a company that refuses to take a stand — and for employers who have discovered that most of the younger talent pool is willing to ‘job-hop’ until they find a home that matches their ethos.

“The need to formulate and express a prosocial corporate culture and vision has become a vital objective, with very real repercussions not just for most company’s ethical grounding and perceptions of their authenticity, but on profitability and brand growth,” said Gigasavvy’s Kristy Gulsvig.

Co-creative User Involvement

In March of 2020, as the pandemic was just starting to become a reality, there was an 80% increase in searches for “DIY” (“do it yourself”) on Google.

Taking the initiative to build it yourself turns a rote activity into a journey of personal growth. Harnessing the IKEA effect (the tendency to put disproportionate value on goods you help build) is an emerging goal for all designers of engaging experiences and interactions. What was once limited to couches with unpronounceable Swedish names now applies to just about anything.

“Your audience isn’t a dumping ground for content, messaging, and products,” explains Gigasavvy Marketing Director Daniel Reizes. “So much of what traditional marketers do is landfill, put into the world to meet a deadline or check a box, then tossed away and forgotten in an instant with the hope of subconsciously influencing purchasing decisions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As marketers, we are in a position to add significant cultural value to society by creating opportunities for dialogue and discovery. Best of all, we don’t need an algorithm or cookies that track our behavior to make these connections.”

Part and parcel with that development has been the perpetual growth of user-generated content (UGC). “Audiences loved the opportunity to share their voices, and brands were more than happy to help them because it’s an inexpensive source of relatable and authentic earned media that helps form lasting bonds and stay stop of mind amongst consumers,” says Reizes.

Gigasavvy’s Senior Social Media Strategist, Angie Guevara, predicts that the next big trend in UGC will be remixing. Superfans empowered with the tools of digital creation aren’t just consuming culture, they are recreating and reimagining it, and adding in their own personal touches and character.

Agile Agencies

Another trend that flourished in 2020 and which is primed for further growth is the rise of smaller and independent marketing and advertising agencies. With a new reason to pivot seemingly every month, the value of a partner that is inherently nimble — and able to extract maximum value from smaller, more targeted brand investments — has been highlighted.

According to Adweek, 40% of brands could be looking for a new agency in the next six to 12 months, and with less bureaucracy and fewer stakeholders to appease, small and independent shops are empowered to be proactive in solving problems and accelerating turnaround times to address rapidly changing conditions in the marketplace.

Even the very biggest brands, like pizza giant Domino’s, are devoting a lot more attention to this space these days. “I really feel that the independent agency model gives us more flexibility and less distractions,” said Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer Art D’Elia. Others, including their rival Papa John’s and massive conglomerates like Kraft Heinz, are also diversifying their roster of agencies to include smaller firms that are more open to creative experimentation and a quicker cadence.

Cookieless Web

One of the biggest unknowns facing us in 2021 will be the fate of a time-tested piece of digital marketing technology: the browser cookie. These tiny bits of data record user activity on the web and are essential for advertisers attempting to track, target, and optimize digital ads. It’s difficult to personalize outreach when you don’t know who you are talking to, after all.

That is about to change, though. Google has announced that in 2022, its Chrome browser, which dominates globally with 65% market share, will stop supporting third-party cookies. That change might result in the development of new, less invasive, and more private means of tracking users.

It also looks to spur the growth of advertising directly on ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Walmart, which rose by 39% in 2020, according to eMarketer, and is predicted to grow another 30% in 2021 to reach 13% of the total digital ad spend in the U.S. Top ecommerce sites know a lot about their customers already and aren’t as reliant on third-party tracking.

What’s Next?

Complacency breeds contempt, but new obstacles light the fires of creation, and the whole world was challenged in 2020 like at no point in most people’s lives. We should be proud that, in the face of volatility and turmoil, so many forged ahead unabated. More than half of the respondents to tech brand Wetransfer’s year-end survey said that the changes in their working environment resulted in them having more ideas, not less.

Growth always happens outside our comfort zone, and 2020, most would agree, was a year spectacularly devoid of typical comforts. For certain, the road ahead is still perilous and uncertain, but the knowledge that we can not only survive but thrive no matter what 2021 throws at us is confidence-inspiring and should serve as motivation to continue to evolve, ideate, and connect.

Ready to start leveraging the lessons of 2020 to make your 2021 revolutionary? Talk to Gigasavvy today.

The majority of consumers make decisions based on their personal values.

So what does a successful purpose-driven strategy look like?

We held a roundtable discussion with four marketing and business leaders from three national and global brands, to explore the ways they create and support powerful purpose-driven strategies. 

Here are some of the takeaways from our panel of purpose-driven marketers:

Question: Why did you choose to pursue a purpose-driven brand and marketing strategy?

Barbara Moreno, VP Marketing of Allied Universal

It started before I even took the position with Allied Universal, when I was doing my research on the industry. What we found was that there was a sea of sameness and lack of differentiation among our top competitors. 

When we started doing our own research, we found that customers and employees would tend to talk about features and benefits. But when there’s no emotional connection, customers tend to make decisions based on price. That’s a problem. We don’t want to be viewed as commoditized. 

We started to dig into our why: what do we and why do we do? What we uncovered – the feeling of safety – was there all along. 

Safety is a basic, fundamental truth based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This went perfectly with our existing tagline, “There for you,” and resonated with us as a team. We were able to build a distinct purpose around defining what “there for you” means.

As we defined our direction, it was key to have executive buy-in at every step of the process. We had ongoing conversations with our CEO as we went along. The CEO was involved every step of the way in defining our new guiding statements, and in the brand campaign that brought our purpose to life. It’s essential to involve your senior leadership and to have that alignment all the way through the process.

Question: What are some of the challenges in pursuing a purpose-driven strategy?

Helen Robinson, CEO of Organic Initiative

The noise! Greenwashing is a big issue for us. In the period products marketplace, unlike food companies or cosmetics, we are not required by law to list ingredients on our packages. So when someone sees “made with organic cotton,” no one realizes that the majority of the product is made of plastic and filled with toxins and chemicals. That communication makes it hard for companies like us who are doing it right.

Our conventional competitors have very deep pockets. So how do we help educate our customers that there is a different way? 

We have gone through the difficult process of ensuring that our period products are certified organic, globally. We have to use partnerships with like-minded companies to help us get that message out. It’s certainly not easy. There’s so much misinformation everywhere. 

What we’ve tried to do is use a provocative positive protest. We want to be positive and forward-thinking, while also being thought-provoking. Our packages say “Pure inside, nothing to hide.” We want the consumer to think about what that statement really means, and to ask questions about the products they are buying and using.

Question: How do you ensure that your purpose- or mission-driven strategy is playing out in an authentic way?

Daniel Lee, Head of Brand and Technology, Flame Broiler

Christian Lee, Head of Business Operations, Flame Broiler

Especially recently, being an ethical company has become a table-stakes feature for brands. For a lot of companies, being purpose-driven comes from a place of showing first, and doing second. Many companies are making it about a marketing ploy. 

For us, at Flame Broiler, it’s all about the heart. We try to live our values before we talk about them. When you lead with purpose, you may have a P&L that doesn’t always make sense. For example, we buy antibiotic-free chicken and sell it for $7.40.

But when your purpose is woven into the framework of who you are and let it inform your decisions, you can be confident that you’ll live it authentically. And success, profits, growth, become a byproduct. 

We use the analogy of an archer. Some archers look at the bullseye and try to hit it again and again. But instead of trying to focus on hitting the bullseye, if you focus on your form, equipment, and breathing, it becomes much easier to be successful. 

Question: Describe some of the success you’ve found in pursuing a purpose-driven strategy?

Daniel Lee, Head of Brand and Technology, Flame Broiler

Christian Lee, Head of Business Operations, Flame Broiler

When the company started, our dad never wanted more than one store. But in 2020, there are hundreds of locations. We’ve gotten to where we are through word of mouth. 

Our dad opened the first store to feed us and feed people good food. But customers demanded more, so he allowed franchisors to open their own store. We have no franchise salespeople, which is unusual in our world. Our growth is entirely community-driven. 

Barbara Moreno, VP Marketing of Allied Universal

Our industry has very high turnover so employee loyalty is super important. We’re very focused on employee retention. Being purpose-driven makes a lot of difference from that perspective. Since we’ve began communicating that purpose, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from our employees!

When we were able to articulate our purpose, it gave our employees and customers a definition of what they were a part of. It simplified our message. It brought authenticity and clarity for everyone in our organization. When you’re truly authentic to your purpose, people are naturally drawn in. It drives loyalty among customers and employees. It gives people a much bigger reason to believe in a company.

Helen Robinson, CEO of Organic Initiative

A single purpose guides our underlying principles. What are the actions and messages that you can use that play on those principles?

We use sales agencies and brokers to work with different retailers. This year, I spoke at a sales rep event. When I thanked them, I told them, “When you’re out there next year talking with buyers and stores and customers, remember that it’s not just about the orders and products on the shelf. It’s about the impact you’re making for the world and the health of women in the world.” The feedback I’ve had is how motivated they are because of that purpose!

Bonus Question: How did you find the right agency to pursue a purpose-driven strategy?

Barbara Moreno, VP Marketing of Allied Universal

It’s really important to find an agency partner that understands you well as a client and that can help you find ways to articulate your purpose and bring it to life. 

Not every agency has the background and wherewithal to tap into those core human truths and to create that core emotional connection with a given brand. For us, we’re very appreciative of working with Gigasavvy. From the beginning, the focus was on who we are as a company and brand, our culture, and why we do things. It’s that close partnership that allowed us to really be successful together.