Designing for, Marketing to, and Partnering with Gen Z

One of the best venture capital firms in the space (Andreessen Horowitz) has also built a massive media empire. Capital is a commodity in venture capital and firms like a16z are able to offer media and distribution as part of their competitive advantage.

One of their media properties is podcasting where in an episode covered below they discuss how to market and tap into the Gen Z population. Gen Z make up 35% of the population and will continue to grow in power and where money is spent. They are attracted to short form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube. They are the first generation that are mobile first and mobile native. 

They prefer video over text and are quick to adapt to the latest platform. Multi-tasking is another key behavior component where Gen Zers will be doing a FaceTime call while doing three other things at once. Keeping their full attention is very difficult. They care about authenticity and can catch fake content and fake creators rather quickly. They are brand strategists at the age of 10 and can see through most gimiks. 

 Source: https://a16z.com/2020/10/19/decoding-gen-z/

Custom or Look Alike Audience?

 The lengths to which digital marketing can go is enormous. As new data comes available, more and more ways to target customers and offer them specialized advertising arise.

Within Facebook, companies can choose custom audiences or Look-alike audiences. What's interesting is not only the extent at which data can provide marketing campaigns with direct consumer information, but also the extent in which the government can regulate such information access.

I found very interesting how in the EU, for instance, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation law) dictates that custom audiences need to be regulated and users need to provide conscent before the use of their personal information. In contrast, look-alike audiences is free of regulations since consumers are not directly contacted through personal data knowledge.

Therefore, to what extent are governments capable of restricting access to information and to what extent should they?

In any case, data usage is here to stay and users should be aware of the situation. In the end, as a consumer, you get information targeted directly to your needs or wants, which is not all bad either.

"Ad targeting got smarter and now it’s more precise than it has been ever before."

Articles:

https://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-answers/what-is-a-facebook-custom-audience/

https://leadsbridge.com/blog/guides/gdpr-and-facebook-all-you-need-to-know-to-keep-advertising-safely/

https://partners.livechat.com/blog/facebook-custom-lookalike-audience/#:~:text=Because%20while%20a%20custom%20audience,and%20your%20current%20customer%20base.

John Wick: Chapter 4 Is Already Happening

Using different (all) mediums to market to consumers/fans is table stakes now, but effective. This highlighted during the marketing campaign for the movie “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”. For people that have been engaged in the John Wick universe since the first movie, they have seen how the mythology and development of this world has evolved over the last two movies. Fans loved it so much, they wanted to have the experience of being connected to the universe in concrete way. The movie studio understood this, so they posted codes in the movie trailers and on online advertisements where you could text the number and you would receive text messages from “The Continental” (a fraternity of assassins). The messages would inform you of new things going on in the world and what to expect leading up to the movie’s release. This made people really feel like they were immersed in the universe. This was a great idea for marketing (I am a big John Wick fan and I was one of those fans that subscribed). 

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2472031/john-wick-chapter-4-is-already-happening

The Beyoncé Effect: Artists Who've Dropped New Albums Out of Nowhere

 I found this article interesting because I believe it really underscored the reality that megastars (there are only a few) no longer need large marketing campaigns to sell a product or advertise an upcoming performance (they are self-contained marketing platforms). This was confirmed in 2013 when Beyonce unexpectedly released her album “Beyonce” without any prior notice. She just posted an image of the new album and where to listen it on her social media accounts, and within hours the entire world was talking about it. Ever since Beyonce did this, many artists have followed her lead, because they also realized the landscape of how you market new products has shifted.

This highlights two key points: 1) the enhanced power of stars in the era of social media because they can have direct contact with their fanbase at any time (no middlemen/companies controlling it anymore); 2) how the average person or fan receives their information on what’s hot and trending, and how it influences their buying/attention patterns.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1213571/the-beyonce-effect-artists-whove-dropped-new-albums-out-of-nowhere

TV Advertising

 

Clubhou$e

 

It will be interesting to see how much investment brands start making in Clubhouse this year. Do you think other platforms will take a hit, or will the pie just keep getting bigger? 

"Brands who are savvy will truly lean in and listen to the topics that are paramount among their consumers. It's a huge learning opportunity and provides insight directly into what matters to their end consumers. Those insights could be used to influence product development, marketing strategy and so much more," Srinivasan said.

"Since it has the open, conversational feel, it is the next best thing to develop a more personal relationship that can't necessarily be achieved on other social media platforms."

Justin Kline

Markerly, co-founder

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/will-clubhouse-be-the-next-social-media-platform-for-marketers/595156/

Gorilla Glue Girl: Upswing in Sales (but Dangerous Precedent) Following Viral Social Media Post

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/gorilla-glue-sales-soar-entirely-unsolicited-social-media-windfall/2315586

As I’m sure many of you have seen, Tessica Brown, also named the “Gorilla Glue girl,” was successfully able to have a free surgery to remove the Gorilla Glue spray from her scalp.  Not only did she benefit from her dangerous decision to put the adhesive in her hair to secure her hairstyle - she started a GoFundMe that generated over $20,000 -, but also Gorilla Glue profited from the viral sensation considerably:

“Gorilla Glue” searches on Google exploded 50-fold in February from January. More importantly, the brand’s Amazon search volume soared an even bigger 4,378%, and its best seller rank rose 129%, which translates into a significant spike in sales, according to Profitero.”

I suppose that I’m still irked by how, to a certain extent, companies do not have full control over their public/online image, as a post on social media can greatly improve or hinder sales and, potentially, brand loyalty.  

Also, such antics on social media might prove dangerous for other consumers who choose to use a company’s product for attention in their own right - and this danger would be beyond the control of the business in question.  Another TikTok user saw the plight of this “Gorilla Glue girl” as a gimmick, and, after his antics, ended up having to go to the ICU to have the red Solo cup removed from his top lip.  It is actually unclear whether he faked his personal ordeal with the glue, solely to gain “clout.”  To me, on both the positive and negative front, I see the slippery slope of social media that companies are somewhat obligated to navigate through, whether or not they choose to participate in the social media attention they are receiving.

TikTok Takeover - Get in early before advertising gets expensive

 TikTok is  becoming one of the fastest growing social media platforms.  Although it is seen as only for Gen Zs (24 and under), a recent survey by Fortune shows that other key Generations are quickly signing up:

In terms of market share, TikTok has seen the biggest growth in recent months and is poised to potentially overtake SnapChat and LinkedIn to become the third most used social media platform in the U.S:

Brands who got in early to current market leaders - Facebook and Instagram were able to build strong presences before advertising became expensive. As the adage goes - "the early bird gets the worm" shows that now might be time to seriously consider TikTok as a key marketing strategy before it gets crowded.