Marketing Trends & Insights: June 2024

Let's break down a few trends we've been seeing lately in the industry:

1. Gen Z and Nostalgia
2. Personal AI
3. Branded Entertainment
4. Immersive Shopping
5. Nonprofit Landscape

Gen Z and Nostalgia

The Nostalgic Rewind

Brands have been leaning into ‘90s imagery, fashion, and celebrities for recent campaigns, bringing all the memories back for their audiences. A few examples:

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• Osea Malibu launched a Leap Day campaign this year with Alicia Silverstone—the star of the ‘90s classic Clueless—with a bunch of other celebrities who were popular in the ‘90s. They created ‘90s inspired merchandise with a website to match.
• Gatorade is rebooting their ‘90s campaign with the tagline “Is it in You?” through their new “It hasn’t Changed” campaign. It’s their biggest campaign to-date—from a media spend and athlete partnership perspective.
• Gap brought back the format of their dancing ads that became famous in the ‘90s and early 2000s with their latest campaign that features choreography to the popular song Back on 74.
• Amazon rebooted their 1999 “Sweatermen” campaign during the holiday season last year.
  

Gen Z is On Board

Nostalgia marketing always aims to create a sense of comfort for audiences—and Gen Z is no exception.

• To Gen Z, the ‘90s/2000s seem like a simpler, more hopeful, and more connected time than right now.  
• Creative that taps into ‘90s and 2000s nostalgia aligns with Gen Z’s values.
  • This generation has tended to seek more comfort and stability than others—especially amidst the uncertainty of the past few years.
  • They want authenticity from brands and an escape from the highly curated digital and social media space.
  • They value purpose and sustainability, which motivates them to buy vintage and secondhand. Nostalgic marketing campaigns create an association with that ideal.
• Brands that create fun experiences and put a new twist on old campaign creative are resonating with Gen Z.

Personal AI

Apple Intelligence

AI is getting more advanced and more personalized. In WWDC24, Apple revealed that they are rolling out generative-AI-powered Apple Intelligence, which will be incorporated into iPhones.

• Apple Intelligence is a private on-device model with the option to use a private AI cloud for heavy-duty processing.
  • It can swapped out with ChatGPT.
  • It has ALL of the context from your phone.
• This could change things again for marketers.
  • Interacting with an AI that gives direct answers for questions bypasses Google/Web Ad networks.
  • This could impact digital advertising campaigns and SEO strategies.

Hyper-Personalization

More AI advancements also open the door for a level of personalization that wouldn’t have been possible before.

• With generative AI able to create imagery, video, audio, text, VO, and deepfakes on-the-fly, media can become hyper-personalized instantly.
• We’re all experiencing our own social metaverses already.
  • In a recent TikTok video that went viral, a woman found out the comments section of a video on her phone was completely different than the comments section of the same video on her partner’s phone.
  • Hyper-personalization to this extent could have negative impact that causes increased polarization and division.

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Branded Entertainment

New Studios Galore

More brands are moving toward branded entertainment and launching their own production studios as a way to create connections with consumers through storytelling.

• Most recently, Starbucks launched Starbucks Studios with the aim of telling stories that resonate with customers and spark conversations.
• They’re following in the footsteps of other brands that have rolled out production studios or entertainment divisions, like Nike, Saint Laurent, and LVMH.
• In 2019, Mailchimp invested in their own entertainment division and created original series, films, and podcasts.
  • Creating their own content meant they could be more direct in communicating about their platform and products, compared to the awareness-focused ad campaigns they had launched on podcasts.

Why Branded Entertainment?

Changes in both the advertising and entertainment landscapes have created a good environment for creating branded entertainment.

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• More and more streaming services are adding ad-supported tiers to their platforms to generate more revenue.
  • While many consumers are jumping on board to save cash, they are more ad-averse than before streaming services gave them an escape from TV commercials.
  • According to a YPulse survey, “69% of 13- to 39-year-olds use streaming services to avoid ads.”
  • Branded entertainment provides a solution for both advertisers and consumers.

• Branded entertainment can also help companies diversify and increase connection points with consumers.

Immersive Shopping

It’s Back

• Walmart recently launched Walmart Realm—an immersive, influencer-led, virtual shopping experience.
  • There are 3 aesthetic experiences, each featuring a 360-degree world where you can interact with products and collect Walmart-branded rewards tokens.
  • The featured products were hand-selected by the influencers that helped develop the experiences.
  • Holiday-inspired shops will be added to Walmart Realm later this year.
• It leverages the VR platform Emperia which has recently helped other brands like Lacoste and Bloomingdales.

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A Few More Examples

• Other retailers are investing in this space including Alo Yoga, E.l.f Cosmetics, and J. Crew.
  • Alo’s Sanctuary app uses Apple Vision Pro and features spatial audio for meditation and hyper-realistic locations.
  • Users can calibrate their experience, adjusting the volume depending on how “close” or “far” they are from where the sound originates in the environment.
  • Users can look at products close enough to see the texture of the fabric.

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Nonprofit Landscape

State of Donations

According to NonProfitPRO, there’s an expected rise in giving following a two year decline after 2020 and 2021.

• Predictions show a 4.2% increase this year and a 3.9% increase next year (10-year avg. is 1.9% growth rate).
• The majority of this will come from individual giving (63%). However, there will be an increase in foundation giving which is set to make up 23% in 2024. Corporate gifting is expected at 6% of total giving.
• Digital fundraising is on the rise as a tactic that can involve the entire supporter community.

2024 & 2025 Strategies

However, operating costs for nonprofits are increasing, making each dollar stretch thinner. Ways to combat this:

• Leveraging technology to increase efficiencies
• Nonprofit collaboration to move the needle on parallel movements
• Serving as trusted messengers during political tension
• Offering improved workplace advancement, upskilling, and flexibility to recruit and retain talent—or looking into fractional/consultant talent
• Messaging strategies: impact communication, influencer marketing, demonstration of ROI, and storytelling

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Sources

• Brand Entertainment: Brands Are Turning To Entertainment For Engagement
• It's Complicated: Hollywood's Long Relationship With Branded Entertainment
• Starbucks Launches Its Own Production House, Starbucks Studios
• Mailchimp launches new entertainment division to inspire entrepreneurs that they’re not alone
• The ’90s—and the icons that defined the decade—are so back
• Why Gatorade is reviving its iconic ’90s campaign for a new generation
• Amazon Revives a ‘90s Holiday Campaign, Inspired by the ‘60s, for 2023
• The unusual story of how Gap revived its iconic dancing ads
• The rise of immersive shopping
• Walmart launches immersive digital shopping experience
• Alo Yoga debuts immersive shopping app for Apple Vision Pro