“People don’t just want to see an ad anymore. They want to see content that means something to them.”
Episode 7 of Select+CT with Colleen Sherry, Henkel
I can never take those medication ads seriously.
They conform to the same rigid formats that require a list of the severe side effects that may occur, all while playing upbeat elevator music!
No amount of skip ad buttons can make up for the stampede of companies that follow it, and this is only one of many forms of adverts we routinely see when watching content. However, do advertisers have any other choice when reaching a large audience?
I recently reviewed a 2020 Select + Podcast on this topic and discovered that brands are getting more creative in producing and distributing content to their audience.
According to the US Digital Marketing Lead at Henkel, 71 percent of people are turned off by “sales-y” content. She also advised that 63 percent said they’d think more positively of a brand if it was more valuable, relevant, or interesting to them. So Colleen engaged her creativity and explored other ways to market one of Henkel’s hair color and styling brands to millennials and gen Z.
See also: Social Media Listening
Colleen noticed that viewers craved content of value. As gen Z and millennial consumers develop more sophisticated and personal views on ad preferences, digital landscapes (in alignment with consumer landscapes) have evolved. Brands must evolve with their consumers. Instead of just advertising to someone with a product, feature, and price, you should bring content to the consumer that they will enjoy while valuing that core information of price and product. The Ad should align the brand with what the consumer wants. The audience will be more likely to engage with your product because it directly relates to them. Colleen also noted that brands like Nike or Addidas have the upper hand because they slap their logo onto anything. So, if you’re wearing a Nike t-shirt with the brand’s logo on it, you are advertising Nike for free (not that Nike needs more advertising at this point).
Colleen Sherry worked with an external agency to develop a 9-episode series of short-form videos distributed on YouTube. These videos told the story of a young female DJ that wanted to secure her career. She eventually developed her own means of self-expression through her music, which is what Colleen’s brand is about; self-expression but through hair. “Millennials don’t trust traditional ads. So it’s not just that we don’t want to do traditional advertising. We’re not going to get through to our consumer if we do.” Said Colleen. As I reflected on this episode, I was not only impressed with the creativity of social media strategists like Colleen who pursue new ways to produce and share content for marketing, but also the new opportunities this may create for film and video producers.
Featured Program
For our CT-featured undergraduate program, check out Central Connecticut State University’s marketing major. The staff treats this as a “Bachelor of Science” study, which differs from the typical BA or MA in marketing. The courses are more analytical and train your mind to think of marketing strategies from a scientific perspective.
DMCT Micro Credentials
If you are unsure of how your skills connect to Connecticut’s growing Digital Media industry, I encourage you to enroll in DMCT’s first micro-credential course, The Emerging Practitioner. I am a graduate of the program and learned many things to assist my transition from University to a Career in CT and beyond!