🍱 The Gen Z frenzy; JDs as marketing tools; Communities that thrive; You don't wanna miss a marketing thing
You don't wanna miss a marketing thing
And we're back to shipping The Marketing Kable Wednesdays by popular demand. No more experimenting with days, we promise.
something to read
I see Gen Z. Just today, I had quite an (educational?) exchange with a friend.
She's working on a project with a fresh graduate. This 20-year-old co-worker sent my friend a selfie with a cheeky expression in response to a serious work-related question she asked.
My friend, perplexed, sent me a screenshot and asked: "what do you think this means?"
"Maybe this is how Gen Zs communicate...who knows?" I replied.
Born in 1996, we were both flabbergasted. [Aside from the Editor: Karina - GenX-Millenial cusper, fell off her chair howling at 1996 😭]
If Gen Z can dumbfound late millennials like us, no wonder they're giving the ones who came before us sleepless nights (and not just by blasting Billie Eilish on their Bluetooth speakers).
This is a generation that has nuked the cultural landscape beyond recognition, and marketers the world over are desperate for their attention. A few have been spectacularly successful, and we get to pick their brains.
Presenting The Brand Yearbook by Sara Wilson and Michelle Goad, a comprehensive overview of how brands like Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Tik Tok, Starbucks, Disney and others have captured that elusive beast called Gen Z's attention.
Sign up, give it a read, and share what you learnt with other millennial marketers - we need to band together!
Here is my takeaway - Brands that succeeded customised their offers, tapping into Gen Z's interests and concerns on the platforms they love. Hmmm.
Airbnb embraced the digital nomad lifestyle fueled by remote work culture and changed its interface to focus on accommodations with out-of-the-box USPs that customers can discover and book from their platform.
Amazon used influencer marketing (which does wonders with Gen Z customers) to become Gen Z's number one online shopping destination. They also introduced social discovery with Inspire, a personalized in-app feed similar to TikTok, in late 2022.
Cash App relied on social features like $Cashtags to encourage WoM. Cash App first gained popularity in the Black community and the company cashed in with collaborations with popular celebs like Kendrick Lamar for educational content, Megan Thee Stallion for a stock givand eaway, LaQuan Smith for a fashion collection. They also launched Cash App Studios to support up-and-coming talent.
Chipotle Mexican Grill used social listening and 'culture hunting' to create viral moments like the Corn Kid collab video in 2022. They also ventured into new platforms, like holding a job fair on Discord.
Major lessons from these brands:
Leverage the power of community
Listen keenly to what Gen Z is talking about and where
Create novel experiences powered by emerging tech
Conceptualise unique social features
Collaborate with Gen Z's favourite celebs
Curate physical-meets-digital events
Produce content around trending topics
Demonstrate a genuine commitment to environmental friendliness
Remember that Gen Z is not a monolith
something to watch
who's scared of underwear? Embarrassment: easily one of the suckiest of all feelings that have ever been feelinged.
We're embarrassed when we forget people's names, shout out the wrong answer in a packed classroom, trip on a piece of rock on the pavement or send a flying speck of spit towards the person we're talking to.
We're also embarrassed to openly buy menstrual products, hang bras and panties out on the balcony to dry or wear crop tops that bear our midriffs.
When you take a moment to think about it... doesn't it all seem.. odd?
It's one thing to be embarrassed by our own silliness and clumsiness.
But basic aspects of human life - menstruation, having underwear to wash and dry in the sun, clothing our own bodies - why have we women been conditioned into embarrassment?
Dirty Laundry, a campaign video by ABAAD - Resource Centre for Gender Equality, takes a closer look at this very phenomenon and then makes a larger point about sexual assault that goes unpunished in the MENA region.
Just like underwear isn't something to be ashamed of, the stories of sexual assault survivors aren't either. They need to be out in the open, and perpetrators need to be brought to account.
The video is in Arabic with English subtitles and features women from diverse backgrounds and ages narrating a prose-poem that will resonate with all women.
This is a campaign with its heart in the right place and a steadfast determination to kickstart a serious conversation. You won't forget this one easily.
something to listen to
work better, live better. How many existential crises do you have in a single day? On a good day, I have at least 5. On a great day - at least a 100.
Out of these, at least 40% concern my career.
Am I on the right track? What comes next? Will I ever do as well as XYZ? What if this isn't for me?
The answers may be blowing in the wind, but so does pollen. And it's hard to catch pollen.
Luckily, there are experts out there who are willing to dish out useful advice.
Azeem Digital Asks is an all-around digital marketing podcast that regularly features experienced marketers who share ways to find your niche, build job satisfaction and avoid burnout.
Let's listen to our elders. 😉
Everyone needs a little marketing inspiration in their lives. Recommend The Marketing Kable to a friend.
something to inspire
you're not real, work-life balance is. Another week, another viral Zomato post.
Just some time ago, our feeds were flooded with praises/takedowns of Zomato and Blinkit's billboard collab: "Doodh mangoge, doodh denge. Kheer mangoge, kheer denge." Many chose to replicate the format and come up with their own (mostly cringey) spec ads.
This time around, however, the criticism has been unanimous.
Zomato recently laid off a portion of its workforce and is now hiring for various positions (800!), including the Chief of Staff to the CEO.
A LinkedIn post by founder Deepinder Goyal, featured the job description above, which said the role is a demanding, full-time job that requires a strong commitment to driving organizational priorities and influencing outcomes. So far, so good.
This is a 24×7 job, and the traditional employee mindset of "work life balance" won't work.
Wait. What?
I'd like to know what Goyal was thinking when he okayed this frankly offensive sentence.
No work-life balance and incredibly low pay are aspirational?! I mean, really, now?
Job descriptions are marketing too. When you shamelessly advertise how toxic your work environment is, what message are you sending? No amount of quirky ads will take the stain off.
I also saw several Internet commenters suggest Zomato provoked outrage with this post. If so, then this ad is even worse. Think of gig workers whose lives revolve around Zomato's gamified and incentivized UI, which keeps them on their toes with its laser focus on customer satisfaction.
So don't chase a viral moment at the cost of your integrity, kids. It's not worth it.
On the flip side we have this delightful little short from Kaha Mind, a mental health service provider based in Bangalore.
The interviewer, who is off camera, follows one of their therapists around the office in the style of the 73 Questions interview by Vogue magazine. It helps that their office is a warm, sunny, welcoming space.
We get to see how the office looks and feels, what the work culture is like, and even meet some people working there. In the end, almost like an afterthought, we're told that Kaha Mind is hiring. So simple, so effective.
something to learn
creating community is your brand's immunity. If there's one thing the pandemic taught us, it's that we crave community, we NEED community.
Yes, we might all think, "I hate people" when our fellow moviegoers make phone calls with their normal voices inside the theatre (I swear to Seth!), but at the end of the day, people are where we draw our strength from.
Our life force, the very essence of our being that helps us make even the tiniest amount of meaning in this utterly meaningless universe, is grounded in our sense of belonging to a community.
As marketers, we're always looking for ways to tap into our audience's primal urges (that's where the gold is). There's no urge more primal than the urge to be part of a group (okay maybe there are some other urges, but we're keeping this newsletter PG 13 for now).
So, how do you build and sustain a community that helps your business grow? I've got just the right resource for you: Bevi.Com's Ultimate Guide to Building A Community From Scratch.
Don't have time right now to read the full guide? Here are the highlights
The Importance of Building A Community
Community is where people come together to share their experiences, stories, and knowledge. It gives them a sense of connectedness to others with similar interests or passions. By involving your customers or interested parties in the deeper purpose behind your brand, you can build trust and bring your brand to life beyond just being a product or service.
How To Build The Community Of Your Dreams
Your community's identity and purpose are fundamental to its success
In the initial stages, ask yourself: What sets your community apart?
Find potential members who share your vision for the community
Use the CMX Social Identity Cycle model to attract members. This model suggests that individuals tend to be more invested in a community when it aligns with their personal identities and when there is some form of reward for participation (everybody loves prizes!)
Earn trust and encourage participation by providing valuable resources and opportunities
Acknowledge and reward founding members
Encourage existing members to invite others
Select a scalable community platform
Identify key stakeholders
Hire a community manager to set a strategy in place
Fuel participation by holding events and keeping members up-to-date on the latest news and events happening within your space.
That's it for this edition of The Marketing Kable. If you received this newsletter as a forward, do consider signing up. It's forever free and just for you.
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