Brands and marketers have come to recognize the impact Memory Lane can have on our moods, the affinities we develop for people and things, and – here’s the big one – the actions we take. If you’ve noticed the old school vibe creeping into branded content, you’re not alone. Tying new, promotional content to an audience’s memories by cleverly weaving in old content, ideas, or ideals can be a powerful way to spread a brand’s message. And we call that nostalgia marketing.

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Before I get into the whys and wherefores of nostalgia marketing, let me tell you a little story about a kid from Harlem that will drive home the impact nostalgia can have on buyers in the real world.

In 1993, a cocky, 24 year-old college dropout by the name of Sean left his cushy job at an urban record company to start his own record company. His thought behind the label was to create music for college students, young adults, and the club scene. But he was launching his business at a time when gangster rap had sort of ruined everything already. Politicians were literally steamrolling over piles and piles of rap albums indiscriminately. Like… literally… they were steamrolling over albums. But Sean came from a marketing background, so he developed a game plan. To protect his burgeoning brand from the backlash surrounding gangster rap, Sean decided to skip the edgy East Coast rap sound and instead decided to lay raps (some of them quite gangster) over old dance tracks from the 70s and 80s.

Sean got the content rights (we talk a lot about content rights on this blog) to use songs that were not just hits on the pop charts, but more importantly songs that were cultural and national staples, frequently heard at backyard parties, graduation parties, wedding receptions, and holidays all over the country. These were songs moms and dads partied to in their youth, songs that evoked all the feels. The songs he chose included those made famous by the likes of Diana Ross, David Bowie, The Jackson 5, James Brown, KC & the Sunshine Band, The Police, The Trammps, Lisa Stansfield, Miami Sound Machine, Kool & the Gang, Duran Duran, Miles Davis… major, right?

The record company Sean formed and built on the foundation of making music that would make HIS FANS’ PARENTS forget they were listening to rap sold something like 40 million records in its first five years of existence (and made Sean one of the richest men on the planet)… at a time when a video views didn’t count as a record sold. Decades later, you can still hear Sean’s music around the clock playing on throwback rap stations that play nothing but rap hits from the 80s and 90s… many of them originally released by Sean’s company.

Bad Boy Entertainment is still one of the most successful rap labels of all time, according to Statista (yes, they absolutely have a chart on rap labels, too) and 26 years later, the company is consistently voted among the top five hip hop labels IN HISTORY among fans of the music. And don’t be surprised if you see your kid’s math teach delivering a flawless, although slightly tipsy, performance of Notorious B.I.G.’s Hypnotize at the local karaoke bar. Because it’s probably on the song list.

Now, that’s one of the most striking instances of using nostalgia to sell.

ijs

Why Nostalgia Marketing Works So Well (Here Comes the Brain Stuff)

“My bologna has a first name. It’s O-S-C-A-R.

My bologna has a second name. It’s M-A-Y-E-R.

Oh! I love to eat it every day, And if you ask me why I’ll saaayyy,

‘ Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with ________!!!!”

Were you able to sing the missing portion of this jingle? Of course you were! Now think about the way you felt as you belted out “B-O-L-O-G-N-A!” Somehow that feels great, right? That’s because most of us have a mental catalog of commercials and jingles we remember loving as kids!

Ahhh, the good ol’ days. A time that was more certain, more secure, and more comfortable (probably because these good days happened back when someone else was doing all the adulting for us – haha). But those types of positive emotions tied to SIGNIFICANT memories form the core of why nostalgia marketing is so effective.

The caption below this Gucci spot reads: Presenting #ForeverGuilty. Academy award-winning actor and musician Jared Leto is joined by multi-platinum singer songwriter Lana Del Rey in the new campaign by Glen Luchford.

Collective Memory

Nostalgia works on a couple of different levels – individual, familial, community, nationally, culturally, generationally….

You and the friends from your old neighborhood will have a different set of nostalgic moments than the ones you and your college friends share.

Gen Xers will harp on things like breakdancing… or that time Michael Jackson debuted the Moonwalk and broke everybody’s mind… or the Friends gang hanging out at Central Perk.

Source: On Instagram here’s @paulspulse sporting the fly Central Perk shirt.

Millennials will be more excited about Nickelodeon showing up on the scene, and boy bands… and crushing on the curly-haired boy on Mickey Mouse Club before he became a member of the group N*Sync and a big pop star. And before he (Justin Timberlake) became Branch (the grumpy troll) for your kids.

Source: Today.com – In this photo are Ryan Gossling, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake.

Nationally, we have things we treasure as well. If you were too young (or too busy not being born yet) to appreciate The Golden Girls back when the original episodes were airing between 1985 and 1992, it’s no matter. The Golden Girls are a national treasure. Old episodes still run on TV. And surprisingly, the actresses actually still grace the covers of magazines together, despite the fact that Betty White is the only surviving member of the ensemble that made up America’s favorite over-50 single roommates.

Source: Walmart

#shrug

We like what we like.

We Visit Our RESPECTIVE PastS More Than Any of Us Probably Realize

You may not think much about it, but the average person experiences nostalgia about once a week. Once a week? Really?!! Sure. Facebook will often give users the chance to repost some of their popular posts from years past.

And anyone who uses Twitter and Instagram have probably dug through their own photo albums (physical and virtual) to find the perfect pic for #throwbackthursday. We get nostalgic on purpose. The next point talks about why that is.

Nostalgia Feels REALLY Good

We trigger nostalgic moments as a self-soothing mechanism – our regular dose of feel-good to get through the week. Nostalgia actually lights up the brain’s reward center, which may be why we like talking about the good ol’ days.

Every single one of us has moments, periods, and times in our lives that we can look back on and say “Ahh! The good ol’ days.” Times when having a flip phone was still a luxury and overalls were all the rage (those days seem to have returned for the overalls). Times of amazing childhood days spent watching Beyblade and Pokemon, running in your flashy sneakers and feeding your virtual pocket pet.

(I mean…I actually killed my Gigapet but it’s a good memory, nonetheless.)

These recollections almost certainly bring a smile to your face, and that overlap between memory and emotion is unique to nostalgia. You might even forget for a while that 15, 20, 30 years has passed since you created these warm, seemingly not-so-distant memories.

Nostalgia Makes People More Optimistic

A University of Southampton study found that nostalgia makes people more optimistic about the future and increases resilience. Whether reading older song lyrics, hearing throwback jams, or just remembering a significant event from the past, participants in the study naturally integrated more optimistic words into describing their experiences than those who were exposed to current music or lyrics, or who were asked to remember or talk about regular events.

When Nostalgia Kicks In, People Are More Likely to Spend (Money, Not Time)

Science Daily reported that nostalgia compels people to spend more money. In a study conducted by the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers who were asked to think about the past were willing to pay more for a set of products than a separate group who were asked to think about creating new memories.

Interestingly – and this will probably be of interest to nonprofits as well – people were willing to pay or give more money to others after reflecting on a past life event BUT NOT MORE TIME. So for nonprofits, triggering those memories of old will help you get more donations, but not necessarily more volunteers.

Good Feelings Are More Likely to Be Well-Received

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone on a Facebook hiatus for a spell to get away from the negativity.

While our human instincts make us want to hear bad news so we can stay out of harm’s way, the truth is most of us don’t actually WANT to be be loaded down with a bunch of bad news all the time.

Think about it: If you’re at a party, are you going to spend all night hanging out in a corner with Debbie Downer or get in that growing circle of laughs around Fun Bobby?

(Friends fans will get the Fun Bobby reference.)

Content that evokes positive emotions also triggers engagement. But there’s only a certain remnant of the population that will happily engage with content that incites rage, fear, or shame.

 

Brands That Have Used Nostalgia to Make Memorable Branded Content (And Tips for How You Can Use it In Your Next Campaign)

Two things about nostalgia marketing: First, it works because it instantly disappears the days, months, years to make you feel like no time has passed at all since your significant moment. Second, it helps brands create an instant connection with their audiences by tapping into a shared memory. So, creating an opportunity to tie your brand’s message to a fond childhood memory can help make your brand and your message more memorable.

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Doritos

For this year’s Super Bowl, Doritos aired a 60-second spot promoting its Flaming Hot Nacho flavor by teaming Chance the Rapper with 90s boy band The Backstreet Boys. The spot, which opened with Chance the Rapper alone followed by a dance number in an airplane hangar with the rapper and the pop stars was sort of epic in that it served to kick off The Backstreet Boys’ tour. The campaign included a the branded hashtag #NowItsHot.

Source: Youtube

A Plan to Consider… Entertain Them

Sometimes the immediate goal isn’t transactional. Not every ad is meant to sell your product. But rather, to stay top-of-mind and create a memorable, positive experience for your audience. A good way to do this is by capitalizing on a collective memory that many of them will appreciate.

So, for instance, tying your brand to an old school pop culture phenomenon like the boy band craze of the 90s to grab the attention of Millennials… Maybe you can do something cool with a Kung Fu movie vibe reminiscent of the 80s for Gen Xers. Or take it back to the 60s (like that Gucci ad we included in the first part of this post) to appeal to Boomers.

These types of light-hearted entertainment breaks can make for highly memorable, highly shareable content AND create good buzz for your brand.

KIA

For Super Bowl LII, Kia ran a spot to promote the Stinger using Aerosmith frontman-turned-American Idol judge Steven Tyler. The spot featured 2018 Tyler hopping in a Stinger on a racetrack and speeding around the track in reverse to the band’s iconic song, Dream On. He drove so fast that he turned back the hands of time. A few seconds later, Tyler hops out of the car 40 years younger. Super-cool idea. And this ad will have cross-generational appeal.

Now, couple of things to note here:

First, Dream On was on the band’s first LP, released in 1973. The song was re-released and charted in 1976 after the band’s second album. It’s epic. It’s the soundtrack of a generation. It’s the template for every power rock ballad that came after it.

Next, the turning back the hands of time thing isn’t without precedent. If you saw the movie Superman (1978), you may remember a pretty emotional point in the film when Superman’s love interest, Lois Lane, died unexpectedly when her car is swallowed up in an earthquake. So distraught was the man of steel that his beloved was dead, that he flew off from the scene, off the planet a blind rage, and circled the earth so fast that he turned back the hands of time and essentially unkilled Lois (comic book reality, here… bear with me).

Same type of situation. Tyler drives so fast around the track that he actually turns back the hands of time. When he stops and gets out of the car as Young Steven, 70s-era fans come rushing toward him before the message, “Feel something again” is captured on the screen.

Source: YouTube

A Plan to Consider… Wow Them

This ad dreams up a concept that anyone over a certain age has considered before – turning back the hands of time. “If I knew then what I know now…”

Visually, it couples old school cool (Steven Tyler is all that) with new school innovation and keeps the audience’s attention because it’s always cool to see a Benjamin Button-styled age-down… This ad works because it gives the audience something they probably didn’t expect – a cool, imaginative car commercial that skips over all the regular car commercial stuff like the car, its features the safety rating, price, down payments, well-qualified buyers, lease options…

I don’t even exactly remember what the car even looked like, only that Kia did a really cool spot for the Stinger. Give the viewer something unexpected… even if the unexpected isn’t necessarily unprecedented.

Prime Wardrobe

Prime Wardrobe’s Try Before You Buy campaign is airing multiple commercials right now with the same general idea: aspiration

One spot features a studious, bespectacled man sitting hunched over at a bar, scrolling through his phone. He comes across a picture of a black leather jacket. The jacket triggers a kind of theme song in this guy’s imagination (K-Ci and Jo Jo’s All My Life) where he imagines himself sitting at that same bar, only this time he’s wearing the jacket and he’s not hunched over the bar with his back to the room. He has his back to the bar, nothing in his hands, and is glasses-free. He’s a cool, confident dude in that jacket.

In two other Prime Wardrobe spots, similar situations are presented and set to 80s rock hits, Eternal Flame by The Bangles and Is This Love? from Whitesnake.

A Plan to Consider… Inspire Them

Nostalgia goes hand-in-hand with optimism and inspiration. Appreciating the good times makes people feel like more good times are on the way. Find a natural way to make your product more aspirational by triggering inspiration (but not envy). FYI: Music is a fast and easy way to both set the tone of your content and inject much-needed nostalgia. #nostalgiamarketing

BP

If you ever get tired of watching this commercial, you’re crazy. The three truckers singing Backstreet Boys’ I Want it That Way together is an epic feel-good moment in ad history.

Now, BP has had a rough go of it since the big oil spill of 2010. The company released a rather sobering, “Our bad, we’ll do better” type of ad in response to the incident. BP ended up the butt of tons of late night monologue jokes and became the poster child for corporations’ need for more oversight and accountability. I doubt anyone will ever forget the images of all the dead fish and oil-slicked birds that flooded the web in the days and weeks following the incident. The entire ordeal was both an ecological and a publicity nightmare. A hard thing for any company to recover from.

So, this particular instance of nostalgia marketing was an emotional play both for Millennials who love The Backstreet Boys as well as anyone who’s ever been wholly committed to their red light vocal performance from the front seat of their car.

Source: YouTube

A Plan to Consider… Humanize Your Brand

Make your brand more relatable by putting a face on your brand and by connecting a positive vibe or mission to your brand. We talked about this pretty extensively in the social proof post. This strategy worked really well for Blendtec blenders when the company launched its Will It Blend? campaign. Blendtec boosted sales and created an enormous amount of buzz about the brand by using its industrial blender (with the super unsexy name) to grind up things like cell phones, baseballs, marbles, super glue (that one was cool), silly putty… the list goes on.

But you don’t have to blend a bag of marbles, man. This can really be as simple as showing your audience an unguarded, vulnerable moment (like singing in a car) that anyone can relate to… or it can be as complex as investing in a large-scale community development project.

iHeartRadio

Congratulations to the Class of late 1990-something or 2000-whateverrrrr!

iHeartRadio has a feature called Graduation Playlist (GraduationPlaylist.com) where users can type in the year they graduated high school, college, or whatever and stream music that was popular the year they graduated.

Each channel streams a set playlist, but users have the option to click away to hear specific songs in the playlist in a separate tab. Clicking away lets you hear your song choice, but also provides you the option to register for a free account (and opt in to receive emails) and of course, create custom playlists. If you choose not to create an account, you can go back to your graduation-year playlist, but it’s basically a just commercial-free radio station – you don’t get to call any shots.

A Plan to Consider… Lead with Value

Front-load value and ask for nothing (or very little) in return. This could be a very useful strategy for apps and SaaS companies. Find creative ways – like a graduation-year playlist – to tie nostalgia (and its positive vibes) into your value offering.

Geico

Before the Geico gecko, there were the Geico cavemen. The company has used a string of mascots in its commercials over the last couple decades (Mayhem, for instance). For those who grew up during the 90s and early 2000s, you may think back fondly on the cavemen. This spot in particular originally aired in 2006 with a KILLER song called Remind Me by Röyksopp (there are tons of mixes of this song… and yeah that pixel art thing is the real video).

Source: YouTube

What’s superb about this commercial is in 2018, Geico pulled this one from the archives as part of a campaign to get people to vote for their favorite Geico commercials and started airing it again. People love it!

AND they get to remember / rediscover the Royksopp video. Just adds another layer of awesomesauce because when the video first aired back in 2006, you had to know a record store geek to find out who the heck the band is. Now… a two-second YouTube search of the term “song from geico caveman commercial”… and you’re suddenly remix-rich

I love the internets.

A Plan to Consider… Pull Out the Old Archives

Nostalgia marketing works when brands remind customers of something cool from the past, but it also works pretty well when brands are willing to share their own memories and corporate histories. Doing things like re-running popular old campaigns or doing a mashup that combines your old, grainy training videos attended by ladies in long, wool skirts with new irreverent commentary from people young enough to be their adult kids can be a fun way for brands to nurture old connections AND establish new connections with their audiences.

Forever 21 x Pepsi

A trip into Forever 21 is like visiting the past. The store is pretty well-stocked with throwback gear. If you didn’t get around to buying it when it was hot in 1981, now’s your chance.

Source: A pic from my local Forever 21

A lot of the clothes you see at Forever 21 are heavily branded, whether it’s a jacket tagged with a bunch of USPS logos or a worn Van Halen graphic tee, Forever 21 is the place to go if you want to get a really cool throwback… anything, I guess (as evidence by the Three’s Company-esque Mr. Roper visor above that was spotted at the local Forever 21).

So, Forever 21’s collaboration with Pepsi is totally on-brand for the store – 80s/90s-inspired jackets and outfits heavily branded with the old school Pepsi logo.

A Plan to Consider… Overbrand The Heck Out of This Thing

Reappropriating old logos and marketing collateral in fun, new ways can really boost the impact of your campaigns. Think about that for a moment. What would it say about your brand if you blanketed a members only jacket (you may have to look that one up) or other clothing items and outerwear with your logo? The idea is to skip the ho-hum, corporate-y polo shirts this time around. What about corporate earrings that break the dress code… and people can’t really wear them to work? Or a leather belt with a big, gaudy logo’d belt buckle would probably KILL… and surprise the heck out of both your team and your customers. #nostalgiamarketing

Walmart

Last one. Nothing says throwback quite like a retro arcade game. Last holiday season, Walmart stores displayed a small selection of 45-inch, full-cabinet arcade games. It was shocking to see in-store. To promote these, one of the marketing tactics Walmart used was game reviews by someone who specializes in collector’s items.

Source: YouTube

Walmart is no stranger to retro video games. There’s a section of Walmart.com called Classic Arcade Gaming that hosts a virtual catalog of 6-inch games, tabletop arcade games, the four-foot game cabinets, and risers for the game cabinets. You can also grab the throwback Atari or Sega game consoles suped-up to work with even the smartest flat screen TV.

I came across a game review video from YouTuber Boogie2988 who published a review of an entire selection of arcade games just ahead of the Christmas 2018 holiday season. Arcade 1UP supplied the arcade games for him to review, and in the video description he also mentioned going to Walmart to pick up the games… that, and there was a guy in a Walmart t-shirt actually assembling the games… which leads me to believe the view review was a Walmart x Arcade 1UP collaboration for the holiday season.

A Plan to Consider… Partner with a Niche Blogger

Creating a high-impact nostalgia marketing campaign will niche-down your audience reasonably well but you can go narrower to really zero in on what your target buyer wants and what they actually need to hear from you to convert the sale.

What was super smart about this particular review was that this guy wasn’t just your typical Gen Z or Millennial gamer. There are plenty of young gamers who are interested in retro arcade games. Don’t get me wrong.

But…

Boogie2988 is older and played the original arcade games back in the day when they were out. So, he talked A LOT about one of the things older gamers will find MOST important – the similarities between the “feel” of the new games compared to the old arcade games. That’s going to be a BIG DEAL for people who spent their childhood and teen years in the arcade.

Nostalgia is all about being taken back to that time. Well, for gamers, going back means not having major differences (like a video game where the console is too small for two-player mode, or the joystick is too loose, or the buttons aren’t firm enough) that distract from the experience of going back. So, it was smart to go with a niche-gamer… someone who can give validity to the new games by comparing them to the many experiences he had with the old games.

That’s All, Folks!

Here’s the big takeaway… A personalized, compelling, relatable, and nostalgia-inducing message is an effective way to tie your brand to a positive memory or experience for your target customer.

More than just helping you makes sales, nostalgia marketing can help you make positive impact and help solidify the value of your brand in the minds of your target audience.

We want to help you link up with amazing creators who can help make your message beautiful, relevant, and effective. Click the button below to schedule a 30-minute demo with us and we’ll help you reach your brands expansion and development goals. Reach out to us!

It’s gonna be totally gnarly!

 

You know what time it is! If you don’t, let me tell you: It’s time for Easter Marketing Ideas!

Springtime is here! Woot! Woot! So, it’s time for The Shelf’s Annual Easter Marketing Contest. Now, no one actually ever enters this contest per se… but we have taken it upon ourselves to pit one firm against the other to see which Easter Marketing ideas tickle our fancies (insert Pillsbury Doughboy giggle here).

We scoured the internet for the best, most eye-catching, effective and memorable Easter marketing campaigns. I’m gonna tell you why we love these campaigns, as well as why consumers love them. I’m also gonna share how your brand can take advantage of some of these same principles in order to get more eyes on your brand, and more hands on your products and services.

Easter Spending is in Full Swing This Year

Easter spending always sort of fascinates me, in part because I, like 80 percent of Americans, will be celebrating Easter, and probably contributing my fair share to the more than $18 billion we spend annually celebrating the holiday.

Interestingly, those who celebrate Easter will spend, on average, $151 on candies, food, DIY projects, decorations and clothing. But even for those who don’t celebrate Easter, about one in three of them will chip in about 20 bucks into the Easter pot by takingadvantage of the holiday sales.

But for the most part, Easter is an American tradition in which the majority of us seem to take part, regardless of age.

What We Like to Actually DO for Easter

For most Americans, celebrating Easter is more about tradition than anything else, and it doesn’t really matter who you ask – from Boomers on down to Gen Zers, Easter traditions (think egg hunts and family dinners) are everybody’s favorite part of the holiday.

That’s not to say there aren’t other important drivers for the people wanting to get out there and celebrate one of our favorite candy holidays.

Across age groups, tradition is THE most popular reason for celebrating Easter, while retailer or brand events are the least inspiring part of the holidays (we can help you dream better ideas for your experiences… ijs).. Here’s where the generational divide becomes apparent:

Fans of Easter between the ages of 18 and 34 enjoy celebrating Easter because it’s a social activity that they share with friends and family. But the 35 to 64 year-old crowd is more impressed by the sales and promotions at their favorite stores.

Millennials and older Gen Zers get a kick out of Easter-themed products and decorations. But you aren’t going to impress the 65 and over grandmas with your marshmallow wreaths. You just aren’t.

If you look at the chart above, you’ll see that four out of six of these “Easter inspiration” categories are shopping-related – looking at store displays, attending branded experiences, seasonal products, sales and promotions…

It begs the question, where are shoppers going to do all this retail-y stuff they’re saying they like to do?

What We Like to Buy for Easter

Discount stores lead the pack with 58.9 percent of celebrants shopping there, followed by department stores (45.8 percent), online stores (28 percent), and local small businesses (24.9 percent) (Yay!!).

Okay, so this is throwback knowledge from the first post we did about the resale industry (which you can read here) and how discount stores and off-price stores (think Marshall’s, Ross Stores, TJ Maxx) are gaining favor over department stores and more expensive retailers.

This makes sense.

Nearly half of Easter shoppers (48 percent) will buy clothes for the holiday and spend more than $3 billion doing it. Surprisingly, 61 percent of Easter shoppers will buy gifts, to the tune of $2.9 billion (that’s A LOT of baskets and Easter lilies. And the most popular Easter purchase? Candy, of course. Regardless of age…

Location…

Gender…

Or even whether they’re celebrating Easter!

Eighty-nine percent of Easter shoppers buy candy.

What We Like to Actually DO for Easter

What do you think of when you think of Easter Sunday? By this time, you probably won’t be clutching your pearls if I say most people plan to spend Easter with friends and family. Fifty-seven percent of Easter celebrants plan to cook a holiday meal, while half intend to go to the Easter service at the local church.

Three more popular plans for Easter Sunday that don’t seem to be filled with holiday spirit are watching TV, which nearly 45 percent of celebrants intend to do; plan an Easter egg hunt (35 percent); and – get this – browsing the web! A quarter of the people celebrating Easter are going to do so just hanging out on the internet.

#shrug

‘Kay.

Easter Marketing Ideas That Are Eggs-actly What the Brand Manager Ordered

After searching through thousands of posts, tweets, videos, to find the dopest of them all, we’ve determined that the clear winner is… YOU. And your brand.

We did a little double duty by including both the strategies leverage and the tactics being used in the campaigns to make them work. Honestly, some of these aren’t campaigns, but definitely could have been.

 

Favorite Easter Giveaway

Easter giveaways are popular. There are more than 12k Instagram posts that include the #eastergiveaway hashtag, and another 1100 or so tagged #eastercontest.

Contests are a great way to promote new products and get eyes on your brand, especially if your brand isn’t immediately Easter-related. I mean, no one’s going to forget Peeps because those little marshmallow bunnies are just about everywhere right now.

But, a contest is a great way to spread the word about your cookbook. Let’s state the obvious here: People love getting stuff for free, and because most social media contests require people to share the contest with others in order to enter the actual contest, giveaways are a great way to spread the news about your product without having to spend loads of money on social media ads.

Cake Angel UK x My Kitchen Drawer

Cake decorating powerhouse, Cake Angels UK (on Instagram @cakeangelsuk) is on a simple mission: to help consumers make amazingly fabulous creations with their super-tasty, brilliant products. Alix Carey of My Kitchen Drawer (on Instagram @mykitchendrawer) wants nothing more than to offer a special little slice (pun intended) of the internet to other bakers and creative go-getters. Together this pair is responsible for the creation of our all-time favorite Easter holiday giveaway.

Carey is a self-proclaimed summer and weekend morning person who says that if you love color, sugar, cake, and baked goods that soothe your soul, then you’ll feel right at home with her, and leave feeling inspired to whip up some deliciousness of your own.

After offering a box of Cake Angels products including frosting, mirror glaze, and lots of sprinkles along with an autographed copy of Carey’s The Unicorn Cookbook, it didn’t take long to get the attention of fans, fellow influencers, and passionate bakers all over the world. Source: On Instagram

Journalist, author, and social influencer in the specialty baking niche, Carey brilliantly paired her latest cookbook with hot seasonal items that Cake Angels had ready to roll out for the spring baking season.

Carey told her followers that Cake Angels is synonymous with fun, while promoting her own beautifully-designed cookbook. This all comes together creating the perfect influencer marketing storm of engagement and demand.

Winner, Ashleigh Parish was the envy of all of the entrants when Cake Angels announced that she’d won the signed copy of The Unicorn Cookbook AND a box of delicious Cake Angel UK products that she could use to make her own DIY creations at home. Source: On Instagram

To enter the contest, contestants had to like the pic, follow both brands on Instagram, and tag a few friends to share the products and contest.

As they announced the winner, Cake Angels kept the ‘losers’ wanting more by letting them know that more giveaways were on the way and to keep an eye out for them.

Source: On Instagram

Favorite Easter Sponsored Instagram Post

Brookies Cookies Co x Bob’s Red Mill

While Brooke Haven may, in fact, use the occasional cookie cutter to achieve the desired design of her sweet creations, we affectionately call her the anti-cookie cutter baker because there’s nothing common about what she does. Growing up with the nickname Brookie Cookie (on Instagram @brookiescookiesco), she had no idea that as an adult she’d take that name and use it to build a sugary, buttery empire of frosted goodness.

The stay-at-home mom of two wants to make her blog the sweetest place on earth for desserts,and she intends to do just that by sharing recipes and tutorials, and embarking on journeys with the goal of finding the tastiest desserts, and having the most fulfilling adventures.

As a social influencer, she’s collaborated with Fortune 500 food and beverage companies, and other big brands such as Disney, Bob’s Red Mill, MARS, Sam’s Club, Kroger, LEGO, SeaWorld, Chef Master, Fat Daddio’s and The Original Scrapbox to create, beautiful, fun, informative campaigns.

Source: On Instagram

For this particular campaign, Brook worked with Bob’s Red Mill, a wholesome foods company. Not exactly a match made in heaven, right – a legacy, low-profile wholesome foods company and an Insta-savvy, fresh and funky cookie company. But it works!

 

Bob’s Red Mill has been a household name for 90 years! Today’s consumers watched their grandmothers, mothers, and fathers use this product. As a result they probably believe it’s old school… but a solid product.

An influencer campaign like this gives Bob’s Red Mill visibility (and utility) with younger audiences who may be tapping into all the good feels associated with a product Grammy kept in her kitchen.

With older products, you have to promote the good and ditch the bad. I mean, this is from the same generation that had doctors telling petite women to take up smoking during pregnancy in order to decrease the birth weight of their babies, and keep them healthier.

Uh… Yikes…(??)

But, with almost 8500 instances of engagement on this one post (a really solid engagement ratio of about 1.5 percent), the partnership made for a really great brand awareness campaign.

I think this is a pretty good campaign to look at for brands that need to reintroduce themselves to the market to connect with younger buyers. The fastest path to relevancy is social proof, and influencer campaigns provide just that.

Brook is lovable, trustworthy, and has thousands of people who thrive on what she says. She could be the solution to the credibility issue Bob’s Red Mill may experience courting Millennials.

Best Private #EasterOutfit Post That Should Have Been a Sunglasses Campaign

Kyro Abel

Source: On Instagram

I know that’s probably the most random contest category in the history of random contest categories, but… this pic would have KILLED as a sunglasses campaign.

Never mind the fact that little Kyro Abel is boy-slaying in this best holiday bib and tucker (big ups to his mom, Summer Stultz’s (on Instagram @vibewithredd_), there’s science to support why this would have worked as a campaign.

First, this Easter look is classic. Moms and dads search relentlessly for outfit ideas for their kids in the weeks leading up to Easter. There are literally thousands of searches around this time of year for stuff like…

• Easter outfits

• Easter dresses

• Easter dresses for juniors

• Easter outfits for siblings

• Easter outfits for toddler girls

• Baby Easter outfit boy (thousands of people search this)

• Baby boy Easter outfits 0-3 months (that’s literally a top-searched Easter apparel term… LITERALLY)

• Boutique Easter dresses

• Mommy and me Easter outfits

With little Kyro Abel rocking the straw fedora ?, the plaid button-up, the royal blue bow-tie and pocket square… this post would work for mom and pop hat shops, big box retailers, and even holiday photographers trying to fill up their schedules ahead of the holiday.

We’re programmed to pay attention to, protect, and love babies. It’s a part of us, it’s irresistible, it’s written in our DNA. Check the science, kid…

Konrad Lorenz, a zoologist and Nobel Prize winner says that the specific structure of a baby’s face- its large head and forehead, its bulging cheeks, and its low-lying eyes are what trigger our parental, nurturing, and protective instinct. Although, we don’t have a similar reaction to unfamiliar adults, we have the desire to preserve an unfamiliar baby in only one-seventh of a second!

Babies have been known to boost sales. Smart marketers have known this, and have been capitalizing on this since the beginning of the ad age…

The Evian skater babies, the E-Trade baby, the unforgettable CGI dancing baby of the 90s (my mom LOVED that kid from Ally McBeal and would laugh every single time she saw him), and the many other baby-based ads will forever be ingrained in the minds, hearts (and thusly the wallets) of consumers.

It’s almost as hard to say no to an ad baby as it is to say no to an actual baby. According to neurosciencemarketing. com, “The neuromarketing takeaway is simple: a face in your ad will attract attention, but be sure the face is looking at what you want the viewer to see! And a baby will act as an amplifier for that very action.”

That’s true if this heat map is any indication of where consumers direct their attention when looking at baby ads.

Best Click-Thru Easter Ad

Starburst

This one’s pretty cool. Look at the purple image on the right there. It showed up in the Pinterest results for the search “Easter decoration”.

And THIS purple pictured showed up in the Pinterest results for “easter decor”.

Both are promoted posts from Starbust Candy that go to the company’s YouTube channel.

Okay. pretty uneventful, right? A little over 27k subscribers… typical-looking videos… Nothing to scream and shout about.

Except for one thing – the quiet screams in the header that the Limited Edition, All Pink pack of Starburst is out.

Bruhhhh…

PINK STARBURST! MY FAVORITES! Where can I find these?

I clicked because I was curious what Starbust was going to tell me about Easter decor. Not that the basket looked all that appetizing, but… it’s Starbust.

Click-baity? Sure. But it worked. I’m not offended. And now I know about the annual (I hope it’s annual) tradition of an all pink pack of Starburst.

 

The Most Peculiar and Exciting Everybody-In Easter DIY Snacks for Kid Cooks

Easter DIY topics are also very popular this time of year, with “Easter basket” and “Easter wreaths” among the top-searched Easter-related terms come springtime.

Troom Troom

Troom Troom is a popular YouTube channel with more than 1.7 million subscribers and in excess of 3.8 billion video views.

What’s cool about Troom Troom is that it specifically targets younger YouTubers with DIY crafts, recipes, hacks, pranks, and home decorating ideas for industrious kids and teens who are into being different, not the same.

The channel’s catalog of brightly-colored videos includes Easter-themed content. Interestingly enough, the video embedded below has more than 119k views, 3800 likes, and 290 comments only a day after being posted.

So, we referred to this particular strategy as Everybody-In because the video presents lots of opportunities for brands across different verticals to partner with a Creator like Troom Troom.

This Easter video would easily accommodate food companies that can easily and logically sponsor this post (because of the recipes) But it also has room for brands like Dollar Tree, craft stores, companies that make the crinkled paper grass, paint companies that are pushing seasonal colors like mustard or robin’s egg blue, food supply companies that supply pastry bags and cookie sheets, lumber retailers (the display surfaces are painted wood) who can supply splinter-free table tops that don’t need to be sanded or treated…

But Troom Troom (or Creators like Troom Troom) is a great option for brands that don’t easily fit into the Easter category (or any holiday for that matter) because this particular channel specializes in presenting creative ideas, activities, and DIY projects for kids. So, the videos are quirky, colorful, and unusual. It’s an expect-the-unexpected sort of channel.

We Conclude with This…

This concludes the annual The Shelf Favies awards! We hoped you enjoyed our list and enjoyed our favorites as much as we did. Feeling motivated to make next year’s list? Great! Let’s bang out an influencer marketing strategy for your brand. We can’t wait to work with you, and we can’t wait to see you on next year’s ballot!

 

Mother’s Day is one of THE MOST celebrated holidays on earth. There are something like two billion moms around the world, 85 million of whom are in the United States. Most people (84 percent of them) are going to be celebrating their mothers in just a few weeks, so we crafted this post for marketers who are inevitably targeting the daughters, sons, hubbies, grandkids, and partners who will be making their way to stores between now and May 12, 2019. Friend, it’s time for some Mother’s Day marketing… and right here is where you’re going to find some really dope strategies. But first…

Here Are the Mother’s Day Stats That Matter to Marketers

Mother’s Day is now the second biggest gift-giving holiday, after Christmas. At least as far as gift-giving goes, moms receive more honor than dads. During the months of May and June, 30 million more greeting cards are purchased for Mother’s Day than for Father’s Day.

According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, 2018 Mother’s Day spending was the second highest in the survey’s entire 15-year history!

Consumers spent $494 million on media (books/music/etc), $813 million on greeting cards, and $956 million on housewares and gardening tools.

The spending only increased from there: Twenty-four percent of those who bought Mother’s Day gifts splurged on personal services like massages, manicures and pedicures for a total of $1.8 billion. For tech-savvy moms, another $2.1 billion was spent on consumer electronics. Fashionable moms received $2.1 billion in clothing while many honored the woman who has everything by grabbing gift cards. This amount totaled $2.5 billion.

Now, this last bracket is where the big bucks are generally spent (like, every year…). Jewelry, special outings, and flowers account for $4.6 billion, $4.4 billion, and $2.6 billion respectively (totaling $11.6 billion). Of these, the most popular item given is in the floral category. So, in addition to Mother’s Day being the second biggest gift-giving holiday of the year, it’s also the day the most flowers are sold all year long.

Greeting cards also have been proven essential, as 80 percent of Mother’s Day consumers purchase greeting cards. Year after year, greeting cards, flowers, and special outings are the top three ways shoppers show love to Mom on this special day.

It’s Not Gonna Be Your Typical Mother’s Day This Year

With millions of consumers spending billions of dollars on Mom, it’s no wonder brands compete to get in front of ready buyers in the days and weeks leading up to Mother’s Day. Expect this year to start a years=long shift in how we celebrate Mother’s Day. Here’s why I say that:

Gen Z is in full effect… This year, Gen Z and Millennials will undoubtedly lead the charge of kids gifting moms, which paves the way for some pretty cool influencer marketing opportunities this Mother’s Day.

In-store shopping can make a strong comeback… Generation Z shoppers prefer in-store shopping. This probably has a lot to do with their age (the older Gen Z shoppers range in age from 11 to 22 this year). Younger shoppers typically don’t have wallets overflowing with plastic. Also, their preference for shopping in brick-and-mortar locations is because they use shopping as a way to socialize with friends.

Experiences are the new black… There are a couple of important things driving this trend. First, Millennial and Gen Z gifters are more likely than older generations to share their gift ideas, shopping experience, and even the actual presentation of the Mother’s Day gift on social media (to Snapchat and Stories, of course). So, the gift – whatever it is – needs to be gram-worthy.

Second, it’s not unusual to find it difficult to shop for Mom because Gen Xers and Boomers have typically accumulated more physical possessions. This makes it increasingly hard to shop for a Mom who may indeed have everything… at home and in storage.

Finally, Millennial and Gen Z shoppers tend to be more waste-conscious. You can expect them to be more thoughtful about the types of gifts they buy this year.

Mushy sentimentality is back… Sentimental gifts are becoming cool for young adults to buy Moms. They have greater emotional impact, and let’s face it… a blood-sweat-and-tears self-portrait from Grandma’s hard-working high school senior granddaughter isn’t going to end up in the donation bin like the riding boots we got her two years ago that she never really used. Especially if her exact words when she unboxed them were, “To ride what?”.

Family portraits got a very public upgrade… Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have been sort of flooded with people snapping family pics at socially-optimized pop-up locations that are created specifically for social media pictures. Expect this trend to up the ante a bit on the traditional family photo.

Social media is ultra-shoppable… Social media is a powerful, almost MATCHLESS sales tool for spring holidays like Mother’s Day. Not only is social constantly changing the ways in which consumers shop… social is also changing consumer expectations… and changing what they buy, how they buy, and why they buy.

What’s In This Particular Mother’s Day Marketing Post

We’re at a time in digital marketing when close to 40 percent of ALL consumers check social media for reviews before making a purchase (it’s higher for younger buyers). Having a relatable social media presence and strong engagement are more essential than ever before. If you can get those basics down, you’re in a good position to get that content in front of your audience as often as possible (without triggering ad blindness).

In this post, we’ve put together a list of six strategies that will help retailers craft Mother’s Day marketing campaigns designed specifically to boost in-store foot traffic.

Yeah, foot traffic.

Currently, two-thirds of Mother’s Day shoppers are doing so in-store. So, they just need a compelling reason to take that $14 billion in Mother’s Day spending to your store, right?

Right.

To grab that attention, you’ll need to offer them more than just great ads. Storytelling is going to be HUGE for brands this Mother’s Day… as will creating experiences that help shoppers streamline and simplify the process of gifting Mom and Grandma something AWESOME.

The typical buyer is looking for something completely different than what they may have gifted in the past. The key to leveraging Mother’s Day gift giving as a marketing strategy is to create the supply of experiences, special gifts, and rare items that will meet the demand for something awesome that mom will love.

One in three shoppers make their Mother’s Day purchases online, and a growing number of these shoppers are opting to gift experiences and sentimental gifts rather than, say… another pretty hat.

 

6 Strategies, 16 Tactics and a Couple of Cool Ideas to Help Your Mother’s Day Marketing Campaign Boost In-Store Traffic

Strategy 1: Video Marketing

Target Shopper: Gen Z and Millennials

There are lots of ways brands can use video in their Mother’s Day marketing strategies. Honestly, I think three of our most recent five posts had something to do with video marketing. There’s this one on YouTube user stats, this one on video marketing strategies, and video was included in two of the 2019 marketing trends.

Zeroing in on Generation Z and Millennials shoppers with a video campaign is smart because Gen Zers – the 11 to 22 crowd – defers to YouTube for product recommendations and to help them make final purchasing decisions. More than half of Millennials (54 percent) check YouTube daily. Their content of choice includes things like product unboxings, hauls, tutorials, and content that’s quick, fun and entertaining.

TACTIC #1: Branded insider videos

To watch this video, it wouldn’t be immediately apparent what Blue Illusion is – the video isn’t at all about the stuff it sells. The only hint is that Nicole, daughter to Lisa and one of the company’s apparel buyers, was included in the video.

Self-proclaimed curators of personal style, French-Inspired Australian fashion boutique Blue Illusion is dedicated to selling clothes that showcase the modern woman’s spirit, pursuit of style, passion for life, and generosity of heart.

The company’s #EveryMum Mother’s Day campaign on YouTube was a sweet but candid look at mother/daughter relationship, and how valuable the family is to Blue Illusion’s company’s culture by featuring employees who were mother and daughter.

These kinds of videos are often endearing and tug a bit on the heartstrings. More important, they immediately humanized your brand and give it a face… Actually, this video gave the brand eight faces… all of them believable and relatable.

There was dialogue in the videos between mother and daughter, where both mum and kid revealed interesting things… like Esther isn’t great at picking out clothes for her daughter Lexi.

Totally relatable.

TACTIC #2: Mother’s Day gift ideas and guides

Another effective way to use video marketing for Mother’s Day is to partner with influencers who can create great gift idea vlogs.

Now, YouTube videos will typically be one of the pricier options for an influencer campaign, especially if you’re partnering with a macro-influencer. Like, add-a-zero pricey. But these kinds of short, personal videos can get tons of eyes on your product and get ears listening to the good things about your product.

To reduce the cost of a sponsored YouTube video, consider including your product as part of a larger list of gift ideas rather than choosing to have an influencer make an entire video strictly about your product or products.

The challenge with sponsored videos is to partner with an influencer who can disclose that the video is sponsored without the whole thing seeming like a big, fat sponsored video. Here’s a GREAT example of an influencer who’s great at that.

Lifestyle vlogger Fleur de Force (on Instagram @fleurdeforce and here’s her YouTube channel) put together a Mother’s Day video that was published on March 17th, and seven days later, it already has more than 44k views.

If you have never seen one of her videos, they are very well done. Fleur de Force is easy to understand, personable, refined, and gorgeous. What’s cool about the way she does gift idea videos – and this one in particular – is even though it’s a sponsored video partnership with L’Occitane (which she noted in the video description and the title), the video itself really is full of good Mother’s Day ideas that feature lots of other brands.

In addition to L’Occitane gift sets, she talked about jewelry and modeled some comfy pajamas. She also noted in her video that after polling the moms in her life, she discovered most of them just want some time off, time to themselves, which gave way to the idea of creating a relaxation basket for moms that include things like books, bath salts, nail polish, a scented candle (which was a collaboration between Cowshed x Scamp & Dude), and those pajamas… She talked a bit about subscription boxes as well.

Here’s the important part: L’Occitane was featured in the video, yes, but it wasn’t a L’Occitane commercial in the eyes of her viewers, and THAT’S what’s powerful about a video haul or gift idea video like this one.

TACTIC #3: Hauls

Mother’s Day gift hauls are entertaining to watch. These informal discovery videos come in all types and are done by bloggers from all over the world who have audiences of all sizes.

What makes hauls so valuable to brands is hauls provide prospects with an easy discovery method as they are already knee-deep in Mother’s Day gift research. This is great for holidays like Mother’s Day when shoppers are more deliberate and thoughtful about the kind of gifts they buy. Gift cards are more popular at Christmas time than they are for Mother’s Day, and that’s because Mother’s Day is an appreciation holiday the Moms 84 percent of people are setting aside time and funds to honor.

Another thing that’s cool about hauls is they come across as authentic because they’re usually loosely-scripted or completely unscripted. They’re not over-produced.

If you watched a bit of Fleur de Force’s video, you saw the lighting in her bedroom changed, probably affected by the cloud cover outside. That sorta thing doesn’t negatively impact haul videos.

Now, I’m not saying that production isn’t important at all. I’ve actually skipped haul videos that looked interesting because the vlogger’s messy bedroom in the background was distracting and I quickly realized that mess would influence my view of the products she found in her haul. What I am saying is no one’s winning an Oscar for a their holiday hauls.

I think the key element that makes hauls compelling is the same thing that drives Instagram videos to grab so much attention – it’s the opportunity to engage with the video’s creator and to engage with other viewers about THEIR experiences with the brand.

Another thing about haul videos is that timing is important. Mother’s Day in the UK is just a few weeks before Mother’s Day in the US, and there are lots of Mother’s Day videos from bloggers in all those countries (and Australia).

As we’re writing this in mid-March, most of the new content we see is from UK vloggers preparing for UK Mother’s Day on March 31st. Keep that in mind when planning your campaigns.

So, one of the more produced hauls we found was by a popular vlogger named Shopper Mandy (get her YouTube channel here and you can find her on Instagram @shoppermandy).

Okay, you’ll notice even from the screenshot below that Mandy’s video has been produced a bit. She puts the products featured in the haul in a little white box on-screen so viewers can see the actual color of the product, unaffected by her lighting and movements. Smart.

Shopper Mandy also includes in the description section beneath her video beauty and fashion affiliate links to the products in her posts.

Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing work well together. According to Rakuten, 80 percent of advertisers run affiliate programs, and you would be hard-pressed to find a micro- or macro-influencer who didn’t participate in affiliate programs.

For instance the link for the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Volupté’ Lip Gloss Trio goes to the Nordstrom product page for that set. It’s sold out.

Another way to do hauls is to sponsor an actual branded haul. Go Team Fam! is a family YouTube vlog channel from Kyle and Court Hale and their kids. Now, I don’t see any indication that this is actually a sponsored post, but… for Bath & Body Works fans, this would have been a legit win because of the Mother’s Day promotions that were going on in-store.

(Just an aside… Bath & Body Works is a BOSS at reaching customers where they are and driving traffic into the store, from their end-of-summer clearance sales (never miss ‘em) to their free holiday gifts, and those break-apart cards that come in direct mail promoting different time-sensitive offers for 30- and 60-day periods… this company knows how to drive foot traffic).

So, here’s what really grabbed me about this particular haul…

Tactic #4: In-Store Mother’s Day Promotion… At the very beginning of the video, we find out that this haul video was compelled by a great in-store buy. Court went into the store and discovered there was also an in-store Mother’s Day promotion going on that allowed shoppers to get a large zippered navy or bronze tote in a chevron weave.

Tactic #5: The Free Gift… Shoppers who spent $50 could get an additional box of products valued at $100+ for just another $30. It’s possible to buy for Mom and yourself, or buy for Mom and Mother-in-Law, or Mom and Grandma or your best friend who’s a new mother…

Tactic #6: Digital Coupon went Out to Subscribers… There was also a coupon available (list-building opportunity) to Bath & Body Works email list that gave them another $5 off their purchase. So, Mother’s Day shoppers paid $75 and got $167 in product + a tote.

Tactic #7: Easy Returns and Exchanges for Moms… FINALLY, scents (even those given as a gift) were eligible to be exchanged for other scents. That means Mom could get her gift and go back to the store to swap out her fragrance and be upsold by a perfume, spray, scrub, or lotion with the same scent for layer.

(Coincidentally, I went to their site immediately to be signed up for upcoming email offers… even though I know I got direct mail Bath & Body Works offers that also send me running to the stores.)

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Strategy 1 recap

Video marketing is legit, especially if you’re incorporating influencers into your strategy. Video gift guides and hauls really can come in all shapes and sizes. But remember, YouTube videos can get really pricey, especially if you want the entire video to focus exclusively on your products.

If the price of a branded video is too steep, consider including your product as part of a larger haul that includes complementary products from other brands.

Last thing to think about is timing. The UK vloggers and US vloggers produce tons of Mother’s Day content, but Mother’s Day in the UK typically falls a few weeks earlier than in the US, so plan to publish and promote videos starting in March for the UK and April for the US.

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Strategy 2: Create Experiences Outta Nowhere

Target: Adult children buying for Mom, adult children with families, free-spirited Gen Xers and Boomers (birds of a feather, you know…)

EXPERIENCES SELL. For social media users (which is literally half of all Internet users at this point), cool-looking experiences are Instagram fodder. Avid social media posters are ALWAYS on the hunt for cool locations to shoot pictures. ALWAYS.

TACTIC #8: Fanciful pop-up backdrops

Grammers’ insatiable appetite for phenomenal backdrops has opened the door for companies like Supercandy Museum and the Museum of Ice Cream to create these types of socially-optimized interactive art exhibits where Instagrammers visit and take pictures. But creating a cool backdrop isn’t just limited to novelty companies.

New York cruelty-free cosmetics retailer Winky Lux is currently trending on Instagram with 4,476 posts hashtagged #itsawinkyworld from grammers who visited the Winky Lux’s Manhattan store and Winky World, the company’s own version of colorful interactive space that’s perfect for snapping great pictures.

This post from @iamtarawallace was snapped in the company’s Manhattan shop. Notice in her post (that doesn’t say it’s sponsored, by the way) that this particular influencer included the store’s address so people can find the Winky World exhibit.

There are also stores in Chicago…

…. And Tyson’s Corner Center, Virginia

…. And the company’s newest store opened this month in Nashville, and with it a pop-up, socially-optimized experience room. I grabbed this screenshot from the website.

TACTIC #9: CREATE experiences in, around and through your store

Creating in-store experiences isn’t a new strategy. But it’s one that has helped retailers like Bass Pro Shops grab mall foot traffic from shoppers who may have had no intention of visiting the store, but who go into the store simply because of the forest-themed spectacle.

Source: Newlyweds photographed in the entrance of a Bass Pro Shops store that was posted to Instagram . Adventure really does start here.

The company’s retail locations are humongous stores full of outdoorsy things (totally a scientific term), equipped with a 25-cent shooting range (not real guns), a fishing pond, full-sized stuffed wildlife, and one of my kids’ personal favorites, the in-store mountainside stream (the stream part is really just a gigantic aquarium) that’s gotta be like 20feet high.

Bass Pro Shops does a great job at translating the wonder and majesty of nature into an awe-inspiring in-store experience for visitors. The store’s team members are knowledgeable and accessible, with younger and (thank goodness) older team members ready to be engaged when you need them (translation: they don’t stalk you around the store).

But BPS doesn’t skimp on seasonal photo opportunities either. We were doing a quick search for an inside shot of the store in the company’s official Instagram feed and came across a family pic from podcaster Matt Drury (on Instagram @mattdrury81). We flipped through his pictures and found a nice one of BPS’s holiday setup of Santa chillin’ in his holiday wonderland with Matt’s daughter in the foreground.

Source: On Instagram

Another thing Bass Pro Shops does well is create opportunities offsite with special events to engage with customers. I screengrabbed this digital flyer that was on the company’s main website. This sorta segues into my next tactic, which is creating experiences that Moms can do with other people.

TACTIC #10: Create experiences that Mom can do with her BFF, not her family (Referrals!!!)

One of the cool things about experiences is they pave the way for referrals. Fleur de Force mentioned in her video that many moms want some time to themselves for Mother’s Day. The flipside is, often moms who have adult children are game to do some activities either with their kids and grandkids for Mother’s Day, or share in experiences that allow her to still have a day off, but maybe spend it with whomever she chooses.

This is where things like gift certificates, paid reservations, open travel plane tickets, and accommodation / hospitality gifts can come in handy. These sorts of gifts compel Mother’s Day shoppers to buy “in pairs” so Mom has someone with whom she can share the experience.

Here’s the thing though: It’s smart to create experiences that she will want to share with a friend instead of a family member. I came across an interesting factoid in Mention-Me.com’s Referral Success for Luxury Brands report.

“As a rule of thumb, women share more than men & under 30s share more than 30+. However, whilst older ages share less, the shares they make tend to convert better.”

Strategy 2 recap

Think about creating Instagrammable experiences that kids can share with Mom like Museum of Ice Cream, create in-store experiences that drive people to want to come inside like Bass Pro Shops, and create referral-worthy buddy experiences that Mom will want to do with her own friends.

Strategy 3: Go Narrower; Find the Outliers

Target: Gen Z teens, kids of 30-something moms, friends of Millennial moms

TACTIC #11: TAP INTO MOM’S UNIQUENESS (“It’s a vegan, cruelty-free, no-waste, upcycled, circular movement naked cupcake. Proceeds go to save the Whatevers…”)

Interestingly enough, the generations only look completely different from one another until they have kids. That’s when the youngest generation of parents start to adopt (and finally “get”) the principles and values their parents and grandparents were working so hard to instill. There are still marked differences in parenting styles form generation to generation, but it’s not oranges-to-apples differences… they’re green-apples-to-red-apples differences.

As parents age and start to deal with the non-snowflake moments that come with having kids (temper tantrums, busy middle school schedules, mid-terms, moody teens, weird things happening with grades, dating, crashing the car, missing curfew, dirty bedrooms, messy closets…), parents all start to sort of blend together.

#sorrynotsorry

But in those early years, when Mom still has enough energy to kick butt and take names… OR if you want your brand to remind her how much of a boss she STILL is (especially when that kid of hers drops and breaks his third phone iPhone this year). Mother’s Day gift choices that reflect her uniqueness, fire and strength are always winners.

Lush Cosmetics is known for its vibrant, beautiful, vegetarian cosmetics line. The company prides itself on living by six principles: the freshest cosmeticas, 100% vegetarian products, ethical buying, homemade, naked (unpackaged), and the charge to fight against animal testing. During its Mother’s Day campaign, Lush offered special gifts for the SuperMom.

What’s cool about Lush is the company has a very strong social media presence, and there are multiple Lush accounts on Instagram alone. The one below is for the Australia / New Zealand Lush stores.

Here’s another thing you probably didn’t know – Lush has naked stores.

Yeah… naked.

Tactic #12 is just be as bold and outrageous as you can… while still being on-brand. Lush’s Naked stores aren’t about being helped by naked sales associates. These are actually the company’s packaging-free stores. The naked workers thing just sort of drives the point home (and the traffic in).

Think that drives in-store traffic?

Lush also created a pop-up exhibit of its own to promote the #NakedRevolution called the naked rainbow. Notice how none of the products have any packaging.

Source: On Instagram

Lush has been around since the 1980s, but it remains a staple for young, environmentally-conscious adults, regardless of their defined generation.

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Strategy 3 recap

Help kids and friends find ways to remind Mom of who she was before motherhood consumed her (it’s totally an all-consuming type of thing…). Remember the movie Avatar… and how audiences made a big deal of the way they greeted one another? Well, instead of saying, “Hey, how are you?”, they greeted each other, “I see you.” Help kids see their moms again.

Bold, tongue-in-cheek, quirky products can grab the attention of shoppers and help them align the intention behind your product with their mom’s personality. And having marketing collateral that aligns with Mom’s sense of humor, her college days, her fearlessness, or her time as a singer/songwriter can trigger the connection for shoppers.

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Strategy #4: Target Non-Mom Moms (because everyone is a mother of something)

Target: Friends of older Millennials, friends of Gen Xers

Fun fact: Moms are liable to get gifts from just about anyone. Mother’s Day shoppers don’t just buy for the woman they call “Mom”, they buy for moms in general – significant others, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, other family members, and friends.

But there are non-traditional moms out there who also get Mother’s Day love.

BarkBox celebrates Dog Moms

Okay. This didn’t drive traffic into a store, but it was a great idea from BarkBox to kinda loop non-moms (and her friends and family) into the Mother’s Day shopping.

The web-based subscription took Facebook by storm as it dared to redefine the traditional idea of motherhood. #DogAnthem didn’t target all moms, just dog moms. As the two performers rap about the popularity of their fur babies, it’s almost impossible not to get this tune stuck on your head: “If you’re a dog mom, put your hands up. This song’s for all the ladies who provide for their pup. When you’re a dog mom, it’s just what you do. ‘Cause they say you’re not my baby but I know it ain’t true!”

Dog Mom Anthem

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Strategy 4 recap

Widen your market by not taking yourself (and Mother’s Day) so seriously. If you don’t have traditional Mother’s Day stuff to sell, create a message that will resonate with non-mom moms.

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Strategy #5: Take the Straight-Laced Out of Luxury Gifts

Target: Significant other, adult children

We came across a pretty neat little Mother’s Day haul video from popular luxury YouTuber Sonal Maherali (you can check out her channel here). Now, the set up of this haul is that Sonal is opening Mother’s Day gifts that she received from her husband, who was traveling on Mother’s Day.

(FYI: We didn’t include this video at the top with the other haul because this one targets a different buyer).

TACTIC #13: The gift-opening haul

The video opens with Sonal sitting next to a set of black Chanel gift bags and a fourth big bag in the back. The first gift she opens is a genuine leather passport holder with a super-cool illustration on the front, featuring leopard print Christian Louboutins.

Other than that AMAZING passport holder, here’s what’s cool about this video – as she proceeds to open the rest of the gifts, there are times when she doesn’t know the name of a shoe and other times when she does… and she’s seen the shoe before online… but has never actually touched it.

She’s trying to describe each item as she sees it, instead of having scripted keywords that she had to use for the video. She comes across as really sincere, and the gift haul seems authentic.

It’s sort of a backdoor into a haul video that would make for great, low-key product placement.

Another thing that’s sort of clever about this particular type of haul is that for the products she doesn’t know well, that could have been a great opportunity to follow up the video with a blog post of her modeling the shoes and reviewing the products.

She didn’t do that, but what did happen in the days, weeks, and months that followed was that as people watched the video, other users chimed in with information about the products and their experiences with those and similar products.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving. And here it is two years later and we’re checking out this Mother’s Day haul as well.

PS. Sonal is extremely likable.

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Strategy 5 recap

Gift-Opening hauls are a great way to foster YouTube engagement from viewers – solid engagement like comments and sharing experiences, and talking candidly about your brand and your products. It’s also a great way to source insights about the level of knowledge her followers have about your brand. And, of course, it presents a great opportunity for your team members to chime in organically about your products.

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Strategy #6: Teach a Man to Fish…

Targeting: Husbands and sons, brothers, dads and kids, daughters only

Our final strategy caters to the sentiment motivator for picking gifts and that’s DIY tutorials on or around Mother’s Day. Of course, there are tons of cool DIY and handmade videos, Pinterest boards, and blogs from everyday users.

TACTIC #14: Handmade gifts anyone can do

If You Want It D.I.Y released a Mother’s Day Gift Ideas video that provided step-by-step instructions for four different DIY gift ideas in under 10 minutes. Brilliant.

The video is detailed enough for viewers to follow along and see the types of products being used. But it’s edited in a way that speeds up the video so it’s easy to follow but doesn’t take a lot of time to initially digest all four ideas.

Now, my original thought with the DIY angle was for a brand like The Home Depot or the local hardware store to create a series of detailed step-by-step tutorials targeting dads and sons who could work together on an outdoor DIY project for Mom in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. A tutorial.

TACTIC #15: DIY big project tutorial FOR Mom

Why a Tutorial? Well, tutorials are crucial for the YouTuber. In our post on YouTube user stats (this one), one of the things we talked about was how Gen Zers and Boomers use YouTube as a learning channel. Baby Boomers are big on watching tutorials to decode tech-related stuff. And, of course, who fixes cars anymore without having their phone nearby to reference the tutorial that’s walking them through the task they’re doing? Nobody. That’s who.

Tutorials and DIY videos are powerful marketing tools for brands because most viewers will try to adhere to the tutorial as much as possible to recreate the results they saw in the video. So, this provides a good opportunity for brands to partner with DIY influencers for natural-looking product placements.

It doesn’t have to be a video though. Pinterest is a HAVEN for this kinda stuff, a virtual library of beautiful backyard projects from super-simple stuff to more complex large backyard projects. Plus, Pinterest is great for SEO, showing up in search results, and especially Google Image search results, which means shoppers don’t have to be pinning fanatics to find your tutorials on Pinterest… they only have to be using a search engine.

In the screenshot below, the content on the far right is sponsored by TimberTech, and the one below it is sponsored by The Home Depot.

We penned a post at the end of last year (this one) on how HUGE Pinterest is for home decor and DIY brands. Let me just recap one piece of that info here:

In summer 2017, Pinterest reported there were 11 billion home decor pins on the platform and 2.3 billion home decor searches and saves per year. Pinterest alone reaches 40 percent of the people who have made home furnishing purchases within the last six months, and users say Pinterest is THE MOST influential platform for home decor and home design inspiration.

User-wise, Pinterest doesn’t have as many monthly active users as Facebook or Instagram. At the end of September 2018, the platform had 250 million monthly active users. But unlike Facebook and Instagram, 93% of Pinners use the platform to plan for or make purchases. Sixty percent of Pinners have used Pinterest to actually MAKE purchasing decisions for home decor.

Home decor is one of the three most popular search categories on Pinterest as well as one of the top shopping categories that lead to purchases.

Now, a large DIY project (like building something in the backyard) is probably going to require a longer campaign to get the attention of dads, sons, and daughters, AND give them time to mentally plan how they would do it without Mom finding out, AND to buy materials, AND to do the work.

The key is getting them to finally DECIDE to do the project… which retargeting ads can help with nudging them toward a commitment to do the project and the subsequent purchases required to do it right.

So, the process could go this way – YouTube pre-roll ads for Mother’s Day targeting different shoppers. The brand grabs viewers’ attention in those precious first five seconds with an on-screen message. Here’s what I’m thinking as far as targeting goes…

To Mom from All of Us

To: Mom… Love, the boys

To: Mom… Love, Your Favorite Son

Here’s a Mother’s Day Project for Kick-Ass Daughters (I imagine this one in an Alec Baldwin / Will Arnett type of voice)

TACTIC #16: DIY project to do WITH Mom (hear us roar)

Darbin Orvar created a step-by-step video for building a small, low-cost gazebo in her dad’s garden that is actually targeting people who aren’t carpenters… or may not be great with their hands. She uses hand tools in the video – not HGTV-grade super tools that need their own area of the yard to operate. Just something simple.

The video includes a trip to the local Lowe’s Store. She also talks about her hammering skills (great opportunity to teach, share techniques, recommend gloves, hammers, and maybe even something to combat the calluses that will inevitably result from spending one day as a construction worker).

Take a look at this video because it also has a sponsor mentioned in the beginning, GAF, the company that provided the shingles for the roof of the gazebo.

The Smoaks Vlogs (they’re just so darned charming!)

Okay. I think this may be as unscripted as it gets. But, this video is a great example because The Smoaks Vlogs are laid back but really captivating.

In this particular Mother’s Day video, it’s Mom who wanted to clean out the barn and build a new kennel for the pups (looks like they have 7 or 8 dogs), so they head out to the stores and pick up supplies.

What’s cool about this video is actually Shawn Smoaks’s narration. The couple goes to The Home Depot and Tractor Supply Co and loads the flatbed of their pickup with supplies. Another easy way to incorporate products.

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Strategy 6 recap

Like HAULS, DIY videos and tutorials can provide a natural product placement opportunity. I think the primary difference is it’s a little easier to zero in on grabbing men with DIY videos, compared to hauls.

One thing I didn’t mention is a lot of these home improvement project videos have natural spots in them for objective product reviews… like this drill works on this, but not on that. You may have heard Shawn Smoaks talking about the capabilities and limitations of his Milwaukee drill in his Mother’s Day video. Those types of objective reviews resonate with men and Baby Boomers who would much rather have the facts and make their own decisions about the product than an editorial. Just an FYI…

For larger projects, give your campaign more lead time because there’s a good chance you will need to incorporate retargeting as well as sponsored posts across multiple platforms (like, reaching Boomer husbands on Facebook, targeting sons on YouTube and Snapchat, getting to Millennial husbands on Facebook and through retargeting and emails).

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Wrapping This Up with a Pretty, Pink Ribbon

It’s vital to get your product in front of the right people. And with Mother’s Day right around the corner, it’s really time to pull those campaigns together. If this post provided you with your game plan, awesome. We see you.

If it made your blood pressure shoot up and you had to take a Honey Bun break, you probably need our help. Don’t sweat. We’re cool, we’re creative, and we stay on top of trends and tactics that convert. Call us to set up a demo.

An Epic, By-the-Numbers Post on America’s Favorite Unofficial Winter Holiday – The Super Bowl

This morning, all any of the sports shows can talk about is the Rams-Saints game last night. A no-call on a pass interference in that crucial game has effectively sent the Rams on to face the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII in two weeks. It’s a match that will be preceded by and surrounded with controversy… like any other Super Bowl.

2018’s Super Bowl LII was also one for the books! Controversy was once again the name of the game. Justin Timberlake sparked controversy when he agreed to perform during the halftime show.  CURE Auto Insurance shocked everyone in a commercial that stated: “You know what’s weird? If you cheat on your car insurance, you can get arrested. But if you cheat at football, you can sleep with a supermodel.” A CLEAR shot a Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen amid the football deflating scandal.

On the day of “The Big Game” social media was flooded with die-hard fans’, casual fans’, and party goers’ Super Bowl celebrations. The day after the Super Bowl, people created memes, ranted about the close calls, and and shamelessly stuck by their teams no matter what.  One thing I think we all can agree on is that the Super Bowl ads are the one part of the show that never disappoint!

All of this is what makes the Super Bowl worth the $5M the American Marketing Association says advertisers were paying for 30-second commercial spots.

It’s difficult to find any demographic that has no participation in Super Bowl Sunday. Whether they watch football regularly or not, families are watching, friends are watching, organizations are throwing Super Bowl-related events, fans are tuned in for everything from the pre-game to the post-game show. Partiers are making sure they don’t run low on any snacks or beverages, and socialites are posting their entire day!

The Super Bowl is an EVENT where people are actively doing things,  buying things, and talking about things on social media. And that’s an ideal environment for smart marketing.

Why the Super Bowl is Such a Big Deal

The Super Bowl is huge! Like 76 percent of Americans who watch the game. It’s not just the most watched event on American television every year. It is also THE competitive event of the year. Two teams battle it out in a single game – no playoffs, no ‘we’ll get ‘em next times’, no do-overs.

One. And. Done.  I can’t think of a better way to summarize the way the last Big Game ended.

In 2017, that “one-and-done” meant the Patriots made history by closing a 28-3 lead by the Falcons in the first ever Super Bowl game to go into overtime. The Patriots won the game 34 to 28 after trailing behind the Falcons in the first three quarters of the game. It was an unbelievable match (because the Patriots closed a 25-point gap in the fourth quarter, and because the Falcons let them)!

A year later in Super Bowl LII, one quick-witted defensive end, one overconfident, predictable quarterback, one well-timed sack, one historical fumble recovery. And done! The Philadelphia Eagles secure their first Super Bowl victory.

In total there are about 48 million of us who watch the game every year hoping to see magical. breath-taking moments like this. Moments that we can relive, and share with others for years to come.The other 63.4 million of us can’t be bothered with the turnout of the game.  We already have enough on our plates- what with food, commercials, and the sure-to-be-epic halftime show.

No matter why we watch the game, and without regard to the fact that we spend our days habitually checking our mobile devices(about 80 times per day), we do still crave and treasure shared experiences. The Super Bowl is a time when people can get together in a festive, party atmosphere (whether or not your team is playing or winning for that matter) and hang out enjoying good ol’ human interaction.

No matter the outcome- win or lose, So, win or lose, you can bet that when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around on February 3rd, Americans will be watching football, expecting something amazing to happen. It’s a gathering where everyone is emitting positive energy and waiting with great expectation. That’s what makes it a fun, memorable, irreplaceable staple in American culture.. That’s what makes the Super Bowl the event of the year.

 

The Economics of the Super Bowl

We’ve already established that the Super Bowl is the ultimate entertainment event. It’s not a concert where it only has meaning to the folks who go, or an awards show that only seems to have meaning if you saw the movies or know the artists who are being honored.

It’s much different than that. It transcends age, economic, and cultural barriers. For people who stopped paying attention to music  a decade ago (like me), or whose cinematic repertoire is now limited to the works of Pixar and Marvel Studios, the Super Bowl is sort of like the be all end all. It’s a mind-blowing experience for both the 70,000 fan in attendance, as well as for the 111 million Americans who don’t get to go to the game.

Here’s What We Spend Celebrating the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is only a half-century old. The first game was played in 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and then notorious rival the Kansas City Chiefs. Back then, you could get nosebleed seats for about $8 (or $60 in today’s money). Atlanta has promised to keep concession prices very low, but it you’re feeling fancy, $8 is how much you would pay for an ATL spicy chicken sausage at this year’s venue, The Mercedes-Benz Stadium.If you’re feeling really fancy, spend 11 bucks and get yourself a souvenir soda and a Mitchell Street Donut Dog.  Yep. You read it right. Donut dog. Long John donut, bacon, jam, swiss cheese sauce. The works!

Ticket prices fluctuate depending on which teams are playing, when the tickets were purchased, and other variables such as how close game day is, and what the weather conditions are. This year, the average no-frill seat at the Big Game, is going to cost somewhere around $3,600 if you buy your tickets blindly, before you know who will be playing. Prices can change daily, but Stubhub. com and SeatGeek. com confirm that number. After the playing teams are announced, however, that price can go up by as much as 50%. According to TickPick. com, the average price for a 2019 Super Bowl 53 ticket is $7,300. Another way to secure tickets is to be a season-ticket holder, and win a completely random raffle.  As a winner, you have the opportunity to purchse Super Bowl LIII tickets at face value at these price points:

• $950 for upper level end zone seats

• $1,250 for upper level corner sections

• $2,700 for 2nd tier club seats

• $5,000 for the Delta Sky360 Club seats

 

Food

45 million celebrators will host Super Bowl Parties this year, and 69 million will be attendees. . Forbes. com positions the Super Bowl as a sort of Christmas for the food industry. Couldn’t have said it better myself. The Super Bowl is the second biggest food consumption day of the year, second only to Thanksgiving Day.

Food makes up 79.5 percent of planned Super Bowl purchases, according to the National Retail Federation. The top sellers are the party staples – pizza, chicken wings, beer, soda, chips, salsa, guacamole.

To celebrate the Super Bowl, Americans spend, on average:

$1.3 billion on beer, flavored malt beverages, and cider

$594 million on wine

$503 million on spirits (whiskey, Vodka, rum, Tequila, gin)

$330 million on pizza, the most popular food of the game, eaten by about 46 percent of Super Bowl fans eating pizza at some point during the evening

$277 million on potato chips

$224 million  on tortilla chips

$99 million on meat snacks

$89 million on popcorn

$82 million on chicken wings (Historically high consumption of 1.35 billion wings is expected)

$80 million on deli salads

$71 million on cheese snacks

$58 million on deli sandwiches

$42 million on salty snack dips

$23 million on deli platters

$13 million on veggie trays

$10 million on deli dips

$2.3 million on soda

We love our food. Of the top-mentioned brands on Twitter during Super Bowl LII last February, five of them – Mountain Dew, Doritos, M&Ms, Skittles, and Pringles.

Interestingly enough, in spite of all of the anticipated marketing campaigns, another one of the top brands, Avocados from Mexico. avocados and guac may be scarce, or even impossible to find come game day due to fuel shortages in Mexico that threaten to prevent shipments from entering the US.

 

Team Apparel

The next big category for Super Bowl spending is team apparel. This makes sense, of course!  Who doesn’t want to rock their team gear? Of those polled, 11 percent of Super Bowl fans planned to buy team apparel and/or accessories to show support of their favorite teams and players. Buying team apparel makes up 10.7 percent of total Super Bowl spending, according to the National Retail Federation.

Decorations

This one actually surprised me. I always pictured a couch, a TV, and a table to hold snack bowls as the go-to Super Bowl party plan. I didn’t take into account that going to a Super Bowl party means you actually have to throw an epic Super Bowl party.

Fifteen percent  of Super Bowl fans polled listed hanging out with friends as the most important part of the evening, according to the National Retail Federation. Spending on decorations for these parties accounts for 8 percent of planned Super Bowl purchases.

Source: National Retail Federation

Of those polled, 27.2 percent planned to attend a Super Bowl party. Eighteen percent of celebrants were planning a party themselves. Five percent of viewers planned to watch the game from a bar or restaurant.

Companies like Party City and OrientalTrading.com have actual Super Bowl party supply sections on their sites. Pinterest and Instagram posts from DIYers, crafts divas, mommy bloggers, food photographers, and chefs provide plenty of ideas for party decorating in the days before the game.

Televisions

Believe it or not, people actually buy new televisions for the Big Game. Super Bowl season is the best time of the year to buy a large-screen, high-definition, name brand TV, according to Kiplinger. Televisions also account for 7.7 percent of planned Super Bowl purchases. Shoppers can expect to get anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent off the regular price of a state-of-the-art TV right around Super Bowl Sunday. .

Side note: I feel really technologically inept referring to a television as “state of the art” but I thought it was a better word choice than referring to it as a “fancy pants TV.”

Furniture

Finally, new furniture purchases account for $465 million, or 3.3 percent, of total consumer spending for the Super Bowl. January through mid-February is one of the best times of the year to get a good price on new furniture. This is one of two times in the year furniture retailers are liquidating their old inventory to make room for new models.

 

Can Influencer Marketing Help You Reach Your Audience?

So, a Super Bowl influencer marketing campaign is absolutely doable if you can find a way to market beyond the typical product placement post. Check out this post: 10 Social Media Strategies for Super Bowl Marketing. These are 10 ways we’ve seen on social that brands used to help improve visibility and engagement during before and immediately after the Super Bowl. that can get attention for your brand, even when your audience is temporarily obsessed with partying.

For this post, I looked at a few timely Super Bowl-related ideas that are wide open for a great influencer marketing campaign. The goal here is to give you ideas on how you can leverage the Super Bowl conversations that are already happening across social, and especially on Instagram, and use them as the springboard for your campaign.

#Snackstadium

If you don’t know what these are, snack stadiums are snack stations organized to look like football stadiums. Our latest search of the term reveals more than 2,900 Instagram posts tagged #snackstadium across Instagram.

This one below was actually a Pinterest pin cross-posted to Instagram by Margie Romney-Aslett (@justagirl). A year ago, with the exception of Amazon’s post about Alec Baldwin’s snack stadium (it got 28.9K views and more than 2600 Likes), Margie’s snack stadium post is one of just a handful using the #snackstadium hashtag that got over 500 likes.

This year, there are lots more contenders for most popular #snackstadium post. This one below was actually a Pinterest pin cross-posted to Instagram by @pinterest_diys_and_more.

The beauty of the snack stadium is the possibilities inherent in designing one. Designers have flexibility in the foods they include as part of the stadium, as well as the materials they use to build the stadium.

So, for instance, food manufacturers, nutrition brands, or health and fitness experts can target influencers to build a vegetarian stadium, or a low-carb keto stadium, or a stadium of salty snacks or sweet snacks. The options are endless.

Lindsay (@cococakeland) posted a snack stadium (pictured below) that looks like it was built using the same foam poster board my daughter uses for school projects. Another stadium I found had 12-oz soda cans for exterior walls.

Austria’s Faser.stoff actually manufactures corrugated cardboard that is perfect for building snack stadiums. Yet another Instagrammer posted a picture of a snack stadium made of paperboard magazine holders, the kind you can grab at Ikea or an office supply store.

Snack food niche influencer (@hellthyjunkfood) posted a picture of a snack stadium made of sandwiches. No fancy construction materials, and zero waste.

Just as there is an infinite number of snack combinations you can include in the snack stadium, there’s an infinite number of materials you can use to build one – construction paper to make the triangular flags, self-sticking letters to make the scoreboard, wood blocks to make the stands, coffee stirrers for goalposts, glue, staples, aluminum foil, you name it. DIY projects like building a snack stadium presents an opportunity for food brands, craft brands, office supply brands, and a thousand other brands to get in on the action in a way that’s timely and relevant.

Food Network host Sunny Anderson (@sunnyanderson), creator of the Infladium (@infladium) reposted this adorable snack stadium filled with little football player shaped cookies. Jessica Burleson (@jacqueline_j115), the creative mind behind this design is an artsy lady who likes to have fun. The Infladium is available at Party City.

Specialty Recipes

Recipes are a dime a dozen, but specialty recipes always win. If you can tell me how I can live on Flaming Hot Cheetos like a college co-ed and stay on my low-carb diet, I will like your post, watch your video, and buy your magic potion.

Diets never go out of style. Somewhere, someone is always cutting something out of their diet or adding something to their diet. Last week I made an avocado chocolate mousse. Coincidentally, I bought 32 ounces of frozen Welch’s avocados to create the high-fat, low-carb dessert.  Why? I saw a post on Instagram one day and sort of stored that idea in the back of my mind for a rainy day. People do it all the time.

If you can provide people with enough time to get the ingredients they need to make low-carb, vegan, vegetarian, diabetic, cholesterol-free, gallbladder diet, or whatever other specialty dishes they want to try for the Super Bowl, go for it.

The Halftime Show

There were thousands of posts about Beyoncé after her halftime performance at Super Bowl 50, and thousands of Lady Gaga posts in the days following her halftime performance at Super Bowl LI. And how can we forget all the #JusticeForJanet posts after Justin Timberlake’s performance at Super Bowl LII?

The Super Bowl halftime show has long-lasting impact. Before the show, performers are posting pictures of their arrival and the rehearsal. During the show, people are tuning in to watch.While just couple of years ago, Lady Gaga’s performance was the second most-watched Super Bowl halftime performance in history (second to Katy Perry’s 2015 performance), and it boosted total Super Bowl LI viewership numbers from 111.3 million to 117.5 million within 15 minutes.

This year, things are drastically different.  After some backlash from Atlanta natives it’s been announced that in addition to Maroon 5, Big Boi (half of the duo OutKast, will also be performing at the halftime show. This year’s halftime show was particularly hard to book. Rihanna, Cardi B, and Pink all turned down the gig.  While Pink cited problems in negotiations, Rihanna and Cardi B made it clear that they stand in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback who says he’s been blacklisted by the NFL for kneeling in protest to police brutality. Rapper Travis Scott also agreed to perform under one condition.  Billboard reported that Scott would only perform if condition that the NFL agreed to donate half a million dollar to social activism group, Dream Corp.

Even in the midst of all the halftime show woes, reviews will undoubtedly begin to pour in Instagram – of the performance, of the outfit, of the hair, of the makeup. And that’s where marketers can capitalize.

For the 6.2 million folks who appeared and disappeared with Lady Gaga, they are a demographic that can be courted by brands in the days leading up to the big performance.

For instance, a beauty company could partner with several expert makeup artists who have the skill to recreate celebrities’ looks with whatever tools they already have in their studios and live stream the transformation immediately following the performance.  The influencer who comes the closest wins something cool.

Brands may instead decide to give prizes to followers whose self-makeover  is the most creative, or most dramatic transformation from the way they normally look. A contest like this could just as easily be sponsored by a skin care company as it can by a makeup brand or a wig company.

Instagram user (@miarandria) posted a fun, flirty makeup tutorial for Super Bowl Sunday.

Again, the point is the make the best use of the conversation already happening on social.

Snacks for the Long Game

Branding your product well is just as important as selling. When you’re marketing products like snacks and perfumes on social media, great branding makes the difference in whether you eventually get the sale.

The thing with snacks is that it’s hard to move people to buy them immediately. As much as I love popcorn, I’m not going on a “popcorn run” anytime soon. Popcorn goes on my shopping list, and most times, I buy the same brand week after week. But…

I can be swayed.

The sponsored post above from Jessica (@dessertswithbenefits) was one of nine I found for Boomchickapop during the days leading up to Super Bowl 50. All the sponsored posts for Boomchickapop were exciting and brightly colored. They were all product shots using the #BringtheBOOM hashtag. I clicked on all of them, actually hoping each post generated enough engagement to be included in this article. Just because the product packaging is so pretty.

Posts featuring just a product generate notoriously low engagement. They usually look like ads and Instagrammers don’t respond well to posts that look like ads. So, you have two options:

1. Use product posts like this one for Boomchickapop to build brand awareness, that way you don’t have to worry so much about converting Likes to sales. You still want to make sure to use influencers who can keep your engagement numbers above 1%.

2. Your second option is to get more creative about your product placements. By that, I mean you can make your products utilitarian and steer the focus of your post to the actual influencer or a finished product (like a low-fat popcorn-only snack stadium filled with different Boomchickapop flavors. Or you can make your product presentation spectacular so your product looks like art. Compartes Gourmet Chocolates is a master at this technique. I’m going to talk more about their strategy in the next post.

 The post below from Karen (@thefoodchalatan) displayed a lovely dish that is based on Frito’s bean dip.  This post was made in preparation for Super Bowl 53.

Posts like this have the ability to convert to sales, and not to mention, this particular type of product ‘packaging’ is so pretty.

The Wrap Up

The Super Bowl is the biggest event of the year. It gets more television views than any other programming and moves more than $14 billion. There are nearly as many women watching the Super Bowl as there are men (43 percent and 57 percent, respectively). And companies that buy TV ad spots during the Super Bowl are spending millions of dollars on ad spend, celebrity appearances, development, production, and promoting the spot before it airs on the big day.

There is plenty of money to be spent, and plenty of money to be made if you have the right Influencer Marketing strategy. If you need help crafting a winning strategy that is just creative and interesting enough to be great, let us know. We have built thousands of successful influencer campaigns, and we’d love for you to become one of our many success stories.

 

 

Brands Are Using Influencers to Sell Travel Experiences for Christmas

Updated October 2018

It’s the holiday season, the perfect time to meet up with extended family at Grandma’s house, drink hot chocolate, carve the turkey, and maybe even go caroling. After all, you’ve waited for this moment all year. Right?  Well, maybe.

Last year, more than 50 million Americans were expected to hit the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday. Another 107 million scheduled year-end holiday travels between December 23rd and January 2nd.

While nearly 91 percent of those doing holiday traveling will be doing so by car, the Christmas season is also a popular time for travelers to make their way to far away destinations. We’re talking bucket list stuff – beachfront resorts, foreign getaways, spontaneous adventure trips.

Here we are again. Fall has arrived, which means…“the most wonderful time of the year” is right around the corner. And just like many of us, influencers are shopping around for the best holiday travel deals. That means if you’re in the hospitality, travel, or tourism business, you need to get your cool packages in front of influencers like, now.

We’re going to keep the stats to a minimum (bummer – I know), and get right down to the strategies of how brands are partnering with influencers to boost airline sales, reduce hotel vacancies, and sell tickets to their respective main attractions.

 

The Trend is Moving Toward Giving Experiences Over Gifts

Whether they know it or not, people prefer experiences over material things. Even your kids. Over the course of the last decade, more and more intel has been gathered to put science behind the rising trend of giving experiences over gifts.

Several years ago, The Atlantic published a piece on behavioral economics, detailing the emotional impact of receiving an experience over a material gift. The science says the emotions triggered when people receive or even plan experiences  – like the joy of anticipation before an event happens and the pleasantness of the memory after – consistently surpasses the impact of material possessions.

Cornell professor Thomas Gilovich, who has done extensive studies on behavioral economics, shows that experiences tend to make people happier, in part because people are far less likely to measure the value of their experiences against the experiences of others… though we did recently post on just that thing and the correlation between believing what you see in your social media feed and practicing “social media deception” (you can find that info here).

On the other hand, you can go tit for tat comparing your new smartphone to your friend’s new smartphone and if your device doesn’t come out the winner, you can end up feeling bad about yourself.

Anyway, Gilovich’s research says experiences are preferred because they are associated with identity, connection, and social behavior.

Coincident with the rise of social media, Millennials are leaning more toward being able to tell awesome stories about their experiences, than just showing pictures of the stuff they got. I think this quote from CNBC.com sums it up pretty well:

Millennials “aren’t spending our money on cars, TVs and watches,” Taylor Smith, CEO and co-founder of Blueboard, told CNBC. “We’re renting scooters and touring Vietnam, rocking out at music festivals, or hiking Machu Picchu.”

Memories Get Treasured, Stuff Gets Trashed… Eventually

Most of us can relate to the idea of longing for a cool, new coat, working to get that cool, new coat, then complaining about the dry-cleaning bills for your cool, new coat once it’s not so new anymore. That’s because we adapt to material things, and lose appreciation for even the most luxurious and expensive items over time. But experiences are just the opposite.

You know that old saying, “In time, you’ll laugh at this”?  The more time that goes by, the more endearing our memories become, even the bad memories.

I recently told a friend of mine who got stuck at the airport after her wallet and phone were stolen on a trip to London that in a year, the entire ordeal – which she chronicled on Facebook for us – would make a great story to tell over beers and wings. She agreed.

So, I’m going to skip the Sephora gift card this year. That would be simple and appreciated, but you know what would be even cooler? Two tickets to Orlando or New Orleans for my daughter and one of her [female] friends.

The Who and Why of Holiday Traveling

So, who is traveling during the holidays? The people who show up at my house, for one. The uncle from Florida, the aunt from Jersey. The brother-in-law from New York. Hopefully, my sister and the kids will come down from Detroit. Even so, we have reached a point in American history where folks just aren’t going home for the holidays as much as they used to. Not to be the person who blames all life’s cultural shifts on Millennials, but they are shaking  things up just a little.

Baby Boomers and Gen Xers tend to have a more conservative approach to travel.  They travel less, and place a heavy value on the destination of the trip. Millennials on the other hand, prefer more frequent trips. On average, Millennials take 32 percent more vacations than Gen Xers, and 44 percent more vacations than Baby Boomers.

 

Making Room for New Traditions

In comparison to younger generations, Boomers never really ventured that far from home. Gen Xers were more scattered than Boomers, but they returned home to celebrate the holidays with family. They come home for the holidays.

Millennials, don’t feel obligated to venture home as much, so they invented Friendsgiving (spending Thanksgiving with your friends instead of going home to your family).

Other cultural shifts such as adult children staying home with their parents longer, young adults getting married and having kids later in life, the prevalence of blended (and re-blended) families, and the rise of a sort of “global community” are all playing a significant role in how we celebrate holidays.

Five years ago, Friendsgiving wasn’t even a thing. Five years ago, we collectively tried to think of good gifts to give, not necessarily good experiences to gift. Today, selling experiences (like paying for the experience of being trapped in an escape room with a zombie chained to a wall that’s closing in on you ever few minutes) is a growing industry.

Are you old enough to remember when going to the State Fair in the fall included riding through the haunted house as a family and feeling a sense of vindication if you thought your parents were just as scared in the haunted house as you were? Yeah, well, today, escape rooms and zombie apocalypses are specifically designed to be enjoyed by friends. Young ones with strong hearts and steel stomachs.

I said all of that to drive home the point that younger Americans aren’t forfeiting holiday traditions. They are effectively creating new ones.

Family Trips

Families still travel together. In fact, more than one-third of Americans planned a family vacation for 2017, according to AAA. And 79 percent of them were planning road trips by car. Where were they going?

• National parks (51 percent)

• Theme parks (40 percent)

• Overseas (33 percent)

• Guided tours (22 percent)

• Cruises (20 percent)

Multi-generational trips have seen an unprecedented increase in popularity over the last few years. Adult children are creating experiences as a way to show appreciation to their parents and grandparents. Children are getting the chance to spend time with their extended family, and possibly the rare opportunity to see mom and dad in a more playful, relatable way.

Buddy Trips

Although Millennials travel more frequently, their attitudes about getaways are different than that of their older counterparts. They often believe that even more than where you’re going, it matters who comes along for the ride. And some insist that a vacation isn’t worthwhile if your friends aren’t there to share it with you.

Not only are Millennials more educated than previous generations, but they also spend longer phases of their lives unattached, which means travel companions are often friends who are sharing moments, sharing travel costs, and creating stronger bonds. It’s no wonder new traditions like Friendsgiving are becoming so popular.

Solo Getaways

Solo holidays are becoming more popular as well, and with it, an increase in the number of companies offering guided tours to small groups and solo travelers. According to an article in The New York Times, 24 percent of people traveled alone on their most recent overseas vacations. Of that number, 37 percent were traveling for the first time.

You would think solo travelers would be young unmarried college kids. That’s not always the case though. Those in committed relationships take solo vacations for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s not possible for both partners to take a vacation at the same time. Or one partner needs time off from a lifetime of caring for kids or a disabled partner.

Several years ago, I jumped at the opportunity to take a 9-day trip to Paris with friends, leaving my business and family in hubby’s capable hands for a week while I was gone. And I still took a day to be alone, away from my friends before we came back home because I needed it. For one whole day, it was just me, my thoughts, and The Louvre.

And Haagen Daas. I spent a significant amount of time in the Haagen Dazs store.

To kind of go back to the point of how experiences impact behavior, one behavioral study found that once travel plans were set, vacationers experienced up to a 2-month boost in happiness in preparation for the trip (I know I did).  And upon their return, the positive energy and relaxing mood could last up to two weeks post-trip.

 

How “Experience” Brands Do Holiday Marketing

There are two primary end-goals for brands marketing travel and vacation experiences during the holidays. The first is to capture the attention of those who will be traveling during the holiday season. The second is to capture the attention of those who will shopping for travel deals during the holidays and actually vacationing the following year.

Let’s look at a few campaigns for each of these marketing goals.

Brands Marketing to Holiday Travelers

The Partnership: Toyota and Taylor Mackenzie

I was surprised to find posts from auto manufacturers during last year’s Thanksgiving weekend.  But it makes sense. By Thanksgiving, many local car dealers have already received shipments of cars for the new model year. That means Black Friday is not only a great time to buy a smart TV, but it’s also a great time to get a deal on a new car.

The same is true if you’re buying a used car, whether from Craigslist or an auto auction. People are spending money on holiday gifts, but the holiday shopping season is also one of the best times of the year to save money on a new car purchase.

This post from style blogger Taylor Mackenzie (@lovetaymack) was sponsored by Toyota (@localtoyotadealers). Taylor’s post was one of several we saw of influencers test driving new cars and using them for holiday shopping last year.

What Taylor Did Right in This Post: Style

Taylor’s sponsored post, which got 4.6% engagement, pictures a well-styled Taylor standing in front of the new Camry. But… smartly, the car is not the focus of the shot.  She is.  And that one small detail likely shifts the perception of the post from being obviously sponsored to being another cool lifestyle shot from @lovetaymack.

I’ve seen several sponsored posts by car companies, and unless an influencer is specifically promoting an elite sports car or ultra-elite luxury car (think Bentley, Rolls Royce, Bugatti and other cars that typically don’t use influencers), posts that feature the car as the focus of the post tend to under-perform.

One of Taylor’s strengths as an influencers is being able to infuse products into her posts without making them look like ads. The result is consistently higher engagement with her audience.

The Partnership:  Marriott Hotels and Erica Choi

Instagram influencer Erica Choi (@eggcanvas) partnered with Marriott Hotels for a series of six posts published between December 24 and December 26, 2016. The posts – which positioned Marriott as an almost surreal destination and a fantastic alternative to the traditional home-for-the-holidays travel plans, were scenic, blue, and beautiful.

For holiday travelers who are okay with skipping out on next year’s white Christmas, this post from Erica of palm trees, infinity pools, and blue skies captures a more perfect Christmas experience.

What Erica Did Right in This Post: Evoke Emotion

To drum-up more than five thousand likes and 85 comments, Erica Choi crafted a simply breathtaking picture of her hotel. More than being a snapshot, the picture is representative of a luxurious vacation experience that I imagine is overflowing with amenities, comforts, and sun-soaked adventures that you just can’t get in the guest room at your aunt’s house back in Boston. What Erica did right was help her followers relate to the awe and wonder she may have experienced sitting poolside at one of Marriott’s eleven swimming pools.

The Campaign: #Southwestpassport

Southwest Airlines (@southwestair) launched an Instagram campaign during the 2016 holiday shopping season that included partnerships with several influencers as part of their #SouthwestPassport travel campaign and contest.

As part of the promotion, Instagram influencers were sent to secret destinations in the month of December. Followers who saw and reposted their Instagram posts could enter for a chance to win a $500 Southwest gift card.

Travel fashion blogger Alex TravelFashionGirl.com (@travelfashiongirl) writes and posts about what to wear when traveling to help women travel light and spend less. Her first sponsored post was a picture of her with a box from Southwest which contained her secret destination.

Tiffany Nguyen (@tiffpenguin), a dentist and travel photographer from Los Angeles was pegged for the Belize slot and shared pictures of her Southwest-sponsored trip.

What’s clever about this post is that it’s not of her Belize trip. It’s a striking photo, but it’s actually just announcing her partnership with Southwest. The post garnered nearly twice as much engagement as the post she actually published during her trip to Belize.

Also, if you read the comments, right around the center, you will see Southwest’s efforts have paid off. Someone verifies that Southwest flies to Belize. That, I believe, is the purpose of the entire campaign, to let people know that Southwest isn’t just your favorite low-cost domestic carrier anymore.

The #Southwestpassport campaign sent influencer Jessica Ricks (@hapatime) to Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S. Mexico where this post got more than 13K likes and six dozen comments.

What the #Southwestpassport Campaign Did Right: Possibilities

Without a doubt, Southwest made it clear they are no longer the airline you use for short flights. Heck, when I moved to Atlanta, I had to give up Southwest because it didn’t fly here.

But Southwest used the right influencers to tell great stories about their travel experiences. Each influencer displayed fantastic instincts for creating content that appealed to their respective followers. And since Southwest has historically been known as an affordable airline, the fact that it now goes to all points across the Americas not only makes Southwest a contender for any new vacation plans I may dream up, but the campaign did a pretty good job of inspiring me to look up possible vacation packages.

 THE CAMPAIGN: #MEDJET

Medjet launched a holiday influencer campaign for Christmas 2017 to boost visibility and increase brand awareness. Medjet is a member-based travel insurance program that positions itself as an affordable way to protect yourself from crisis during your travels.

The brand worked with mommy bloggers / lifestyle micro influencers with sizable, actively engaged audiences. Medjet smartly targeted both road trippers, including this post from Robyn Meacham @robynmeacham), who was driving between Vegas and SoCal for the holidays.

Source: Robyn Meacham on Instagram

As well as travelers who weren’t specifically driving, like this post from Jennifer D (@savvygreystyles), who is found twinning with her son (who is a twin) during the holiday festivities.

Source: Jennifer D on Instagram

What Robyn and Jennifer Did Right In This Post: Not Make It About Travel Insurance

When you’re promoting something as dry as travel insurance, influencer marketing is absolutely the way to go if you’re targeting the 30 to 50 demographic. Because the worst thing you can do is make your ad or sponsored post look like it’s about travel insurance. Travel insurance is a background player, helping to make holiday moments carefree. By keeping the travel insurance vibe out of the posts, it sort of simplifies the concept for you, as opposed to making it a big deal. Downplaying it works.

Robyn’s caption gives a great soft pitch for the virtues of getting travel insurance, and includes Medjet’s tagline in the caption: Did you know that 1 in 30 trips end in a medical emergency? Protect yourself with Medjet. But the picture of her behind her vehicle, taking in the sun and having a moment with her daughter Saylor.

In the same way, Jennifer’s pic is a fantastic, tight close-up of her and her little one. It’s endearing. It’s engaging. It’s relatable. And has nothing to do with insurance.
BUT you sort of read the caption and walk away feeling like you could probably just bookmark it so you have access to the name MedJet just in case…

 

Brands Marketing 2018 Vacation Packages

The Partnership: Royal Caribbean and Cody Andrew

If you’ve never seen Cody Andrew’s Instagram page (@codywestonandrew), it’s pretty fascinating. It is the story of Cody’s high-couture family, which includes his gorgeous wife, Christine Andrew (@hellofashionblog), and their three adorable kids.

Both Cody and his wife contribute to the http://HelloFashionBlog.com (Cody contributes to http://HelloHis.HelloFashionBlog.com, the site’s subdomain). They are stylish… all 5 of them. They are strikingly good looking… all 5 of them. And they tell fantastic stories of an ideal All-American family with pictures.

This sponsored post of Cody with the three kids lands in the Instagram feeds on Cyber Monday 2016, and the post reads: “First big snow storm today. Wish I was back with @royalcaribbean in the sun. More from our trip on the blog.”

Experience gifts like travel and vacation packages go on sale during the holiday shopping season just like material gifts. In fact, the popular holiday deal guide, CyberMonday.com has an entire section dedicated to vacation deals. NYTimes.com has already short-listed several vacation packages that go on sale this Cyber Monday for travel dates in 2018.

What Cody Did Right in This Post: Tug at Our Heart Strings

A young, attractive father on a dream vacation taking a picture with his three cute kids. That’s pretty much all this had to be. No further social media magic needed.

The Partnership: Hamilton Princess Bermuda, Fairmont Hotels and Amber Fillerup Clark

Amber Clark (@amberfillerup) is the author of the Barefoot Blonde blog and creator of Barefoot Blonde Hair extensions. With 1.3 million Instagram followers, Amber is a popular YouTube lifestyle vlogger with 233K subscribers. The stories she unfolds for her followers on Instagram are mostly made up of the day-to-day lives and travels of Amber, her husband, and their two kids.

To promote Princess cruise lines, Amber created a professionally-edited video diary that she hosts on her blog. The snippet, which appears on Instagram as a sponsored post performed quite well with her audience.

What Amber Did Right: Awesome Video Content

Just ahead of the official start of the 2017 holiday shopping season, Amber published a sponsored post for Hamilton Bermuda Princess and Fairmont Hotels that got 135,222 video views (a pretty impressive 10% engagement) in its first 20 hours on Instagram.

The first 20 hours. Look at the screenshot!

Heck, I watched the video in its entirety two or three times myself.  The video was great. It was engaging, visually appealing, and professionally edited. I think I may even be following her now. Nearly one year later, the post has over 209K views.

The Partnership: Agenzia Immobiliare Lancisi  and THEKITTYLUXE Holly Ah-Thion

THEKITTYLUXE Holly Ah-Thion is a UK-based mechanical engineer whose lifestyle / fashion blog, http://Thekittyluxe.com is a self-professed passion project. In this sponsored post for Agenzia Immobilaire Lancisi, Holly gives followers a glimpse into her stay in Tuscany with a candid shot of the countryside.

The post, which got 3.3% engagement from Holly’s followers looks like it has a filter applied to mute the colors just a bit so the image fits in with Holly’s black and white color scheme on Instagram.

What Holly Did Right: Non-Touristy Attraction

The chance to get a real-life glimpse into the culture and landscape of a place like Italy is Instagram fodder. To see someone we know (even if it’s just someone we know via social) go to the hills of Tuscany, or ride on the train to Versailles (as opposed to standing in front of the Eiffel Tower), or otherwise engaged in a non-touristy activity is rare and appreciated.

I believe that’s what Holly did right in this post. If there is such a thing, Holly’s post is the equivalent of Tuscany without makeup. It’s brilliantly simple and makes those of us who love solitude long to be there. That’s why it works.

The Wrap-Up

Holiday travel is about more than just getting home for the holidays. Today, it’s about bringing the spirit of being “home for the holidays” wherever you happen to land. So, for your holiday marketing campaigns, it’s important that you focus on selling the experience.

To do that, you need to find and partner with the right influencers, influencers who can make the travel or vacation experience you brand offers meaningful, accessible, and desirable to people who may not yet even know they want to buy what you have. That’s what these influencers are great at doing.

And it’s what we at The Shelf are great at helping you to do.

If you are marketing experiences and you need help with this year’s holiday campaign, now is a great time to act. Contact us today.