The advertising industry It has been reset for a long time. After years of conversion and adaptation to the digital age, many of the big agencies suffered the crash they desperately sought to avoid. But creativity does not die. On the contrary, it is more necessary today than ever: the networks exponentiated the production of pieces. And so from the ashes of the old model that carried airs of “Mad Men”, new agencies arose for the new times and new ways of communicating, where viral logic prevails.
A path that seeks to generate high impact while sparking debates. A recent case reflects this paradigm. The action designed by Kotex and executed by Sofía Jujuy Jiménez on Georgina Barbarossa’s program (“A la Barbarossa”, Telefe) to raise awareness about menstruation (a campaign that was replicated on other television programs in Latin America with the same viral impact), was equally applauded and questioned. The model and influencer, dressed in white, was interrupted live by Barbarossa while she was dancing on her show, after warning her that she had a red blood stain on her pants.
“I did nothing but put myself in the shoes of the majority of women who experience menstruation and who more than once feel ashamed, observed and judged for something that is natural,” said the model on her Instagram profile, where she showed behind the scenes of a campaign that revolutionized not only TV, but also social networks, the media and WhatsApp chats. “I need to sincerely thank everyone who empathized with the situation I interpreted,” added “Jujuy,” who also received criticism from those who they accused her and the brand of misleading advertising under the umbrella of awareness.
The influence of social networks recalibrated the agencies and the way to generate ads. From the Shakira and Piqué case to the Super Bowl. Advertising viral mode the reset of the industry agencies and brands. The agencies reconverted to be agile once again in the face of networks and viral discussions. They incorporated the influencer mode as seen in the case of Kotex, Twingo, Casio and Burgerwith a positive message. “A poke was sold,” said Marina Calabró in “Lanata sin filtro” (Mitre), where she opined that Jujuy had deceived the public. “Typical hater’s comment,” Jiménez replied at the same time, in line with the love/dialectic hate that prevails in the new viral communication: nothing amplifies the message with the force that fans and haters print.
clearly as it sounds
The campaigns that echoed the “BZRP Music session Vol.53” that the “hated” Shakira dedicated to her ex-partner Gerard Piqué and his girlfriend were registered under this same logic: the comparison in the lyrics of the young Clara Chía with orn Casio watch and a Twingo viralized those products. And a dozen brands replicated other phrases on the subject in their advertising pieces to inflate sails with the tailwind generated by the song and the discussion in networks on the subject, infidelity and revenge.
Casio and Twingo amplified their audience with half a million mentions on social networks in a matter of hours. 71% from Latin America and the remaining 29% from Spain. While the song reached half a billion listeners between YouTube and Spotify, Casio multiplied its sales on Mercadolibre by four. Piqué himself closed a promotional agreement with the watches (he presented it in the streaming shared by the youtuber Ibai) and Renault designed a 360 campaign to answer Shakira by praising the Twingo. AND Avianca, Jeep, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds and Burger King, KFC, Juan Valdez and Dollarcity, among others, came up with phrases like “Clearly” and “sorry that you splashed” taking advantage of the wave generated by the Colombian and the Argentine Bizarrap.
“Clearly there is a paradigm shift,” celebrates Federico Martino, Creative Director General of A Train Lab. “To understand it, it is enough to see what happens with BzRp and Shakira. BzRp is an artist who knows how to multiply his arrival and joins Shakira to reach bigger people. Shakira takes advantage of the media coverage of BzRp to bring her music and image closer to centennials. Win-win”, says the publicist.
“Brands that are attentive, looking for opportunities. They are not isolated. There is a back and forth. They want to take advantage of hot moments and topics to connect with their audience. Reach new consumers and above all maximize your investment to have a greater reach. This generated significant trendjacking with many brands looking for the opportunity to capitalize on this explosion”, adds Luciana Reboyras, Country Chair Coordinator LATAM of A-Train Lab.
music for chameleons
Music and advertising shorts have gone hand in hand almost since its inception. But much more in times of stories of Instagram and TikTok. And the changes introduced in those platforms and formats are replicated in the traditional media in a viral way. Snippets of hot topics are applied to short advertising pieces on an almost daily basis. And the trend will splash this weekend the super bowl, the sporting event that is also a musical and advertising show. It will be the first with Apple Music as the sponsor of the big halftime show instead of a beverage company (Pepsi, a brand with long roots in the music business as well), and that change will be reflected in the advertising that will precede the show as well. from Rihanna.
“Brands will create campaigns inspired by TikTok’s viral themes for television; an approach that already increased the general reach last year, by involving disinterested people in soccer”, explained the specialized blog Songtradr, which marks that urban and Latino genres will once again be a trend, as evidenced by the last Grammys 2023. “The epic last year’s halftime show, featuring a collection of hip hop stars and ’90s nostalgia, generated the biggest bounce since 2013”, the site pointed out. In 2022, the NFL Football Finals drew 99.2 million people, nearly a third of the US population, and 85% of the songs used in Super Bowl ads were based on just that. rap-based nostalgia.
However, advertising referents insist that agencies and brands should focus on the final objective and not on the bling. “Big budgets are not always needed and heavy for impact. You need a great idea that has cultural resonance, and provides an experience, and not just a standard ad,” says Barbara Ferrigno of Concept Marketing Group. “Every digital interaction leaves touch trails and every digital interaction point is crucial, so it’s crucial to create a customer experience that is consistent across all digital channels,” she remarks.
clean past
Responsibility in communication is the other side of the coin. And where agencies are once again publishers of advertising content after an era of influencer empowerment. Today, on the contrary, the hashtag #deinfluencing accumulates more than one hundred million visits on TikTok, triggering a criticism of excessive consumption and the advertising messages invading each post of the main figures. “Generation Z wants to rebel against this perfectly curated world what social networks have been for the last decade,” says publicist Josie Bullard, and what it means to be an influencer is being rewritten. A clean pass that the local industry is still watching.
“With the hyperconnection that we have today, it is impossible to stay oblivious to trends, in those moments thinking fast and having the structure in the agency to be able to produce quickly really makes a difference, and from the agency side we have to make sure that we get on top of it. to the trend with the right tone. You have to be very sure that it is suitable for the brand, and that it is organic and not forced. And obviously, make sure that there will be no backfire, because sticking to a trend is not the same as staying stuck”, says Melisa González, Head of Media LATAM at A Train Lab. “You have to plan, and execute carefully because misusing or forcing a trend can have a negative impact on brand perception,” she concludes.
by RN
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