Big brand marketing needs small-time creators in a post-pandemic world.
Creators: the omnichannel experience megatrend is building a new wave of opportunity. When this sucker breaks, you want to be right there, ready to dive in and make the biggest splash.
Omnichannel marketing is nothing new. For years, consumers have demanded to buy what they need, when they need it, from wherever they happen to be. That’s the idea behind omnichannel retailing — offering consumers a seamless, always-on shopping experience across channels and devices. Whilst it’s far from a new strategy for retailers, they continue to augment it by making their way into people’s homes with services like home delivery and in-home shopping experiences or always-on listening bots like Alexa (allegedly, please don’t sue me.)
But retailers aren’t the only folks who understand that inserting themselves into consumers’ homes and communities paves a path into their hearts — and wallets.
Why are omnichannel experiences becoming more popular?
Big brand non-retail companies are increasingly crafting hybrid delivery of their products and services — predominantly a mix of digital and live or in-person activities on top of their usual delivery method. These are typically referred to as omnichannel experiences.
For example, Netflix has developed Money Heist: The Experience, a live-action event centered around the streaming service’s International Emmy Award-winning series, Money Heist. Available across three cities, with another eight city locations worldwide in the works, it’s an in-person experience akin to an escape room to immerse fans in Money Heist themed characters and storylines.
“You’ll live out the first-ever international robbery in-person full of special effects and endless surprises. Get ready for a rush of pure adrenaline as you sleuth your way through the building in search of a highly secretive vault full of raw gold. In this heart-pounding experience, you’ll become a true member of the Money Heist family!” — from Netflix’s site “Money Heist: The Experience.”
At £48.00 a ticket, it’s a safe bet to assume it isn’t real “raw gold” your sleuthing for — but still sounds fun nonetheless, and it offers customers a more cohesive journey that runs deeper than single channels of interaction.
But the real golden-goose of the omnichannel-experience explosion could be the prolonged pandemic. The virus is changing our habits. We’re spending more time at home. We’re traveling less, tending to look for more local options to be entertained. We’re upgrading our digital devices and spending money on smart hardware in areas many of us haven’t before, like fitness and cooking. As a result, we’ve become accustomed to omnichannel retail, which has influenced our consumption and availability expectations. Now, we’re pushing those expectations onto big-brand non-retailers.
Brands are banking on the fact these habits are here to stay. It’s kicked marketing departments into innovation overdrive as they seize opportunities to test out new delivery methods, see what works and what doesn’t, and evaluate how different demographics interact with new channels.
It’s a unique chance for these businesses to figure out how to keep customers engaged as we traverse into a very unique point in time: The post-pandemic pre-metaverse age.
This is where creators will come into play.
What opportunities does this trend present for creators?
Creators know stuff, especially about connecting with and engaging niche audiences across new emerging channels.
Creators are also everywhere. Their geographic reach, exposure to diverse audiences and knowledge of what’s important to their particular cohort of “peeps” is phenomenal. And this is where it gets interesting.
This brings opportunities for creators to help brands build cohesive customer journeys that run through all channels of interaction. From designing live customer events to managing fulfilment to engaging on digital platforms, creators have a lot to offer big-brand marketers looking for ways to leverage this shift to omnichannel experiences.
Creators also offer access to new and valuable audiences — potentially audiences otherwise out of reach of mainstream marketing channels.
Take countries with large populations and lower smartphone penetration, like India, Brazil and The Philippines. A company heavily reliant on social media apps could introduce its brand to a whole new group of potential customers in whole new different ways courtesy of local creators. Perhaps a global fashion brand unable to reach these customers on Instagram could collaborate with a creator to host live fashion experiences uniquely tailored to local culture.
Or imagine a specific demographic unable to access a brand’s physical store. Creators could be enlisted to help a company reach out and engage with these audiences through more convenient means, like hosting online events where customers can attend and have an experience comparable to what they receive in-store.
Whatever form of connection and engagement is needed, creators can bridge that gap.
With traditional television viewership declining, big brands are beginning to look elsewhere for their media spend. And big tech platforms are welcoming them with open arms. YouTube continues to experiment with products in videos. Last year alone, it announced several test features. One of those was explicitly about making it simpler for creators to pitch for brand deals. Another made use of artificial intelligence, automatically recognising products in videos and providing the viewer with more information. A third feature offers user interface enhancements and in-video clickable elements for viewers to easily discover and purchase products.
While shoppable TV and video are certainly growing legs, it can be a clunky experience, interrupting the flow of a video or, in the case of live-streamed TV, causing the consumer to be directed away from the show. This isn’t ideal. Humans are easily distracted creatures, so having to switch to a different device or webpage breaks the engagement with the original content altogether. Before long, we’re nose-deep in another “Joe Rogan offends most people” story and miles away from the brand story we were first immersed in.
To combat this, some tech companies are developing interactive video platforms that stay truer to a more immersive consumer experience where the products or services are part of the narrative, rather than a shopping cart a click away.
But, as early adopters, it’s likely creators will be in tune with those tools and avenues well ahead of big brand marketers.
The rise of mobile-first video content on platforms like TikTok and even Instagram has taught us that, as consumers, we’re not looking for high production values in the videos we watch. We value relevant, timely and authentic storytelling that’s pumped out often and keeps us engaged.
Certainly, if pace to market is a priority and production quality is not, I’ll back creators getting the most from new video platforms and the attention of niche audiences faster than big brands can.
I want a Golden Goose, I want it now Daddy!
Video platforms aren’t the only exciting opportunity where brands and creators can collaborate.
A few months back, Michael Waters wrote an article over at ModernRetail titled Brands are Tiptoeing into Discord. He outlines some great examples of brands like Jack-in-the-Box and Chipotle that have established a presence on Discord, a “place that makes it easy to talk every day and hang out more often,” as Discord describes itself.
Waters also provides insight from marketing agency DRPCRD’s co-founder, Tim Mitchell, who goes on to say, “It (Discord) has not been built to handle brands. We’ve seen a handful of brands starting servers, if you actually look on there, it’s not the dream conversations that you’re hoping for.”
In other words, brands don’t really know what they’re doing when it comes to Discord.
But creators absolutely do.
Creators know Discord is much more than a chatroom. Creators can build the code, automation, and integrations to deliver an engaging experience. Creators know the nuances of how you do things on Discord, helping brands to avoid embarrassing “newb” mistakes, which continually remind the audience that under the covers is a big corporation that doesn’t get them.
Forget tiptoeing; creators can give brands a chance to dance into Discord and really shake their booty.
Interactive video and Discord are only two of many examples of platforms ripe to be included in omnichannel experience strategies as big brands look to tweak their marketing strategies to suit new habits. As consumers, we’re harnessing our inner Veruca Salt (“I want a Golden Goose, I want it now Daddy!”) shaped by pandemic-forming habits and our reliance on the always-on experiences delivered by retailers. We want big brands to come to where we already are. And if we have to go to them, it better be bloody worthwhile!
But, change brings uncertainty. Creators are poised to work with brands as trusted guides during these times of uncertainty, bringing their expertise of platforms and knowledge of niche audiences to the partnership. Creators also offer unprecedented reach — opening up opportunities for brands to engage with audiences who previously may have not had access to mainstream marketing channels.
Big brands ought to embrace such experiences. Ideas that might have seemed impossible to execute not long ago could now be feasible by working with a network of creators.
The year ahead should be an exciting period. As we roll out of the pandemic and prepare for the rise of the metaverse, anything seems possible.
And great opportunities for creators seems probable.