Brands need to “lean into the craft” and use ephemeral content platforms like Stories to “be brave and experiment”, according to a leading Australian marketer and creative.
Speaking about the Krispy Kreme Throwback Arcade campaign at Advertising Week APAC, Jay Morgan, innovation director for The Monkeys, urged brands to take more care with social campaigns.
Morgan said: “When it comes to putting stuff creatively out there you have to think about what you are asking your audience. We never want to rush the craft on something, but also equally if it’s only demanding a certain amount of time it’s ok to go a bit quicker.
“This campaign we didn’t rush because we were asking a lot of people, creating these retro games for people. We knew if we rushed that we wouldn’t get their attention, so we had to get the balance right.”
The innovative campaign saw Krispy Kreme release a series of games inspired by classic arcade titles, to promote their retro range of doughnuts. The games were only playable through Instagram Stories.
Speaking in the same session, hosted by Instagram’s director of product marketing Susan Rose, Krispy Kreme chief marketing officer AUNZ, Russell Schulman, said the campaign worked because it was brand-focussed, rather than trying to provoke a direct response from users.“When it comes to putting stuff creatively out there you have to think about what you are asking your audience. We never want to rush the craft on something, but also equally if it’s only demanding a certain amount of time it’s ok to go a bit quicker.”
Explaining the ethos for Krispy Kreme is to “be the most loved sweet treat brand in the world” he said that gives them permission to “bring smiles” to people’s faces – something the arcade campaign achieved.
Asked why they had chosen Instagram Stories for the campaign he said: “We see how many more people who are not following you are actually looking at the Stories, and that’s something we have noticed.”
But Schulmann stressed it had been important to keep the idea pure and uncomplicated, explaining: “This one was brand led. Trying to stay as pure as possible to the pure objective make it as easy as possible and get as many people in as possible, they just flick up and play the game.
“How do we make sure it’s as easy as possible up front?”
Despite launching during Australian federal election, traditionally “the worst time to have a campaign for a retail organization” Schulmann said they had been pleased with the results.
Metrics cited included a 75% boost in Uber Eats orders on the same period the previous year, an average time of three minutes for people playing the game (with a total of 208 days of game time) and a “massive” increase in searches for the brand.
Earlier in the session Instagram’s Rose showed a range of case studies from brands which had also fund success through Stories – pulling out a number of things companies like David Jones in Australia, KFC in Italy and Mercedes Benz.
She categorized them under three ‘Cs’:
- Create for the platform and stop people in their tracks
- Connect with your audience’s interests and passions
- Captivate the audience with bold creative which stands out
Schulmann said the Krispy Kreme arcade had already been taken to other markets including the UK and Ireland and was going to return as a permanent feature on the Australian Instagram account.
Asked for his advice for marketers on using the Stories format Schulmann urged them to be brave and use it as a testing ground for ideas, because of the ephemeral nature of the format.
“They’re only there for a day, so you can be brave and put some stuff out there and see what works or doesn’t. It comes and goes quickly,” he said. “Have a culture of curiosity and ask people and look to other industries and see what they are doing.”
Morgan said it was important for brands to be clear who they want to talk to in their campaigns, stressing: “There’s a huge upside to getting it right and not a lot of people are doing it well right now. We really lent into the craft on it (Krispy Kreme), because it demanded time from people.
“Create great content and there’s a huge upside as there’s not a lot of people doing it that well.”