WILL HIDING THE LIKES HURT YOUR BRAND?

July 10, 2019 Team Soho Advertising  

You hear the stories constantly of online bullying amongst the teens, with it sometimes creeping in to adult interaction. So this new user option is a design by the tech giants to help curb issues that may lead to mental health and possible social-media addiction.

Although it is only being tested at this stage in certain countries (New Zealand, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Australia and Ireland), what could the long term ramifications be for so-called ‘Insta-bloggers’ and self-made ‘influencers’ who always use the lines, “make sure you subscribe and like…”  when introducing or exiting their content pieces? It is being engrained in to society that we must ‘like’ posts that we watch.

A lot of these self-made influencers rose to prominent exposure due to views and likes as their clips went viral. Now although views are not part of the testing, it can be argued that it goes hand-in-hand with the likes, no? Most users are more likely to re-post or even view content by firstly looking at how many likes it has, or possibly the views. How then will we get the next great Insta sensation if we don’t see how many ‘likes’ their post gets? Some sceptics reckon this is a subtle way of curbing the mass production of trash content so that only those with real ability and talent will get seen. Somehow I don’t believe Instagram care or are that calculated.

Although we understand that this new proposed feature will not affect brands and is more designed for the everyday consumer, what if Instagram decided to roll this out across the whole platform, how do you think your brand will cope without the world seeing how many likes your post received? Yes you have the metrics on the backend for your marketing analysis and what not, but to the average consumer, as mentioned, they may only be looking at engaging because they have seen or heard how many likes your content piece received, which can sometimes be a talking point in itself when being discussed and reviewed on media outlets.

So far, early indication suggests it is having a positive effect on test users in Canada. It will be interesting to see if they roll it out to the UK for testing, and if it gets the full green light across the platform as a whole. For now though, the brands and influencers that we like, we can still see that we do.

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IS URBAN THE CURRENCY?

July 1, 2019 Team Soho Advertising, Creative  

With Stormzy recently headlining Glastonbury over the weekend, and a host of other urban acts performing at what is known as a predominantly ‘guitar/rock band’ festival, is urban culture the preferred go to in our society?

Music, film, sports, fashion, no matter where you look in popular culture, you can’t help but notice major influences that can be traced back to urban culture. Even in ad land when marketing to consumers, brands have certainly leaned towards an urban makeup within their content. With Nike releasing their iconic ‘Nothing Beats A Londoner’ advert last year, featuring the crème de la crème of the urban music and social influencer scene mixed in with notable Nike ambassadors, it seems their closest rivals Adidas have pulled from the same creative pool with the launch of their new kit deal with Arsenal Football Club.

The £300 million kit deal was launched today with a clever ad paying homage to when Arsenal used to wear an Adidas kit in the 90’s during a more successful period for the club, whilst mixing conversation back and forth with the current players and a few legends like Tony Adams and Ian Wright. What was striking though, was that the voices of the current players that featured in the promo were substituted largely for ones with more urban slang and expressions, making the ad on trend, and had it stand out like Nike’s ‘Nothing Beats A Londoner.’ Being a London team in the heart of Islington Borough, It wouldn’t sound foreign to hear local youth talking with the dialects and slang used in the ad. Check it out for yourself https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VLZeTOID0jU .

Where Adidas were spot on, other brands have certainly failed in trying to incorporate urban culture, whether it be the language, fashion or even mannerisms. This can make or break hitting your intended target as authenticity is very important when using and targeting an urban audience.

We predict we will see many more urban driven campaigns from major brands over the next five years as pop culture continues to gravitate towards all things urban, as the key purchasing demographic continue to be influenced by the urban culture.

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FOOD AND PORN, NOT A BAD IDEA

May 7, 2019 Team Soho Advertising  

Knowing your market is always key to a business. In the case of this sandwich shop, food and sex may well be on the mind of their customers, so why not combine the two to come up with this memorable name. The branding may face a few copyright issues but great idea nonetheless.

Depending on the nature of your business, your name can be the first point of advertising. When our creatives get to planning a production we always look at the option of basing any content around the name of our client’s business to coincide with the reason they chose that name. This can be a compelling strategic story, which at times can play in to a great connection between their brand and their audience, which can be represented beautifully with visual content, and therefore a long lasting marketing strategy. 

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RAYS OF SUNSHINE CHARITY x TOMMY MALLET FOOTWEAR

May 1, 2019 Team Soho Advertising, Creative, Video  

It was an absolute pleasure working with Tommy Mallet and Fredi Hilton on the Rays Of Sunshine Charity & Tommy Mallet Footwear Collaboration to produce this promo content. 

Check out a snippet of it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwtlimoHPcX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_native_share

For similar or any other visual content surrounding your brand, advertising and marketing needs, please get in contact with us.

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#SPContentRULE4

April 23, 2019 Team Soho Advertising  

Listen, it never hurts to check in with your inner-creativity just to make sure you’re still on track with your goals every now and then. Just make sure it’s an ‘inner’ conversation and you’re not muttering it out loud on public transport on the way in to the office like me today. 🤦‍♂️ Lol.

Oh, and make sure you leave a voice note for every idea you come up with, no matter how small! #SPContentRULE4

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IS LOSING MEME’S TO ARTICLE 13 REALLY THAT BIG A DEAL?

April 5, 2019 Team Soho Advertising  

Whats with the law makers and Article 13? If you’ve been hiding under a rock, the long and short of it is that the European Union has written up a directive on copyright in the digital single market that is designed to limit how copyrighted content is shared on online platforms.

Arguably the most interesting part is Article 13, which requires online platforms to either filter or completely remove material from their sites, otherwise they will be held liable. Er…one little problem though, they haven’t quite sorted out how these platforms are expected to identify and remove this content.

So which platforms will this affect? Well the wording near the end of Article13 gives an insight in to which platforms will need to create or employ special filters to remedy copyright infringement:

1. The platform has been available for fewer than three years

2. The platform has an annual turnover below €10 million

3. The platform had fewer than five million unique monthly visitors

Well, that’s a hell of a lot of platforms then! But will the fun loving meme be affected as a result? This isn’t certain, as memes are for the most part based around copyrighted images. Up and coming independent content makers will surely suffer from this though as they build their platforms.

Will it be such a big deal though if memes are affected? Hell yeah, they’re just too funny in modern day society where bitesize content rules! So leave them the **** alone!

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WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

March 19, 2019 Team Soho Advertising  

Arguably one is no more important than the other. But for you, one is certainly more fun to be a part of, no?

Those that work on the implementation of any great idea surely must win the argument that they are the real brains in an agency, as they’re the ones who brought the idea to life so to speak.

Then there are those who sit in a mythical chair all day throwing a ping pong against the wall with the hardest Spotify hip hop playlist pumping out the office speakers, waiting for that, “oh shit, I’ve got it!” moment. They will agree that their task is the true gem.

What if you’re tasked to do both though? Hmmm.

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2019’s TOP 5 URBAN INFLUENTIAL FACES

December 3, 2018 Team Soho Fresh, New Trends  

As we enter the final month of 2018, we feel it’s the right time to reveal our shout for the top 5 urban faces that will help propel brands or bridge the gap to the lucrative urban market in the UK.

The urban market continues to grow at a rapid pace, as does the acceptance of its musicians, actors and social media personalities in to the mainstream market. As such, these are the 5, in no particular order, we’re tipping to have a very influential 2019 with brands:

1. Mo The Comedian: Honing his craft for years as a comedian on the underground circuit, Mo The Comedian is proving his ability and like-ability with every gig. Such is his rise, he is now hosting award shows, co-hosting on main stream television, headlining his own tour and done a stint on Live at the Apollo. We can see brands definitely seeking out his crossover comedic appeal. 

2. Yxng Bane: The East London rapper certainly drips a coolness that brands will want to align themselves with, and why wouldn’t they as he has a great mentor in Tinie Tempah as he’s managed by his music company, Disturbing London. Having done a collaboration with clothing brand Timberland in his recent music promo for the Slip N Slide record, Yxng Bane demonstrates his selling abilities to the urban market as his music continues to stream in the millions. 

3. Dig Dat: The newest comer of the lot to the urban scene, but what an impact he’s made. Charting on the UK Official Charts at No 20 with his Airforce Remix, the song has made headlines for being the first song from the Drill genre to chart nationally. The teenage to young twenties demographic are definitely feeling this new artist so expect brands to follow closely behind.

4. Maya Jama: You’d be mistaken for thinking Maya is only Stormzy’s girlfriend. The half Somali, half Swedish business woman, TV and radio presenter, model and entrepreneur to name a few of her many talents, is naturally an influencer to a wide demographic of females from multiple backgrounds with a few clothing and beauty brand deals already. This is sure to increase in 2019.

5. Fredo: Why this West London street rapper has not got a brand partnership with Harrods or Selfridges is baffling to us, as many of his lyrics talk about spending obscene amounts of money shopping in the luxurious stores. With a collaboration on Dave’s record Freaky Friday, charting at No 1 on the UK Official Charts, Fredo talks about the expensive things in life on many of his songs. We believe he wont get through 2019 without a partnership or collaboration with a high end designer being revealed, especially after his early 2019 UK headline tour. 

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SOMETIMES, REACTIVE CONTENT IS THE BEST

November 5, 2018 Team Soho Advertising, Creative, OOH  

Audience engagement by way of answering a users comment on social media is always a good way to increase visibility in your OOH and print media ads. It makes the brand seem really on the pulse and aware of consumers opinion of them.

After their recent saga of no chicken in restaurants earlier this year, KFC have very much responded in a variety of OOH campaigns addressing customers directly with issues they have with their brand. Would this work for every brand though? Could your brand benefit with this reactive content? Knowing your target audience is the first thing to consider when pulling this off. Is your target audience the type to react well to this?

At soho Pixels we know just how to decide the best engagement for your target audience and come up with tailor made campaigns that engage visually and mentally…and occasionally in real time too.

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