Dynamic Marketing Communiqué

Obsessed with #fashion? This unusual fashion ad will have you tumbling out of amazement! [Thursdays: FYO!]

December 17, 2020

Fashion. Style. Couture.

What comes to mind when you read these words?

A makeup brand?

A clothing company?

A fashion studio or agency?

What if you came across a fashion ad from somewhere you least expected, like an AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY, would you believe it?

Let’s dive into what happened when luxury vehicles company Lexus launched its “The Signal” Campaign in 2014.

What were the company’s reasons to create this campaign?

Reason #1:

Aside from introducing its new car model, the 2014 Lexus IS, Lexus wanted to showcase itself as a progressive brand that acts more like an “edgy fashion company” rather than just a traditional automaker.

Reason #2:

To regain the brand’s appeal in the face of equally compelling new car models like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.

So… how did “The Signal” Campaign play out?

Lexus uploaded fashion ads that featured high-quality, edgy, and stylized images and GIFs with the hashtags: #fashion, #blackandwhite, #style, and #couture.

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Not only that!

Lexus also created a sub-campaign called, “It’s Your Move,” which showed hyper-stylized models, polarizing imagery, and intriguingly-styled sets that felt more like a fashion shoot than a car commercial.

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Any guesses on what social media platform the car brand used?

Tumblr!

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A social media platform that allows users to connect with others and express themselves through multimedia, short-form blogs, and other content.

What are the advantages of using Tumblr for marketing?

  • According to Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, Tumblr is one of the 50 most popular websites in the US and currently has more than 200 million active users per month.
  • Its features are perfect for film promotion, PR, and branding purposes.
  • It’s filled with lots of shareable content within its online community.
  • It provides opportunities for business owners and marketers to create more engaging content.
  • It allows easy tracking of important marketing metrics.

There are also several ways you, as a business owner or marketer, can market your brand on Tumblr―one of which is through the Tumblr Ads!

If you haven’t tried these ads yet, here’s a quick guide to give you an idea about three types of Tumblr ads:

  1. Sponsored Posts

    If you’ve seen branded GIFs, illustrations, and other multimedia on your Tumblr dashboard, chances are you’ve already encountered sponsored posts.

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    These ads are found on the dashboard stream and behave like regular Tumblr posts―users can like, repost, and follow.

    What’s the difference they have from regular posts?

    Sponsored posts are exposed to a wider audience because users don’t necessarily need to follow your brand on Tumblr before seeing the ads!

  2. Sponsored Video Posts

    Just like the sponsored posts, these ads are also seen on Tumblr’s dashboard, but as videos that autoplay and play on loop.

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    Enjoy some of the additional analytics that a sponsored video post provides, such as stats on the total number of views, looping, and engagement!

    Another perk of these ads?

    The video pops out of the dashboard so you can continue scrolling through your Tumblr dashboard while watching the video!

  3. Sponsored Day

    This ad allows advertisers to occupy the top of users’ dashboards to promote their content for a full 24 hours.

    Its features are similar to Facebook and Instagram’s user stories.

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    By clicking on a sponsored day ad, users will be redirected to:

      –  A branded Explore page (a separate Tumblr page where brands share

          curated content)

      –  A brand’s Tumblr account

      –  A brand’s website or a Tumblr post-click landing page

    Should you give this ad a try?

    Definitely!

    One reason is that according to Tumblr’s internal data, a user’s purchase intent and ad recall about a brand can double with a sponsored day campaign.

Let’s go back to Lexus’ “The Signal” Campaign because we know you’re curious about its results!

By offering high-quality content on Tumblr, Lexus provided its target audience with a new perspective about its vehicles and gained respect from passionate fashion curators and influencers.

To add to that:

  • “The Signal” generated significant media reach that resulted in 12% of the audience’s total engagement rate.
  • After the whole campaign, “The Signal” was mentioned more than 85,000 times in reposts and blogs from Tumblr users and fashion industry influencers like Canadian model Coco Rocha.
  • It generated over 4.2 million media impressions in total, including recognition by digital media platform Mashable as “one of 15 brands rocking Tumblr.”
  • Lexus reached its target demographic on Tumblr, with visitors to the sponsored posts indexing highest in the 25-34 age range.

Wait, that’s not all.

“The Signal” won the Tumblr Campaign Award at the 6th Annual Shorty Awards in 2014. It was also one of the finalists in the 2014 Tumblr of The Year category!

Just like how it helped Lexus achieve its campaign goals, Tumblr can also be an effective channel for you to advertise your brand.

As long as you know who your target audience is and have engaging visual content to share, advertising on Tumblr will help you boost brand awareness, increase engagement rates, drive more leads to your site, and increase your income.

Include Tumblr on your social media marketing plans and see the positive impact it will make for you and your brand!

About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: FYO! Find You Optimization”

Why should you stop thinking SEO and start thinking FYO?

We’re not saying that you should abandon Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Don’t get us wrong, of course, we know this is something very important, especially in today’s digital marketing age.

The internet landscape is vast, and a world of its own. You really need to distinguish yourself and make your brand/company/website known and easily searchable.

Better yet, get to the top of page one for Top Results on Google or any other search engine.

However, what is the purpose of SEO? It’s that customers Find You!

That’s what matters. So, while SEO is one factor of FYO… it really is only one, and we ought not to abandon all the myriad of ways digitally and offline for improving your FYO.

How can we look at this from a different and better perspective?

Let’s say you have it in the bag! You and your team are experts in SEO. Awesome. But did you ever wonder what else you could do to push it further and give your SEO skills a boost?

FYO! Find You Optimization!

You need your target audience to FIND YOU—your brand, product, service, or offer. This is SEO plus other tools that increase visibility online (and offline).

Every Thursday, we publish content on how you can get your target market to find you, beyond the typical “type and search.” There are other things you can do along with your SEO to give your online advertising process a boost.

Try considering other tactics beyond it—WOMO (Word Of Mouth Optimization), RO (Referral Optimization), and “All-Other-Means-Of-Getting-Your-Target-Market-To-Find-You” Optimization (AOMOGYTMTFY, if you’d like a long acronym).

Part of a great marketing strategy is knowing how to adapt new methods and make use of different types of marketing and promotion that best fit your business goals and which give you the results you want.

Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.

Stay tuned for next Thursday’s FYO!

Cheers,

Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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