The humanization of brands is becoming really disturbing and feels dystopian. I do not need to feel like Shake Shack is relatable and “just like me”… just give me a burger and go away.
Hello, my name is Bo Burnham. And I am a former comedian, turned social brand consultant. It’s a very exciting time to be a, uh, brand. It’s also a bit of a scary time because customers expect a lot more from their brands than they did in the past. During this incredibly necessary and overdue social reckoning that we’re having in our culture, it is no longer acceptable for brands to stay out of the conversation. Consumers want to know, “Are you willing to use your brand awareness to effect positive social change?” Which will create more brand awareness. The question I ask the brands I work with is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is… “Are you gonna be on the right side of history?” The question isn’t, “What are you selling?” Or… or “What service are you providing?” The question is, “What do you stand for?” Who are you, Bagel Bites? All these big companies, they’re so scared of all this social change, and I come in and I put their fears to rest. You know, I tell them, “Just be honest. Tell your customers that… that JPMorgan is against racism.” In theory. The question is no longer, “Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?” For example. The question is now, “Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?” There’s no sugarcoating it. The world is… f**ked up. And you’ve got a choice as a brand. You can… hide and bury your head in the sand and hope it fixes itself, or you can roll up your sleeves and get to work, and sell Butterfingers.
Major respect. “Hey, we are sick of scheduling these things for other people. It’s been a hard few years. We are doing it for ourselves this time.” 😂 Love it.
The fact that in the tiktoks the managers are refered to as the company name instead of their real name (or even aliases) is several degrees of fucked up.
Honestly I think it’s more about the social media managers wanting a free trip on the company dime. Somehow they convinced the boomer execs that this would work and got a free vacation with their friends 😂
As a former Tumblr kid who thought it was the funniest shit when the community first "discovered" the Dennys account and fully welcomed them to the community... I am so sorry for the irreparable damage to internet marketing I helped contribute to.
I went to a parade and there was a Bush’s float that gave out free cans of baked beans. Honestly way better advertising for them than any influencer plug. For certain brands I think it makes more sense to spend the thousands it would cost them in sponsorship money on free product for actual people in their local area. Builds community and brand loyalty.
You're right! I work for an arcade with food and influencer marketing is a waste of money for us, but we do parades a lot (we're doing one today) and they are excellent for us. We get in the news for free, we hand out gift cards, candy and some toys and it drives business directly for a very minimal cost.
Also, which are you more likely to remember: A bland, samey TikTok influencer telling you about a brand, or some guy handing you a can of baked beans from a parade float?
Kind of reminds of the Community episode where Subway hires a man named "Subway" to attend the college so they could legally sell their sandwiches on campus.
The Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals "issue" is so real. When I was little, like 7-9 probably, my grandma would be up at THREE in the morning to go get ready for deals that were like 70% off. Now they mark products like 10-20% off like...? It's almost insulting. I saw some of the same products that were 15% off during Black Friday that were MORE discounted in some random July sale lmao
Ah this is so true! This brand that I like in July had clothes that were 70% off and it’s a designer brand. But on Black Friday and even Boxing Day it’s only 30%. I literally have receipts because I was so confuseddddd
I used to be a district manager at a retail store and let me tell you lmao stores do better sales ALL November to get people to shop! Because everyone is waiting for that one day so the stores fear that not enough people will shop. The rest of November was awful for business but we marked down stuff wayyy more than we did on the actual day. I stopped working retail a while ago but stores still do it. 2nd week of November a store will do all $5 leggings, on black friday they do bogo free but the leggings are $25 lol it's insane. All November and after Christmas are the best time for sales. July as well for semi annual sales.
@@amandaclark6730 omg thank you for confirming my assumptions 😭 i always feel like i end up finding a better deal on some random tuesday than on black fridays
Say Beauty obviously kissed Shake Shack’s husband, so the group sided with the victim. But little did they know Shake Shack was in a loveless marriage 😢
To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was more of an excuse for these social media managers to just get out of the house/office for once. I know a couple people who do that for a living and it can be boring af. Good for them for conning their companies out of money to take a couple hours off.
I hate the ads so much on tiktok that are all about the social media manager being hip with the kids, specifically the trend of “when my boss wants to spend hundreds of thousands on a video but me on a vote will get more views.” I have seen a million, it tells me nothing of the brand, I care nothing of seeing companies on social media, and it feels weirdly egotistic on the social media manager’s part
It's also comedic most of the time since their "viral" videos hardly get any traffic. Another trend I've seen is how social media managers portray their job as juvenile and simplistic as if it's a brag. Like they'll show the software engineers busting their ass, and then cut to the social media manager doing a somersault for a tiktok. Like...that doesn't make me care about your product at ALL. It just makes me think you're inept.
I hope these social media managers were all just former sorority girlys and they just conned the brands/ad agency to send them all on a “brand trip” for “content”
I feel like brand trips could easily make a comeback if they brought in only small creators (like a sweepstakes?) and shifted the narrative to like giving these opportunities/experiences to people who wouldn't otherwise get them. Everybody loves a Cinderella story.
That would totally be a good strategy for certain brands, I think a lot of us are easily swayed by underdog stories. Even if it's a marketing tactic, I would still look at a brant more positively if it used it's resources towards smaller creators who need them more.
Brands showing what their products do is like THE MOST effective thing to do. There was this 5 way to wear bag that the owner did a tiktok of showing the many ways to wear it, the stuff you can fit in the bag, etc. And I was like "Wow I really want this bag now."
the brand trip also grew out of editors of publications being treated and given experiences in exchange for the brand being promoted in their pages… now it’s like a closed loop of their own employees being the faces as well… which sucks because i bet they’re also not being paid enough for that and are at more risk of being swapped out for someone else at a moments notice because they aren’t per se public figures. kind of like buzzfeed almost
The rant about what you wanted to see from brands was so relatable, because I've been looking around for a 2023 planner, and getting so irritated by brands' igs doing f-ing everything but showing the inside of the planner! 🙄
Literally the only brand trips I have been seeing recently that made me interested in the company have all been from tourism boards, like I saw a few influencers sponsored by visittheusa and it made me interested in going to places I would not have considered before. Sortedfood also had a brand trip from LNER to York on the train and it made me want to take the train across England, like these are the only brand trips I want to see now are tourism based ones.
I gotta say, Getaway actually is a legit great place to go to, well, get away. I don't care about The Brand, but the actual cabins are rad, and they are all out kinda in the middle of nowhere so you're getting the experience of being in a cabin with no one around and it's very, very relaxing. But you still have, like, AC & heating, a kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, etc, so you don't have to go totally rustic if you don't want to. I genuinely enjoyed my trips to those cabins. Staying at one is more like getting a hotel room in an extremely small one-room hotel than an AirBNB, I think. I'm not being paid to say this, to be clear. But you mentioned not being clear on what makes them different from something like an AirBNB, so I wanted to drop my two cents. I'm a fan of the service, apart from The Brand and whatever marketing they are doing.
Okay but fr you made some really good points about the changing demographics. Marketing needs to get back in touch with the people they are supposed to sell products to. I want to know more about the products I buy, especially if they are expensive, not just buzzwords and fancy sounding bs.
My favorite was when the mascot of Count Chocula went on a trip to Transylvania and thought he was a real vampire so he tried to suck off Mister Clean at the International Brand Meeting
Ok but your black Friday rant was on point. I hated all the articles after black Friday of retailers complaining that they didn't get enough sales, and that their sales were better than last year. Like, it's not a flex that your improved in your 10%off and "buy two get one 50% off" sales of 2021. I'm not going anywhere on black Friday for less than 50% off 😂🤷
I completely agree, I want deals so tempting that I am willing to wrestle a flat screen tv off of someone. I think better discounts would also bring much more entertaining news articles lol
I am interested to see how many of these marketing managers and underpaid/unpaid interns feel completely empty inside each day they go into work after being forced to do shit like this.
@@jammies1431 bahahaha yes I am. Social media management can just be a draining job. Especially when you feel the repercussions of a company decision you did not make and have no power to change. You just have to bear the brunt of the fallout.
When you mentioned the beans possibility of influencer marketing, it reminded me of this one time an influencer did her nails or her makeup inspired by a Wendy’s salad for a sponsorship. This was so long ago but so hilarious! 😂
Damn I wish Getaway did a better job with this cause their concept is actually pretty cool in my opinion. It’s essentially like being in a hotel room but directly in nature. Like a little cabin but it’s fully furnished, has a stove, electricity and running water, etc. I’ve been wanting to go to one for a few months now. Hopefully their social media manager gets their shit together lmao
It's funny because I think the opposite about Getaway. It's a glass box in the woods with no security, amenities, or wi-fi. Brilliant marketing strategy though lol
I have stayed in a getaway two times before. They are okay. The cabins are cute, and the camp site was good. Plus at least the one I went to was put strategically close to a local town with more stuff to do so it was not too boring. But the thing about getaway is that the first year I went to it, there were a lot of tiny details I appreciated that kind of made it just that bit more special and worth the price. One thing in particular I loved was this quite nice activity book filled with stuff to do, and ideas of how to make the most of the trip. The second time it was alright just it was obvious that they have started cost-cutting a bit because of the pandemic so a lot of those little touches are gone (the activity book became an activity pamphlet and I think some of the free food they gave they stopped giving). So go if you like glamping, find the gimmick cute, and have a site not too far away (this is not something you should travel more than just a couple hours for). But Airbnb have way more amenities and room, especially for bigger groups. Or just camp normally. I bet one can get a way better deal, just doing that, and my opinion is if you are going to camp, just camp. There are plenty of great campsites out there, and it is always cheaper to go somewhere less trendy.
Sarah Schauer, a viner and now youtuber, ran the Denny’s tumblr account lmao i think she wasnt able to be too current with their memes because it had to be approved by higher ups and they couldnt see coming trends, only past trends
i own a restaurant and trying to do the marketing is so hard. i just want people to try and enjoy my food without humanizing my brand and doing weird social media shit. it’s rough out here.
Anyone remember in Muppets Take Manhattan where they're trying to shop a brand slogan for soap and Kermit suggesting "it will get you clean" blows the advertising frogs away because "Just *saying* what a product does?!" was such a novel concept? Advertisers have never really known how to actually sell products in a way that consumers benefit from. They just don't know how.
It’s like everyone saw how much attention Wendy’s Twitter account received when they’d roast other brands and decided that formula would work for everyone. Now it’s over saturated and all we want are facts. Jesus!
i feel like brands are getting desperate. regular ads don’t work that well on gen-z. that’s a fact. they’re trying to do whatever they can to stay “relevant,” but they’re forgetting that the upcoming generation doesn’t care. they buy what they want to buy or they make what they can’t find
Over the holidays I went home and they still have cabel TV so whatever they were watching had commercials that were the "call now" type that just have demos of how to use the products and those were way more convincing since anything I've seen in a while
I'd be so proud of you if you got a beans sponsorship tbh. but wait: what if you got sponsored by both Busch's Beans AND Heinz Beans and held a Baked Beans Grudge Match?
Would love to know Amanda’s thoughts on the Duolingo strategy of get viral by any means necessary. People I know love the tiktoks etc but don’t even know what Duolingo is or does. Isn’t the whole point at the end of the day to position your company/brand as a necessity? I’m really struggling to understand the utility of these strategies beyond growing an unengaged fan base that does not know what your selling.
To most people nowadays, Duolingo is a meme group with an owl mascot, purely because everything they post and market has NOTHING to do with their product.
i recently went on a brand trip with a rubik’s cube company and as you can imagine, it’s not a billion dollar company, we didn’t go to paris or anything, we just spend a weekend at their headquarters in vegas and did a fan meetup. super chill, no obligations or anything, just lots of fun all around. i could VERY easily see how it could be pushed in a horrible direction by a bigger company. we were given lots of freedom and it was kind of “here, we’re gonna put you all in this environment where you have all kinds of opportunities, see what you can do” and nothing was forced or weird or anything
This is exactly the non-stressful tea/drama i needed to unwind tonight. The most stressful part of this video to my brain (and stomach) was how long its been since I’ve had shake shack. Pre-pandemic. Thats the last time. Appreciate the video, Amanda.
They do get it but they're out of touch at the same time, like because they're brand managers, everything they do needs to be approved and talked about and it becomes so diluted that at the end of it becomes bastardized
For some reason the Busch beans comments reminded me of the college humour CEO video for Oreos. "What are we doing? Everyone has had an Oreo, go home, cash the paycheque."
To your point about showing durability, the best advertisement for a product I've ever seen was a complete accident where someone tried to throw something at pavement intending to break it and instead it bounced down the road. It wasn't a brand so only sort of relevant but I took the thing home and would definitely have bought a second one.
I instantly look down on a product when an Influencer does an ad for them. If Brands want to use social media, they need to use it to create brand Lore.
Just remember to hold onto that mindset should Swell ever do a promotion. Because if you hate influencer collabs EXCEPT for "your" influencer, then by definition you are supporting influencer promotions. It's all or nothing.
Bush Beans influencer marketing would have to be semi-sarcastic counter marketing. Given the 4 feet of Bush Beans at my grocery store, I don't think brand recognition is a problem they have....
I get regular tv ads for Shake Shack, and the burgers look DISGUSTING in the ads, but overall they're doing a terrible job because I had no idea there even was a Shake Shack anywhere in this state but apparently there's one 21 miles away from where I live.
I love the part in videos where Amanda has a sudden epiphany about what the exact horror it is she is currently witnessing. Also I'm pro beans partnership for the jokes.
Emma distanced herself way before the Dote Coachella trip you have mentioned. There were girls who had already highlighted their terrible experience at Fiji and nobody took notice then and I think Emma distanced herself from Dote after Fiji.
Sometimes I get confused why I still see commercials like Bounty on TV or instagram ads What a good way to lose money. I’m sure if they stopped spending money on ads, no one would notice and still buy those items
This has Subway from Community all over it. Who watched the show and decided the "Subway" character wasn't satire about brands trying to manipulate us, but a brilliant set of instructions for a new marketing ploy instead?
The reason why brands are not able to keep up with the trends/meme is because of all the approval process. While yes the social media manager are gen z their bosses aren't and they need to approve it. It's a slow process
I think sometimes the marketing and social teams know the product is garbage so they’ve gotta think outside the box on how to make it look better, since they have no power to change it and generally can’t outright lie lol
at a buffet, i personally sneak corndogs into the buffet so others can enjoy them. I hide 6 corndogs in my jacket pockets. it then, is a joy for me to see other patrons of the establishment eat my corndogs thinking they were part of the buffet.
I said almost this exact thing a little bit ago. I was like what is this, why are commercials so weird and stupid just tell me what you’re selling and show me what it does. I’m just glad the jingles of the 90s aren’t a thing anymore. No we don’t a song about your beans. Unless they’re kitty toe beans ofc.
I will say, there are different type of ads. The main ones you were giving examples of are those designed to convince you to buy the product, but that’s not what these people are doing. This feels like it falls more into the retentive ad category, which are ads that aim to increase brand awareness. Like you didn’t know that one brand existed, but now you do. That type of stuff.
While I agree that one of the reasons celebs like The Kardashians are losing public interest is due to how boring their use of their money is, I also feel like a lot of consumer alienation and dislike of displays of wealth is tied to the growing economic inequality/threat of poverty that a large portion of the working class population is being faced with right now. Like, "people are dying, Kim" fr
Oh gods bringing up the dennys tumblr unlocked a need for me to find out if theyre still active. The old one that used to be the harbinger of death for memes on the site doesn't seem to be around anymore. Thank the gods for that because can you imagine them trying to hop on the Dracula Daily train? Or in a year they try to make a Goncharov meme???
haven't watched the full video yet- but I honestly think brands so take their employees out and do like "brand" trips and experiences for them, like they do influencers. No one is going to talk up your company like your employees if you treat them well and they actually like the company they work for. Some of my favorite companies do that, and then their employees get a following. it just seems like good business to do both. (I also can never be mad at someone getting special perks from their employer.)
I want to see more advertising like that car bubble where they stuck an expensive car in it and they just chucked everything in a garage including a whole ladder at it to show that it kept the car safe. Like yes, funny, and I can actively see that it's doing the thing you're saying it does. Brilliant.
In the goth online community there is beginning to be a backlash against 'goth influencers'. Which can only be a good thing. Love watching your channel because you tell the truth and I respect that.
Towards the end you talk about how they don't understand what Gen Z wants out of advertisers but I think it's more than you forgot what advertising is supposed to be. I'd never heard of almost all these brands until you talked about them. Now maybe one day I'll be looking for SPF and Saie beauty will come to mind. Effective advertising is literally just getting the brand into someone's subconscious - so that when you're buying baked beans you'll notice Bush Beans on the shelf because your subconscious was familiar because you saw Swell Entertainment eating them once. They don't care about being what Gen Z wants, they care about being seen even briefly. (Edited in) So like, making lifestyle content by Bush Beans is dumb, sure, but it's more likely to show up on a lifestyle watcher's feed, which broadens their brand. They want eyes, not interest.
As a repeat customer of Away (pre COVID times), their products are good (durable and I love the ejectable battery feature on the carry-ons) but the price increases since say 2019 are INSANE. Also, their carry-on aluminum line barely holds anything since the case do not expand. And IMO, that's too much to spend for luggage that essentially is only suitable for short trips.
My mom has worked in the medical field for YEARS and she catch the tail end of the drug rep trips. One of my ex's aunts was a rep and girly made BANK. She was on a cruise at least once a season until their were Crack downs on them. Sort of in the same vein as these brand trips, people caught wind and regulations were put in place. Well see if this happens to brands
I think the whole thing could have worked better if they set it up more like a workshop or product demo for each other. Like if they truly just did do a 12 hour thing where they were demoing each other's products, I think that would be interesting, but what they ended up with sounds a little strange. I am also noticing the 2016 collab stuff is kinda back in in certain circles, especially streaming and commentary channels for some reason.
The humanization of brands is becoming really disturbing and feels dystopian. I do not need to feel like Shake Shack is relatable and “just like me”… just give me a burger and go away.
Everything went downhill after Brand (TM) saw the success of the unofficial Big Breakfast Restaurant tumblr.
You @simpleplanfan011 are a genius and a poet. God bless you and your excellent wording.
It feels like the subway character from community coming to life
Hello, my name is Bo Burnham. And I am a former comedian, turned social brand consultant. It’s a very exciting time to be a, uh, brand. It’s also a bit of a scary time because customers expect a lot more from their brands than they did in the past. During this incredibly necessary and overdue social reckoning that we’re having in our culture, it is no longer acceptable for brands to stay out of the conversation. Consumers want to know, “Are you willing to use your brand awareness to effect positive social change?” Which will create more brand awareness. The question I ask the brands I work with is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is… “Are you gonna be on the right side of history?”
The question isn’t, “What are you selling?” Or… or “What service are you providing?” The question is, “What do you stand for?” Who are you, Bagel Bites?
All these big companies, they’re so scared of all this social change, and I come in and I put their fears to rest. You know, I tell them, “Just be honest. Tell your customers that… that JPMorgan is against racism.” In theory.
The question is no longer, “Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?” For example. The question is now, “Will you support Wheat Thins in the fight against Lyme disease?”
There’s no sugarcoating it. The world is… f**ked up. And you’ve got a choice as a brand. You can… hide and bury your head in the sand and hope it fixes itself, or you can roll up your sleeves and get to work, and sell Butterfingers.
Eat Fresh? Eat Fresh? Eat Fresh?
The way I see it, a bunch of social media managers managed to convince their bosses to bankroll a free trip to a cabin. Respect.
Major respect. “Hey, we are sick of scheduling these things for other people. It’s been a hard few years. We are doing it for ourselves this time.” 😂 Love it.
The fact that in the tiktoks the managers are refered to as the company name instead of their real name (or even aliases) is several degrees of fucked up.
What about mr lotus, hes a tik tok god and deserves the title of the brand he represents
That reminds me of that... I think it was Subway? The Subway guy from Community.
@@rebelmage6929 ahha YES! He literally gives up his identity to become SUBWAY lmfao so funny
@@rebelmage6929 yo I was gonna say the same thing.
Now this is a man that knows how to be streets ahead!
As someone who manages accounts, I prefer my real name to not be advertised to the public, at all.
Might be just me, though...
Honestly I think it’s more about the social media managers wanting a free trip on the company dime. Somehow they convinced the boomer execs that this would work and got a free vacation with their friends 😂
I love this take.
I'm trusting the good that still exists in this bleak world that this is true because if so, they deserve the vacay.
As someone who wants to be a social media manager someday, I am 110% on board.
Seeing as their Gen Z that makes alot more sense
That's exactly what I thought.
As a former Tumblr kid who thought it was the funniest shit when the community first "discovered" the Dennys account and fully welcomed them to the community... I am so sorry for the irreparable damage to internet marketing I helped contribute to.
It was bound to happen. As someone who also was there for the Denny's account
Tbf it was funny for like a couple posts
I'm not gonna lie, fanfiction about these brands would be the funniest thing on this whole channel, I'd watch the hell out of it
Just wait until you hear about the KFC anime dating game
I am here for Bush Beans.
This is the comment I was looking for. Do it. I might need pictures of the brands though because personification might be harc.
@@jammies1431
More people need to know about Daddy Sanders ❤🙏
I went to a parade and there was a Bush’s float that gave out free cans of baked beans. Honestly way better advertising for them than any influencer plug.
For certain brands I think it makes more sense to spend the thousands it would cost them in sponsorship money on free product for actual people in their local area. Builds community and brand loyalty.
You're right! I work for an arcade with food and influencer marketing is a waste of money for us, but we do parades a lot (we're doing one today) and they are excellent for us. We get in the news for free, we hand out gift cards, candy and some toys and it drives business directly for a very minimal cost.
Also, which are you more likely to remember: A bland, samey TikTok influencer telling you about a brand, or some guy handing you a can of baked beans from a parade float?
Kind of reminds of the Community episode where Subway hires a man named "Subway" to attend the college so they could legally sell their sandwiches on campus.
Wow what a throwback
This is exactly what I was thinking of lmao.
the writers at Community knew what was what, between that and MeowMeow Beenz
The Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals "issue" is so real. When I was little, like 7-9 probably, my grandma would be up at THREE in the morning to go get ready for deals that were like 70% off. Now they mark products like 10-20% off like...? It's almost insulting. I saw some of the same products that were 15% off during Black Friday that were MORE discounted in some random July sale lmao
Ah this is so true! This brand that I like in July had clothes that were 70% off and it’s a designer brand. But on Black Friday and even Boxing Day it’s only 30%. I literally have receipts because I was so confuseddddd
I used to be a district manager at a retail store and let me tell you lmao stores do better sales ALL November to get people to shop! Because everyone is waiting for that one day so the stores fear that not enough people will shop. The rest of November was awful for business but we marked down stuff wayyy more than we did on the actual day. I stopped working retail a while ago but stores still do it. 2nd week of November a store will do all $5 leggings, on black friday they do bogo free but the leggings are $25 lol it's insane. All November and after Christmas are the best time for sales. July as well for semi annual sales.
@@amandaclark6730 omg thank you for confirming my assumptions 😭 i always feel like i end up finding a better deal on some random tuesday than on black fridays
@@amandaclark6730 I've noticed that. Black friday is now black November
@Amanda Clark I'm huge shop before Black Friday- plenty of good deals to be had and so much less stressful.
They could of done this but with the Duolingo owl. Just a bunch of nameless social media managers and an actual mascot walking through the woods.
and it turns into a cabin fever 2 type of film with duo slaughtering the social mgmt girlies lol. I would actually watch that
Say Beauty obviously kissed Shake Shack’s husband, so the group sided with the victim. But little did they know Shake Shack was in a loveless marriage 😢
Quality? Durability? An affordable price? Amanda you're asking too much to these brands
Literally something lasting more than 6 months or just not falling apart? In this economy??
learning that Sarah Schauer was the copyrighter for the Denny's tumblr back in the day made it make a lot of sense
Oh my God how did I not know this
omg no… but it makes so much sense
Um... pardon???? 😮
i was looking for this comment haha
WAIT WHAT. Makes sense but wow
To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was more of an excuse for these social media managers to just get out of the house/office for once. I know a couple people who do that for a living and it can be boring af. Good for them for conning their companies out of money to take a couple hours off.
I hate the ads so much on tiktok that are all about the social media manager being hip with the kids, specifically the trend of “when my boss wants to spend hundreds of thousands on a video but me on a vote will get more views.” I have seen a million, it tells me nothing of the brand, I care nothing of seeing companies on social media, and it feels weirdly egotistic on the social media manager’s part
It's also comedic most of the time since their "viral" videos hardly get any traffic.
Another trend I've seen is how social media managers portray their job as juvenile and simplistic as if it's a brag. Like they'll show the software engineers busting their ass, and then cut to the social media manager doing a somersault for a tiktok.
Like...that doesn't make me care about your product at ALL. It just makes me think you're inept.
@@MapleLeafAce lmao “Alright which one of you can DO A SOMERSAULT?”
I hope these social media managers were all just former sorority girlys and they just conned the brands/ad agency to send them all on a “brand trip” for “content”
That’s usually the case lol
I feel like brand trips could easily make a comeback if they brought in only small creators (like a sweepstakes?) and shifted the narrative to like giving these opportunities/experiences to people who wouldn't otherwise get them. Everybody loves a Cinderella story.
That would totally be a good strategy for certain brands, I think a lot of us are easily swayed by underdog stories. Even if it's a marketing tactic, I would still look at a brant more positively if it used it's resources towards smaller creators who need them more.
It's fun guessing which quote will get the limited run merch next. "I'm willing to buy things" is what I'm thinking.
I hope it's literally just a hyper meta burrito of influence that's just kind of coming apart at the seams 🍝🐐
maybe “i want at least 60% off before i start throwing hands” or “commercialised cringe”
Brands showing what their products do is like THE MOST effective thing to do.
There was this 5 way to wear bag that the owner did a tiktok of showing the many ways to wear it, the stuff you can fit in the bag, etc.
And I was like "Wow I really want this bag now."
the brand trip also grew out of editors of publications being treated and given experiences in exchange for the brand being promoted in their pages… now it’s like a closed loop of their own employees being the faces as well… which sucks because i bet they’re also not being paid enough for that and are at more risk of being swapped out for someone else at a moments notice because they aren’t per se public figures. kind of like buzzfeed almost
The rant about what you wanted to see from brands was so relatable, because I've been looking around for a 2023 planner, and getting so irritated by brands' igs doing f-ing everything but showing the inside of the planner! 🙄
Amanda is our Virgil, leading us 341k Dantes through social media hell and having us behold its horrors, or at least its cringe.
Brands can be so cringe sometimes 😅 they try too hard to be relatable when they just want our money
Literally the only brand trips I have been seeing recently that made me interested in the company have all been from tourism boards, like I saw a few influencers sponsored by visittheusa and it made me interested in going to places I would not have considered before. Sortedfood also had a brand trip from LNER to York on the train and it made me want to take the train across England, like these are the only brand trips I want to see now are tourism based ones.
tbh all i can think about is that seam-bursting hyper meta influence burrito 😋🌯🍿
Don’t ever change Amanda. We love you because we know you will always tell the truth about something. Its so rare these days.
I'm here for the Say Beauty x Shake Shack Enemies to Lovers slowburn that someone's gonna inevitably write-
I gotta say, Getaway actually is a legit great place to go to, well, get away. I don't care about The Brand, but the actual cabins are rad, and they are all out kinda in the middle of nowhere so you're getting the experience of being in a cabin with no one around and it's very, very relaxing. But you still have, like, AC & heating, a kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, etc, so you don't have to go totally rustic if you don't want to. I genuinely enjoyed my trips to those cabins. Staying at one is more like getting a hotel room in an extremely small one-room hotel than an AirBNB, I think.
I'm not being paid to say this, to be clear. But you mentioned not being clear on what makes them different from something like an AirBNB, so I wanted to drop my two cents. I'm a fan of the service, apart from The Brand and whatever marketing they are doing.
This comment is sus
@@yeebler Lol, fair.
Is anyone else UwU for Amanda to get a Bush's Beans ad deal? 🥺
Will she get to say roll that beautiful bean footage?? 💯🔥
No
She will never top the Bush family Dog
Roll that *swell* bean footage. 💁♀️
Nah I want her to go on a Bush's Beans brand trip now
Bush's Beans will go on a Swell Entertainment brand trip 💁♀️
Okay but fr you made some really good points about the changing demographics. Marketing needs to get back in touch with the people they are supposed to sell products to. I want to know more about the products I buy, especially if they are expensive, not just buzzwords and fancy sounding bs.
My favorite was when the mascot of Count Chocula went on a trip to Transylvania and thought he was a real vampire so he tried to suck off Mister Clean at the International Brand Meeting
I'm willing to buy so much Bush's Beans that I become a majority shareholder if Amanda does an ad read for them (I have never owned a can of beans).
Ok but your black Friday rant was on point. I hated all the articles after black Friday of retailers complaining that they didn't get enough sales, and that their sales were better than last year. Like, it's not a flex that your improved in your 10%off and "buy two get one 50% off" sales of 2021. I'm not going anywhere on black Friday for less than 50% off 😂🤷
I completely agree, I want deals so tempting that I am willing to wrestle a flat screen tv off of someone. I think better discounts would also bring much more entertaining news articles lol
I am interested to see how many of these marketing managers and underpaid/unpaid interns feel completely empty inside each day they go into work after being forced to do shit like this.
I absolutely have my days lol
@@IvyroseGullwhacker lol are you ok? 🥴
@@jammies1431 bahahaha yes I am. Social media management can just be a draining job. Especially when you feel the repercussions of a company decision you did not make and have no power to change. You just have to bear the brunt of the fallout.
When you mentioned the beans possibility of influencer marketing, it reminded me of this one time an influencer did her nails or her makeup inspired by a Wendy’s salad for a sponsorship. This was so long ago but so hilarious! 😂
I remember that! It was I think juicystar07 or her sister? She did several like get ready with me and favorites videos sponsored by Wendy’s lmao
@@krumdelakrum it was krazyrayray, but I’m pretty sure one of the Fowler sisters did a Kleenex one!! I just remembered lol
Damn I wish Getaway did a better job with this cause their concept is actually pretty cool in my opinion. It’s essentially like being in a hotel room but directly in nature. Like a little cabin but it’s fully furnished, has a stove, electricity and running water, etc. I’ve been wanting to go to one for a few months now. Hopefully their social media manager gets their shit together lmao
It's funny because I think the opposite about Getaway. It's a glass box in the woods with no security, amenities, or wi-fi. Brilliant marketing strategy though lol
I have stayed in a getaway two times before. They are okay. The cabins are cute, and the camp site was good. Plus at least the one I went to was put strategically close to a local town with more stuff to do so it was not too boring. But the thing about getaway is that the first year I went to it, there were a lot of tiny details I appreciated that kind of made it just that bit more special and worth the price. One thing in particular I loved was this quite nice activity book filled with stuff to do, and ideas of how to make the most of the trip. The second time it was alright just it was obvious that they have started cost-cutting a bit because of the pandemic so a lot of those little touches are gone (the activity book became an activity pamphlet and I think some of the free food they gave they stopped giving). So go if you like glamping, find the gimmick cute, and have a site not too far away (this is not something you should travel more than just a couple hours for). But Airbnb have way more amenities and room, especially for bigger groups. Or just camp normally. I bet one can get a way better deal, just doing that, and my opinion is if you are going to camp, just camp. There are plenty of great campsites out there, and it is always cheaper to go somewhere less trendy.
I guess Shake Shack really did bring the beef?
Sarah Schauer, a viner and now youtuber, ran the Denny’s tumblr account lmao i think she wasnt able to be too current with their memes because it had to be approved by higher ups and they couldnt see coming trends, only past trends
a nice day on your company dime's is something i can't argue with even if it's bad marketing
8:45
“I make good money-I don’t mind paying for things” Period 👏🏼 meanwhile we have influencers asking for handouts smh.
i own a restaurant and trying to do the marketing is so hard. i just want people to try and enjoy my food without humanizing my brand and doing weird social media shit. it’s rough out here.
Anyone remember in Muppets Take Manhattan where they're trying to shop a brand slogan for soap and Kermit suggesting "it will get you clean" blows the advertising frogs away because "Just *saying* what a product does?!" was such a novel concept?
Advertisers have never really known how to actually sell products in a way that consumers benefit from. They just don't know how.
Words cannot express enough how much I appreciate your rants.
Waiting patiently for the Bush Beans sponsorship. If you do it, it'll make my whole year
It’s like everyone saw how much attention Wendy’s Twitter account received when they’d roast other brands and decided that formula would work for everyone. Now it’s over saturated and all we want are facts. Jesus!
i feel like brands are getting desperate. regular ads don’t work that well on gen-z. that’s a fact. they’re trying to do whatever they can to stay “relevant,” but they’re forgetting that the upcoming generation doesn’t care. they buy what they want to buy or they make what they can’t find
Over the holidays I went home and they still have cabel TV so whatever they were watching had commercials that were the "call now" type that just have demos of how to use the products and those were way more convincing since anything I've seen in a while
Please do a deep dive on the success of Flex Tapes marketing!!!!
I'd be so proud of you if you got a beans sponsorship tbh. but wait: what if you got sponsored by both Busch's Beans AND Heinz Beans and held a Baked Beans Grudge Match?
Would love to know Amanda’s thoughts on the Duolingo strategy of get viral by any means necessary. People I know love the tiktoks etc but don’t even know what Duolingo is or does. Isn’t the whole point at the end of the day to position your company/brand as a necessity? I’m really struggling to understand the utility of these strategies beyond growing an unengaged fan base that does not know what your selling.
To most people nowadays, Duolingo is a meme group with an owl mascot, purely because everything they post and market has NOTHING to do with their product.
i recently went on a brand trip with a rubik’s cube company and as you can imagine, it’s not a billion dollar company, we didn’t go to paris or anything, we just spend a weekend at their headquarters in vegas and did a fan meetup. super chill, no obligations or anything, just lots of fun all around. i could VERY easily see how it could be pushed in a horrible direction by a bigger company. we were given lots of freedom and it was kind of “here, we’re gonna put you all in this environment where you have all kinds of opportunities, see what you can do” and nothing was forced or weird or anything
This is exactly the non-stressful tea/drama i needed to unwind tonight. The most stressful part of this video to my brain (and stomach) was how long its been since I’ve had shake shack. Pre-pandemic. Thats the last time. Appreciate the video, Amanda.
The "Denny's Tumblr" mention hit me like a goddamn pile of bricks. I'd forgotten that asshole.
YES I NEED THE SWELL BAKED BEANS AD PLACEMENT NOW
sorry for your loss Amanda. sending you a virtual hug.
They do get it but they're out of touch at the same time, like because they're brand managers, everything they do needs to be approved and talked about and it becomes so diluted that at the end of it becomes bastardized
The fact that I feel nostalgia for the door knob is fucking wild
I learn so much from swell! thanks for teaching me all about brand trips. vital info I will hold on to forever.
The opening of your video makes me wonder why more travel apps don’t send people on trips lol 😅
For some reason the Busch beans comments reminded me of the college humour CEO video for Oreos. "What are we doing? Everyone has had an Oreo, go home, cash the paycheque."
To your point about showing durability, the best advertisement for a product I've ever seen was a complete accident where someone tried to throw something at pavement intending to break it and instead it bounced down the road. It wasn't a brand so only sort of relevant but I took the thing home and would definitely have bought a second one.
I instantly look down on a product when an Influencer does an ad for them. If Brands want to use social media, they need to use it to create brand Lore.
Just remember to hold onto that mindset should Swell ever do a promotion. Because if you hate influencer collabs EXCEPT for "your" influencer, then by definition you are supporting influencer promotions.
It's all or nothing.
Bush Beans influencer marketing would have to be semi-sarcastic counter marketing. Given the 4 feet of Bush Beans at my grocery store, I don't think brand recognition is a problem they have....
thank you for captioning the video!!! it helps so much 🥰
It’s hard to believe Swell isn’t at 500K yet
OMG the door! It’s back! Wow! It’s a Christmas miracle!
I get regular tv ads for Shake Shack, and the burgers look DISGUSTING in the ads, but overall they're doing a terrible job because I had no idea there even was a Shake Shack anywhere in this state but apparently there's one 21 miles away from where I live.
I kind of like the hand held microphone. Makes you look more official somehow... might want to consider keeping it.
Clearly Saie/Shake Shack are "and they were roommates"
The handheld microphone makes me feel like youre giving me the safety instructions on a plane with lukewarm enthusiasm
I love the part in videos where Amanda has a sudden epiphany about what the exact horror it is she is currently witnessing.
Also I'm pro beans partnership for the jokes.
Emma distanced herself way before the Dote Coachella trip you have mentioned. There were girls who had already highlighted their terrible experience at Fiji and nobody took notice then and I think Emma distanced herself from Dote after Fiji.
Sometimes I get confused why I still see commercials like Bounty on TV or instagram ads
What a good way to lose money. I’m sure if they stopped spending money on ads, no one would notice and still buy those items
This has Subway from Community all over it. Who watched the show and decided the "Subway" character wasn't satire about brands trying to manipulate us, but a brilliant set of instructions for a new marketing ploy instead?
SayBeauty shook their shack then ghosted. That's the beef.
FYI you are accurate in that brand trips are happening still, they’re just not advertising that they’re such.
The reason why brands are not able to keep up with the trends/meme is because of all the approval process. While yes the social media manager are gen z their bosses aren't and they need to approve it. It's a slow process
I think sometimes the marketing and social teams know the product is garbage so they’ve gotta think outside the box on how to make it look better, since they have no power to change it and generally can’t outright lie lol
I really love your content Amanda. So glad you went to Tanacon all these years ago.
Bush's Baked Beans used to have a game that was pretty fun. It was an app they made an ad for on TV probably like 10 years ago
I think you have a pretty good handle on the whole situation here. Also your commenters are a hoot! Great video!
at a buffet, i personally sneak corndogs into the buffet so others can enjoy them. I hide 6 corndogs in my jacket pockets. it then, is a joy for me to see other patrons of the establishment eat my corndogs thinking they were part of the buffet.
I said almost this exact thing a little bit ago. I was like what is this, why are commercials so weird and stupid just tell me what you’re selling and show me what it does. I’m just glad the jingles of the 90s aren’t a thing anymore. No we don’t a song about your beans. Unless they’re kitty toe beans ofc.
I will say, there are different type of ads. The main ones you were giving examples of are those designed to convince you to buy the product, but that’s not what these people are doing. This feels like it falls more into the retentive ad category, which are ads that aim to increase brand awareness. Like you didn’t know that one brand existed, but now you do. That type of stuff.
I refuse to replace my decade old 32 inch TV with a new TV that is not just delicious, flavor-wise. That's the hill I'll die on.
While I agree that one of the reasons celebs like The Kardashians are losing public interest is due to how boring their use of their money is, I also feel like a lot of consumer alienation and dislike of displays of wealth is tied to the growing economic inequality/threat of poverty that a large portion of the working class population is being faced with right now. Like, "people are dying, Kim" fr
Oh gods bringing up the dennys tumblr unlocked a need for me to find out if theyre still active. The old one that used to be the harbinger of death for memes on the site doesn't seem to be around anymore. Thank the gods for that because can you imagine them trying to hop on the Dracula Daily train? Or in a year they try to make a Goncharov meme???
haven't watched the full video yet- but I honestly think brands so take their employees out and do like "brand" trips and experiences for them, like they do influencers. No one is going to talk up your company like your employees if you treat them well and they actually like the company they work for. Some of my favorite companies do that, and then their employees get a following. it just seems like good business to do both. (I also can never be mad at someone getting special perks from their employer.)
Learning the Denny’s Tumblr account was at one point partially ran by Sarah Saucher is insane to me
I want to see more advertising like that car bubble where they stuck an expensive car in it and they just chucked everything in a garage including a whole ladder at it to show that it kept the car safe. Like yes, funny, and I can actively see that it's doing the thing you're saying it does. Brilliant.
You know your audience so well that’s exactly what I would say if you were sponsored by beans
Ok but I'm living for that eyeliner, you look AMAZINGGGG
Black Friday in Canada is always like 10-15% off. It SUUUUUCKS.
In the goth online community there is beginning to be a backlash against 'goth influencers'. Which can only be a good thing. Love watching your channel because you tell the truth and I respect that.
Towards the end you talk about how they don't understand what Gen Z wants out of advertisers but I think it's more than you forgot what advertising is supposed to be. I'd never heard of almost all these brands until you talked about them. Now maybe one day I'll be looking for SPF and Saie beauty will come to mind. Effective advertising is literally just getting the brand into someone's subconscious - so that when you're buying baked beans you'll notice Bush Beans on the shelf because your subconscious was familiar because you saw Swell Entertainment eating them once. They don't care about being what Gen Z wants, they care about being seen even briefly. (Edited in) So like, making lifestyle content by Bush Beans is dumb, sure, but it's more likely to show up on a lifestyle watcher's feed, which broadens their brand. They want eyes, not interest.
As a repeat customer of Away (pre COVID times), their products are good (durable and I love the ejectable battery feature on the carry-ons) but the price increases since say 2019 are INSANE.
Also, their carry-on aluminum line barely holds anything since the case do not expand. And IMO, that's too much to spend for luggage that essentially is only suitable for short trips.
I always thought the dennys tumblr was a parody like the Firefox tumblr
"Burrito of Influence"
I'm DEAD!
😆😆😆😆😆
My mom has worked in the medical field for YEARS and she catch the tail end of the drug rep trips. One of my ex's aunts was a rep and girly made BANK. She was on a cruise at least once a season until their were Crack downs on them. Sort of in the same vein as these brand trips, people caught wind and regulations were put in place. Well see if this happens to brands
I think the whole thing could have worked better if they set it up more like a workshop or product demo for each other. Like if they truly just did do a 12 hour thing where they were demoing each other's products, I think that would be interesting, but what they ended up with sounds a little strange. I am also noticing the 2016 collab stuff is kinda back in in certain circles, especially streaming and commentary channels for some reason.