With the ever increasing move for social media moments, the new meta seems to be CGI.
More and more brands have seemed to add this to their playbook all the way from JD Sports taking the North face puffer all around the world,
to Vetements’ countdown figure taking over NYC
and Maybelline sweeping up the London underground.
Some of the earlier adopters of this include Jacquemus with their bag video in Paris and Alexander Wang's big bra draped over a highway bridge.
The shock factor comes from the familiarity being mixed novelty. For example, we’re generally familiar with the locations brands tend to use so seeing them with a big change around it is something new to us that stops us from scrolling which in turn creates retention. It also has high shareability meaning social media users are keen to share this with friends families and their own pages. The shareability comes from the realism these videos have especially when you consider how they all look like they've been recorded via phones and how life just seems to go on within the contents of the video.
While I love the creativity and uniqueness it brings to the space, the next question is how far can and should this be taken? and can it raise potential issues?
Can a brand's trust be affected by this?
While I love the creativity and uniqueness it brings to the space, the next question is how far can and should this be taken? and can it raise potential issues?
It may seem a little over board but a common issue that was raised was the integrity around brands using this. Some may find it hard to distinguish between real and fake while others may not be fond of how far brands are willing to go for virality. Both ends of the spectrum make sense and there’s probably no right or wrong.
Another issue I'm thinking of comes on the legal side. we all know how fickle people can get with money and so Im wondering what the regulations around advertisements being put up without consent are in these different locations. With the conflicting rise of AI & technologies , regulations will need to be put in place protect people from fake videos and pictures which can damage reputations and images.