🎾 Why tennis took over New York Fashion Week
Plus: Instagram wants you to build your Close Friends list, Snapchat is partnering with huge makeup brands and our thoughts on Q4.
Welcome back, Scanner!
Okay so not to ring the alarm, but… Q4 is just about here. It can be a scary time for a marketers’ task list, but it can also be a chance to review your strategies and make some really impactful changes. First on our list? Looking over all of our SCAN 👀CLUB drops and pulling out the biggest themes we can incorporate into 2024. There are a few that keep coming up: the power of community, the need for IRL thrills and the continuous evolutions happening with technology. Funny, our signals today touch on all of those.
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Let’s get into it.
😲 SURPRISING
Snapchat Wants More Beauty Brands on the App
What’s changing?
When was the last time you logged into Snapchat? They’re working overtime to bring in beauty advertisers and marketers right now. Among a handful of new tools announced, they’re planning a major partnership with NYX called the “Beauty Bestie” AR experience that will allow users to try on daily makeup looks curated by the NYX team. When users open Snapchat, their “Beauty Bestie” will recommend a new look each day. Snapchat is also working to bring makeup customization to Bitmoji through partnerships with brands like e.l.f., the ability to add filters post-photo-capture and more.
Why does it matter?
When our team got together to talk about this signal, the big question on all of our minds was, who is this for? It turns out it’s for a lot of people. More than 250 million Snapchatters engage with AR every day on the app. Bringing in over a billion dollars in revenue last quarter, Snapchat is still a significant player in the social space. Now, stay with us here, but these AR filters are very much giving millennial. Even though millennials aren’t the dominant users on the app, it had us thinking about underserved demographics who have disposable income. Think about Gen X on TikTok; 28% of TikTok users are Gen X, but only 5% of brands target them with their advertising despite them users being in their prime income years. Could this be Snap’s way to reconnect with millennials’ wallets?
What could happen next?
This signal is a great reminder to think about your underserved demographics. Depending on your industry, your most engaged subscribers might not be the ones with income to spend. Are you taking the time to really understand your audience, their consumer behavior, needs, wants and preferences? Are you assuming they wouldn’t enjoy the same content a slightly younger demographic might, and if so, is that correct? Are you taking the time to create content for people who think differently from you? We don’t have the answers, but it’s definitely on our minds.
Scan-o-meter: 😲😲😲 / 5
🎯 SPECIFIC
Instagram Wants You to Keep Your Friends Close
What’s changing?
Instagram may be rolling out a feed just for Close Friends. This will create a new way for users to share content with their Close Friends list and create some exclusivity around feed posts. When we already have the option to share to Close Friends in Stories and Notes, what could be Instagram’s motivation here? After years of “the grid” being an essential part of an IG feed, what could the benefit be in gatekeeping content for your followers?
Why does it matter?
Close Friends isn’t anything new. The feature has been around since 2018 and allows you to share select content with a private IG list. As time has gone on, Instagram has reported that fewer and fewer users are actually sharing and engaging with content on their feeds. Even taking an internal poll, most of us at Arcade prefer posting to our Stories or messaging in DMs over our own feeds. It doesn’t take a lot to deduce then that Instagram is hoping this privatization of the feed encourages users to share more.
What could happen next?
It’s interesting to think how this move could change the way influencers use Instagram. If Close Friend posts pick up in popularity, would they be something an influencer charges a brand more for? As a brand, does it make sense to start a Close Friends community? When we think about marketing strategies, is it a given now that they should have some sort of closed community space? Is there even a way brands can do this authentically? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Scan-o-meter: 🎯🎯🎯🎯 / 5
📅 CURRENT
The US Open Totally Outshone New York Fashion Week
What’s changing?
NYFW has long been seen as the gold standard in annual fashion events. The exclusive nature has made it a bucket list item for fashion fans and influencers. This year, however, the US Open happened at the same time and when this TikToker looked at data from news sites, they found that the sentiment around “fashion” at the US Open was 22% more positive than in NYFW coverage.
Why does it matter?
Before it was “Fashion Week,” “Press Week” would take over New York City annually. It got its start in 1943 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, who was looking for a way to showcase American fashion when French fashion was inaccessible during World War II. The name NYFW didn’t even exist until 2015. Since then, it has continued to grow and become a larger and more spread-out event. It has us wondering, what does tennis have that NYFW doesn’t? Adrenaline? A single location? A tangible experience that feels more “real” than one based in advertising?
What could happen next?
We’re increasingly seeing sports intermingle with industries like music and fashion and as databutmakeitfashion asked, could this be the new NYFW? Tennis has had a long history in the fashion space. Brands like Palmes take advantage of the aesthetic to create luxurious sportswear, while brands like Reigning Champ are teaming up with the likes of Prince to create capsule drops for athletes (or everyday people who like to wear sweatbands). Do legacy events like NYFW need to start teaming up with more popular ones, like the US Open? Does this signal a change in the way consumers want to see fashion content on their social media? How important is it for us, as marketers, to show our products in action vs. in staged shots? This signal has given us a lot to think about.
Scan-o-meter: 📅 📅 📅 / 5
🧑🏫 Put your learning cap on
Starting from Scratch: How to Win on Social Media (Mini-Course)
After five years, thousands of client calls and an uncountable number of social platform changes – we’ve gathered up our top tips for starting from scratch on social media and put them into a mini-course for you.
Think of this mini-course as your strategic guide. It’s perfect for business owners or small teams starting a brand account from scratch or working to establish a plan instead of posting just in time.
If you consider yourself a social media newbie who wants to establish content pillars, plan content like a pro and learn which platforms you should invest in – this is for you!
See you next time! 👋
What signals are you watching? Drop them below 👇