Welcome to the very first issue of our very first newsletter. Here we'll recap everything you need to know now within the marketing + creative space. You can expect updates on industry news (+ key takeaways), viral moments, marketing jargon and more.We recommend reading it with a cup of coffee, on your next subway ride or saving it for a lazy Sunday. Consider this a resource for marketers, by marketers. Enjoy!
What Marketers can Learn from Taylors Eras Tour
Social is an endless scroll. Where to stop? Here we’ll analyze relevant moments, cultural trends and the marketing geniuses behind it all.
No two FYPs are alike, but in recent months it’s felt like our feeds are all Taylor Swift, all the time — and we’re not complaining. The Eras Tour is everywhere, but let's be honest, Taylor has been in her marketing ‘era’ for years. We might be biased, but it’s our favorite era of all.
So what can marketers take away from Taylor? Here are just a few strategies to note:
Storytelling + Themes: Taylor is the queen of storytelling with her music — and marketing. Taylor masterfully threads stories and themes tied to her work across channels — social, videos, interviews, merchandise and more. Because of this, fans are always on the lookout for connections across channels to piece together stories. This strategy not only incentivizes her audience to follow her on all platforms, but keeps them engaged and excited about her work.
Community Engagement: With an audience as big as Taylor’s, it could be hard to ensure consumers feel valued. Taylor prioritizes community exceptionally — and with attention to detail. While she is known for large-scale fan activations, a simple example is her TikTok account, where she is one of a few public figures that has left their ‘likes’ public. Taylor consistently engages with her audience’s content and it’s easy to see when she does. This incentivizes fans to create content related to Taylor and her work, and makes them feel valued and seen — who doesn’t want that?
Rewarding Loyalty: Throughout her career, Taylor has found creative ways to reward loyal fans. Notably, her event series “Secret Sessions” rewarded fans with private listening parties as a ‘thank you’ for their commitment and a preview for future projects — though several years back, fans still talk about these sessions to this day! It seems intuitive but it can be forgotten, thank your consumers, and thank them often — not only does it keep them coming back, you’ll often gain insight into what they’re looking for next.
So there, we said it, Taylor Swift is a marketing genius, and we’re here for it!
Marketing Wins We <3
Who doesn’t love a marketing win? Below are recent marketing moments we couldn’t help but share — and their main takeaways.
A genius popup — Lululemon allowed customers to bring dupes of their Align leggings and swap them for a pair of real Aligns — free!
💡 Face challenges head-on! Lean into topics that many brands would try to distract from — like the popularity of dupes — for unexpected campaigns that captivate and resonate.
Airbnb Swoops in to Save Alix Earle
After sharing on TikTok that she had no place to stay while on vacation, Airbnb came to the rescue providing a breathtaking house for Alix + friends — on-the-fly marketing at its best!
💡 It’s now or never. Leave room for impromptu marketing moments — these quick pivots often deliver the best work.
Duracell Partners With Ariana Madix on a Campaign That Doubles as a Sandoval Roast
A collaboration that couldn’t have more perfect timing, Duracell partnered with Ariana Madix for a social campaign that we’ve been watching (and LOLing at) on repeat! Poking fun at Tom Sandoval — this campaign didn’t miss a beat, dropping on the Vanderpump Rules reunion finale day. #TeamAriana
💡 It’s all in the details — the white nail polish, the paper towels (referencing ‘Scandoval’) — this level of attention to detail makes an already good campaign, great.
All About AI - Are You Feeling Hopeless or Helpless?
The news cycle is never-ending. Marketing is ever-evolving. Here we’ll keep you in the know with learnings from timely topics that can elevate your marketing game.
AI — it’s everywhere. Earlier this year we were inundated with news surrounding ChatGPT, now we’re seeing Adobe drop new AI tools within Photoshop, and Google and Meta both rolling out generative AI tools geared toward marketers.
It can feel overwhelming to consider how AI will impact the way you work; but, it can also be a powerful tool to help with challenges that we face daily as marketers. Here are a few ways AI can help you do your best work:
Optimization: AI tools can quickly analyze large data sets, allowing for frequent adjustments and pivots based on findings. These tools can also use their findings to make predictive analyses, helping you shape strategies based not only on current data but future data.
Real-time customer interaction: AI opens the door for real-time customer interaction through chatbots. This is a game changer for teams that don’t have dedicated 24-hour customer support and is key to keeping your audience engaged.
Automate tasks: AI is huge for workflow improvement. It can be used to automate routine tasks (think: budget tracking, keyword research, workflow organization) to give you the time to focus on what you do best — and what you love.
Consumer behavior insights: AI tools can give insight into your audience — how they’re interacting with your website, their purchasing patterns, where you’re losing people, etc. This is key to building strategies and creating content + customer experiences based on audience needs.
Generative AI: A massive time saver! Generative AI can do everything from helping draft copy to generating custom stock images for your social feed.
The possibilities AI brings to the marketing world are endless, but all AI tools need YOU at the center to be successful.
Meet Breef(Pay)
At Breef, we’re constantly innovating on tools to make your work life easy. Here we’ll share more on new product updates and offerings.
Okay, now this is a big deal — we’re thrilled to introduce Breef(Pay), a first-of-its-kind buy now, pay later product for all marketing spend!
Modern marketing requires agencies that drive strong results, but budgets are dynamic and continually changing. Breef(Pay) – powered by Tranch – is an industry-first payment infrastructure that allows you to stretch your budget further by investing in agencies now, while paying over time.
With Breef(Pay), you’ll gain financial flexibility to prioritize marketing projects without jeopardizing quality or spend — i.e. grow now, pay later. For our agency community, this means more project opportunities and payment security.
Breef(Pay) is easy — here’s how it works:
- Find your dream agency on Breef
- Activate Breef(Pay)
- Pay overtime + grow your business — that’s it!
Learn more about Breef(Pay) at breef.com/breefpay
Marketing Jargon
Fastvertising: A type of advertising that many credit for Ryan Reynolds’ recent billionaire status. Fastvertising is the rapid creation and distribution of ads that smartly use trending topics in media and pop culture to create a viral moment. Think Aviation Gin’s ad starring the viral Peloton actress — this ad went live 48 hours after Peloton’s ad went viral across media channels.
AR: Augmented reality! AR is tech that superimposes computer-generated images or video onto a user’s real-world view. We’re seeing this pop up everywhere from a series of new Snapchat lenses celebrating beauty brands, to Bacardi’s “Do What Moves You” summer campaign.
CapCut: Owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, CapCut is a video editing app with easy-to-use templates. In recent months, CapCut templates have been blowing up on TikTok, and we can’t get enough! Check out one of our favs here.
And that wraps our first issue! Keep an eye on your inbox for the next edition. In the meantime, browse more on The Breefing Room.
