Dive Brief:
- Converse is ringing in back-to-school shopping season with a campaign starring Millie Bobby Brown, who portrays Eleven on Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things," according to Adweek. In it, Brown acts out 32 different emotions that teens feel as the first bell looms, with her expressions captured in the form of reaction gifs.
- The campaign is called "First Day Feels" and the GIF collection can be found in its entirety on BuzzFeed and Teen Vogue in North America, the U.K. and France, as well on Converse's website and social media channels. A supercut of all of Brown's reactions is captured in video form on YouTube.
- The digital campaign was created by Big Spaceship and serves as Brown's second go around promoting Converse shoes and apparel.
Dive Insight:
To capitalize on the big back-to-school sales period, Converse is making clever use of a relatively simple content type — GIFs — along with a rising star tied to a pop culture phenomenon fans are eagerly awaiting to return in the fall. Partnering with publishers like BuzzFeed and Teen Vogue will also help the brand get in front of a relevant audience of young women and teens around Brown's age.
GIFs might be gaining more traction as marketers place greater value on extra-short video content and ad formats. GIFs are essentially looping short video sans sound, but are even more scaled down data size-wise, making them easy and compelling to share — an aspect Converse is leaning into by promoting the Brown reactions on its own social media channels.
We’re making in rain new Chucks over at https://t.co/faUtwUMZvC. (cc: @milliebbrown) #FirstDayFeels #ForeverChuck pic.twitter.com/HD7Roxil52
— Converse (@Converse) July 29, 2017
Converse's campaign also comes as GIF search engine Giphy is reported to be developing a sponsored format within messaging apps, according to The Verge. Such an integration could help brands like Converse directly reach teens and millennials where they are increasingly spending their time online — on messaging and chat platforms like Facebook Messenger, Tinder and Kik.
