General Mills franchise Yoplait is commemorating teens with a new campaign that uses mobile-optimized video to assist the rollout of a specially designed pouch.

Both the campaign and the pouch it promotes are called Go Big. The videos showcase a series of youth-centric stories that will be immediately recognizable to teens; a tactic that is becoming increasingly common when marketing to specific demographics.

?Teens are spending more time on their mobile devices and less watching traditional television,? said Todd Miller, vice president of sales at Cheetah Mobile. ?In fact, according to Ericsson, teens have increased smartphone video viewing by 85 percent in the past four years, so creating content that can be consumed on their smart device is great way to engage with this target audience. 

?Thus, marketing to teens on mobile is an effective way to entertain, inform and engage them where they are spending their time.?

The campaign shines a light on the stories of teens all across the country, and the point of view that the videos take is from the eyes of their mothers, an interesting choice made by Yoplait?s creative team.

The campaign launched with a 15 second video, hosted on YouTube, called Brianna?s Story. The video follows the titular Brianna, a 16-year-old high school student in California, who excels not only in academics and athletics but also in community outreach, volunteering with special needs students at her school and training guide dog puppies for the blind.

Brianna?s mother, Kimberly, narrates the animated short throughout, heaping praise on her daughter as the branded video plays out. The video also places a representation of the new Go Big pouch at the forefront, which is twice the size of Yoplait?s Go-Gurt tube.

Brianna?s video is also being promoted on Yoplait?s Facebook page, which exposes it to a potentially huge amount of mobile traffic. 

The campaign contains the requisite social component when marketing to teens, launching with the November 4 Go Big Amazing Teens Contest. By filling out an entry form found on Yoplait Go Big?s Facebook page, parents can share a photo of their teen and their unique story. 

Up to three will be chosen to be featured in the campaign and receive a cash stipend to help them follow their passions. 

The campaign is yet another example of the ubiquity of self-generated content in marketing towards specific demographics. The mass uptake of social media? especially among young people? has shifted the topography of consumers? demands of marketing.

Marketers? responses to these changing demands reflect this: brands are tending to stray away from pontificating to their audiences about what they should want out of its product as those audiences increasingly desire to see their own stories? warts and all? on the screen. 

And the proximity that marketing content has to users? social media feeds, arguably the most confessional of media, means that said content has to directly compete with the honest, grounded and nuanced content that users generate themselves.

Last week, Avon announced taking a similar tack in its approach to a rebrand. The direct-selling beauty company launched a new omnichannel campaign for the purposes of recruiting Avon representatives and updating its brand image by putting them first and foremost (see story).

And Go Big is not Yoplait?s first foray into mobile optimized video; last year the brand built a wider audience with a new campaign featuring Bob Vila and several YouTube celebrities concocting creative ways to get the last drop of yogurt out of the product?s signature tube (see story).

?Customers want a different relationship with brands,? Mr. Miller said. ?They want to be a part of the brand, not just sold to.

?Teens especially view traditional advertising as not being authentic,? he said. ?They love making and sharing video content.  

?With the rise of social video apps including Snapchat, Musical.ly, Facebook Live, creating this kind of organically produced content has become second nature to them.?