Dive Brief:
- Retailer Banana Republic is working with NFL star Jared Goff to promote its fall line of clothes during football season via a social media campaign featuring playful images and GIFs meant to be shared, the company revealed in a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
- In the ads, the Los Angeles Ram player models Banana Republic's fall line at his home in Los Angeles while engaging in activities such as golfing, playing poker and swimming. Each image features two or more Goffs dressed in different outfits and embodying variations on his personality, with NorCal Goff coming up against SoCal Goff in humorous ways.
- A poker game shot features Goff as all four players with different looks and the hashtag #Fourofakind. The campaign's hashtags include #Brosbeforeclothes and #Goffballs. Goff will also appear at in-store activations and other public appearances.
Dive Insight:
Banana Republic hired Goff in 2018 season as its style ambassador before the rising star signed the highest guaranteed salary in the NFL on his latest four-year contract with the Rams. The fall campaign featuring the 24-year-old brings a fresh face to a brand that is aiming to offer a younger and more current look while providing an opportunity to engage with sports fans.
Memes, which typically take the form of humorous images meant to be shared and repurposed, are one way to connect with younger audiences and gain earned media. A growing number of brands are leveraging memes in their marketing as social media becomes more crowded with messaging and breaking through gets tougher. The trick is ensuring the messaging is true to the brand while creating something that social media audiences will want to engage with and share. If content comes across as too promotional, consumers may simply skip it.
"This new campaign may be unexpected for the brand in that it's built around social media memes, which is disruptive for the fashion category," said Mary Alderete, CMO at Banana Republic, in a statement.
Alderete added that the brand is trying to push its media mix in directions that are most relevant to Goff's fans.
The popularity of digital content platforms like Giphy and TikTok are helping drive the popularity of shareable content by making it easy for consumers to alter digital content and push it out to popular platforms. L'Oréal Paris used branded Giphy stickers and celebrity spokeswomen to promote a new conditioner during the Golden Globes, while Chipotle printed physical stickers after a popular GIF campaign took off. In another recent example of how big brands are embracing memes, Kellogg's created a meme for its snack Cheez-In Snap’d to capitalize on relevant cultural conversations around "Avengers: Endgame."
As shareable digital content becomes more prevalent, platforms are looking for ways to let marketers measure their efforts. Giphy recently partnered with Oracle to better track ads and branded content so that marketers know they are getting in front of users.
