Outcrop Blog Post

This week we learned: Netflix invites you into the Stranger Things living room, an emotional score informs the creative process & how 3-D design can save lives!

Welcome back! We're headed into another weekend, and being the weekend before Halloween, we're still very much on the spooky campaign train. 

Who's excited for Stranger Things season two? *Spells out "we are!" on the Christmas lights alphabet.* Netflix's love letter to 80s pop culture debuts its second season today and as per usual, the marketing is top-notch. Open up Snapchat today, and a filter for the rear-facing camera will show you the Byers' living room -- you can even poke around in it. Snapchat says this is the first use of a "portal lens" putting the user into an AR experience. 

Ad agency Droga5 uses a metric they're calling "social emotion score" as a key part of identifying how and when a brand should enter into [a] conversation." For an example, they cite the New York Times campaign targeting politically-keen millennials, convincing them that in the FAKE NEWS era, "quality journalism is worth paying for." This millennial is sold, having given more money to news outlets in the last year than in all previous years combined. 

Speaking of marketing to millennials, your strategy isn't working. So says Critical Mass Chief Strategy Officer Grant Owens. Owens notes that the 18-35 demographic is now 80 million strong(!) and how could you possibly come up with something that resonates with all of them. Instead: Determine what customer is actually interested in your product/service. Define who they are, figure out what they need, show them a solution.

We can't tell you why exactly this commercial for British supermarket ASDA is great, just that it is. Spooky green lightning strikes a boombox and then, starting with the young witch who first connects to the now-haunted boombox, everyone starts singing "Word Up" by Cameo. 

And we're still super into this 3D painted crosswalk that encourages traffic calming. So cool. 

Well, the week is wrapping up and we've got pumpkins to carve and candy to devour hand out to children. Were there any great Halloween ads you think we should see? Give us a shout! @outcropcom, @outcropnunavut or @outcropyukon on Twitter.