Meta-owned Whatsapp has been a staple of communication for years. In 2020 alone, 78% of Americans were using Whatsapp on a weekly basis to chat with friends, family, and acquaintances alike.
But luxury brand Dior saw Whatsapp’s potential beyond simple person-to-person communication — and went all-in for its latest brand campaign.
In early May, the brand launched its first Whatsapp-focused campaign featuring one of K-Pop’s brightest stars: Jisoo. A member of the ultra-popular South Korean girl group Blackpink, Jisoo is incredibly popular with younger consumers. The band itself even has a self-professed (borderline obsessive) fandom, called the “Blinks”.
Source: Ad Age
Needless to say, Jisoo is well-loved by Kpop fans in particular and by younger consumers on a larger scale. Thus, she represented a smart choice for Dior — who, like other luxury brands, is trying to find effective ways to connect with younger target audiences.
Using a link posted to the brand’s Instagram story, followers were sent to a specially-created Whatsapp group — which, in turn, directed them to “a website where they could sign up to communicate with a Jisoo chatbot.”
Once on the website, consumers could “then choose the type of content they would like to view, including themed videos or behind-the-scenes clips of Jisoo working as a brand ambassador for Dior.” On average, users interacted with the Jisoo-bot 18 times a day — which is an incredible engagement rate.
And while the consumers were chatting with the Jisoo-bot, they were also sent links for content on Dior’s news product — Dior Addict shine lipstick. As it was balanced out with high-quality content, this integration of product promotion into the campaign was well-executed.
In fact, on the day of its launch, the Whatapps Jisoo chat actually reached full capacity — having drawn in a few hundred thousand views from a singular story post on Dior Beauty’s Instagram account.
Add in the fact that Whatsapp is also likely looking to find ways to increase awareness and usage with younger, Gen Z consumers — who often prefer platforms like TikTok and Instagram — and you’ll see why this campaign was a win for both partners.
Ultimately, this impressive response to the brand’s inventive Whatsapp campaign signals a window of opportunity for other brands — perhaps using a different approach is the way to go with younger consumers.
The Future of Advertising for Luxury Brands? Influencers & User-Generated Content
Source: VERB Brands
Luxury goods and services aren’t cheap — but then, that’s the whole point. They’re supposed to be exclusive, high-end, and hard to acquire. And, therefore, they’re often more popular with older audiences that have the income or personal wealth to afford such products.
However, times are changing. According to a recent study from Bain & Company, “along with Gen Z, Millennial spending power will account for 45 per cent of the global personal luxury goods market by 2025”. This means that luxury brands like Dior, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton have been turning their attention to more inventive campaigns — featuring influencer partnerships and heaps of user-generated content (UGC).
For example, Gucci was one of the first luxury brands to break into the world of TikTok and has been incredibly successful on the platform. Always keeping their eye on organic trends and content, they spotted the organic #guccimodelchallenge, where TikTok users were dressing in the brand’s style using items they already owned and taking videos.
Source: Gucci TikTok
According to Fanbytes:
“When this ‘Gucci model’ meme started growing on TikTok, Gucci tapped into it early on, creating their own version of the funny challenge. The result? The video was received so well, its viral success was covered by British Vogue.”
But that’s not all — “Gucci also reposted the user-generated content from the trend onto their official TikTok profile mentioned in their captions that some of these users would be part of an upcoming project with Gucci.” Now that’s some high-quality marketing.
Luxury brands like Dior and Gucci know that, in order to remain successful and relevant, they’ll need to win over younger consumers.
While Gen Zers and Millennials may not be the top spenders right now, they will become so over the next few years — and smart brands know they need to get ahead of the curve to beat out the competition.
However, brands looking to tap into this strategy should keep in mind that — as mentioned earlier — Whatsapp is Meta-owned, and, for many consumers, this isn’t a plus. With Meta’s many scandals over the past few years — from conducting psychological tests on users without consent to improper data harvesting practices — not all consumers are happy to use its service (Whatsapp included).
So, before launching a campaign like this, make sure you’re aware which communication platform your target audience prefers. And if you want to take it a step further and figure out how certain target audiences view your brand, we recommend using brand monitoring software to get access to accurate, reliable consumer insights.
