Summer is well and truly here, and we’re back with another roundup of the best social stories and campaigns from June 2021.
Lots has been happening in the last four weeks. This time, we’ll be covering campaigns celebrating Pride Month, the Euros and – of course – the return of Love Island and Wimbledon.
For a deeper dive into social media platform innovation, head over to The Social Quarterly Report.
Let’s dig in.
TikTok x Cannes Lions – #CreativityForGood
The annual Cannes Lions advertising awards returned once more in June, and as TikTok videos don’t currently qualify for any categories in the competition, the social platform opted to launch its own challenge inspired by the awards.
Titled #CreativityForGood, the challenge tasked TikTok creatives with producing their own ad campaign or short on behalf of one of four partnering non-profits – Malala Fund, It Gets Better Project, IFRC and One Tree Planted. Alternatively, users can choose another charity close to their hearts to help boost awareness of many great causes after a difficult year.
In return, TikTok has pledged to donate $50,000 to each of the four named non-profits. Here’s just one example of the thousands of ads produced by TikTok creators for the challenge.
@dr.kojosarfo You can make a difference! #ad #CreativityForGood @americanredcross @ifrc @tiktokforbusiness
TikTok – #EURO2020
TikTok has also been inspiring its users to get involved with Euro 2020 celebrations this month, with the hashtag #EURO2020. In this Top View ad, football fans on the social platform were stitched together with footage of famous players, creating a humourous and playful result that encouraged users to ‘join the world’s biggest line-up’.
@tiktok_uk Join the world’s biggest line-up for #EURO2020
It was bound to make TikTok users want to get just as creative with their own posts as they joined in with the hype for the much-anticipated event, following its postponement last year. So far, some of the most popular TikToks under the #EURO2020 hashtag include viral memes, public football challenges, best bits of match footage, funny interview moments and predictions featuring the most unlikely animals.
@cornishsealsanctuary She’s right 50% of the time every time ???? ENGLAND FOR TOMORROW ???????????????????????????? #euro2020 #footballpredictions #football #england #sealtok #greyseal
To help fans keep on top of upcoming matches without needing to leave the app, TikTok also helpfully displays a daily schedule when users search for the Euros on its Discover tab.
Spotify – Only You
This month, we saw Spotify launch its global campaign Only You via its app. The in-app experience serves a similar purpose to its other famed campaign, Spotify Wrapped, which sums up a user’s year in streaming, but instead focuses on users’ listening habits that are unique to them. Fun features of the Only You experience include a summary of your ‘Audio Birth Chart’ and a chance to plan a dream dinner party with your favourite artists.
Image via Spotify
These are presented in a series of Story-style interactive slides on the Spotify app, which can then be shared across a wide range of other social media channels so users can compare their results with those of their friends and followers. As with Spotify Wrapped, the streaming platform creates and saves a series of personalised playlists to a users’ profile that can also be shared on social media.
To raise awareness of this new campaign, Spotify released a lighthearted 30-second ad following one user’s obsessive listening habits while she is cramming for finals.
Snapchat – Pride of Britain
After the government announced code-breaker and computer visionary Alan Turing was to be featured on the next £50 note, Snapchat celebrated the move with another of its in-app AR experiences for Pride Month – it has since been named ‘Pride of Britain’ to reflect both Turing’s ground-breaking work and his sexuality.
The lens requires users to scan the newly circulated banknote which will activate the experience. Turing’s features and quote, both visible on the note itself, become highlighted before the dials of his famed WW2 Bombe machine begin to appear. The finished result is an animated image of the entire machine in the colours of the Pride flag.
Snapchatters can find out more about Turing by using the lens, which links to an external Bank of England site explaining the pioneer’s life history in greater depth.
Here’s a video of the lens in action, posted by The Drum:
Facebook commemorates Juneteenth
June also marks Juneteenth on the 19th of the month – a holiday commemorating and reflecting upon the emancipation of African-American slaves. To observe the event, Facebook has produced a social-first video presented by Tina Knowles-Lawson which explains, in a heartfelt way, her family’s, and other Black American families’, connection to the holiday and to the importance of freedom.
With this campaign, and other Juneteenth events and fundraising efforts on the platform, Facebook hopes to reaffirm its pledge to continue elevating Black voices and businesses across its apps.
"#JuneTeenth2021 is celebrated with friends, family, and loved ones. You honor them by finding out the history of it. Our history is such an important thing, it makes you belong, it connects the dots.” – Tina Knowles-Lawson pic.twitter.com/o4U8theFbq
— Facebook (@Facebook) June 16, 2021
In the week leading up to the 19th June, Facebook also featured three Black-owned businesses on Instagram, all of which hail from the birthplace of Juneteenth: Galveston, Texas. This series delves into behind the scenes interviews with the brands’ owners as they explain what it takes to run a successful business.
#WimbledonThing
As of 28th June, Wimbledon is once again back on our screens following a two-year hiatus after being cancelled last year. To rejoice in its return, McCann London created a brilliantly British ad campaign leading up to the start of the event, focusing on some of the public’s favourite, and slightly bizarre, Wimbledon traditions.
While the activation is omnichannel, it does largely focus on encouraging social media users to share their #WimbledonThing using the hashtag, demonstrating and celebrating the unique traditions we all partake in when watching. Even if it’s simply feasting on the classic strawberries and cream in front of the TV, there’s always something for fans to be enthusiastic about when it comes to Wimbledon, and the campaign hopes to reflect that excitement with social conversation and user generated content.
JD Sports becomes an official partner of Love Island in social-first campaign
JD Sports has teamed up with Love Island to become the official activewear provider for this year’s contestants. To promote its products and the show itself, the brand will be releasing a variety of social content across its feeds including TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.
The retailer will be posting about the series on TikTok, where users will soon be able to take part in an exclusive hashtag challenge run by the brand. Meanwhile, JD Sports has developed a range of gamified content which will run on both a dedicated Snapchat portal, as well as its own mobile app. At first glance, the game appears to work similarly to Candy Crush and offers the chance for players to win a whole year’s worth of workout outfits.
It has also announced there will be a new series on its official YouTube channel, which will feature the public’s favourite contestants from past series in an attempt to further drum up hype for, and conversation around, the show.
For now, though, JD Sports has led with an introductory TikTok ad, which so far has 119k likes and more than 24 million views to date.
@jdofficial #GetGrafting this Summer with JD and Love Island! JD Official Activewear Partner 2021
M&S – Nothing Neutral About It
To mark the expansion of its lingerie range to include more inclusive nude colours and sizes for all women, M&S launched a new campaign this month named ‘Nothing Neutral About It’. The activation is running across a multitude of online and offline channels, social included.
The brand leads with a 2-minute film and a number of shorter looping videos about the creation of the new range, featuring interviews with M&S product designers and department directors. It also offers a sneak peek behind the scenes of the product shoot where models were encouraged to explore why they enjoy wearing neutral colours and how choice makes them feel empowered.
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That’s all for now. For more social media updates, head to The Social Quarterly Report.
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