JanSport.
JanSport is donating 12,500 backpacks to students in need as part of a partnership with World Central Kitchen.
- Brands and marketers across the ad industry are adjusting campaigns so as not to appear tone deaf during the coronavirus pandemic. Many companies are focusing on messages of unity or highlighting the charitable donations they've made during the public health crisis.
- The backpack brand JanSport launched an influencer-marketing campaign on TikTok this week in an effort to generate buzz around its donations to the nonprofit World Central Kitchen.
- The company worked with the Gen-Z "think tank" JUV Consulting to hire 10 TikTok creators to post two videos each in a 24-hour window, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's niece, Bella Cuomo.
- In two days, JanSport's campaign has generated 3.7 million video views, hundreds of thousands of "likes," and thousands of comments on videos with its hashtag, #unpackthatchallenge.
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Across the ad industry, brands are changing up messaging and campaign strategies to account for a dramatically different marketing environment during the coronavirus outbreak.
Influencer marketing is no exception.
Companies are turning to social media this month to promote messages of unity and highlight the donations they're making during the global health crisis. They're also working with influencers to get the word out.
"Influencers are humanizing these brands and placing them in the appropriate context for the consumer right now," said Amber Venz Box, president and cofounder of the affiliate-marketing firm RewardStyle. "What's interesting about influencers specifically is they allow you to reach regional groups, age groups, and socioeconomic pockets that require such specialized messaging to resonate."
One company testing the waters on TikTok is the backpack brand JanSport.
In its first attempt at quick-turnaround communication during the coronavirus pandemic, JanSport hired 10 TikTok influencers to promote its backpack giveaway. The company is working with the nonprofit World Central Kitchen to donate 12,500 backpacks filled with food and other supplies to students in need, starting with the Los Angeles metro area.
"We wanted to really connect with students who are being displaced and also try to meet the needs of those students who rely on school for both a safe place to go during the day, and also nutrition," said Monica Rigali, the senior director of marketing at JanSport. "We just wanted to meet our consumer where they are right now. And we know they're on TikTok probably more than they should be."
JanSport worked with the Gen-Z focused consulting company, JUV Consulting, and its year-round influencer-marketing partner, Mavrck, to launch a 24-hour influencer campaign on Wednesday.
Its primary group of 10 creators included New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's niece, Bella Cuomo, and other popular TikTokkers like Nessa Barrett (represented by TalentX Entertainment), Zahra Hashimee, and Peyton Jordan.
Each creator posted two videos using the campaign's hashtag #unpackthatchallenge. The first video was an opportunity for them to show what it's been like to learn from home during school shutdowns, pulling school-related items (and Takis) out of their JanSport backpacks and challenging followers to show their own at-home work stations using the song "seasons nineteen" by Greyson Chance. The second video was a more-or-less scripted explainer, with each influencer talking through JanSport's partnership with World Central Kitchen.
"JUV Consulting helped us come up with language that we felt was right for the platform and right for these influencers," Rigali said.
Since its launch on Wednesday afternoon, TikTok users (including hired creators) have created 242 videos using the campaign's sound, generating 3.7 million video views, hundreds of thousands of "likes," and thousands of comments on #unpackthatchallenge uploads. JanSport plans to post "duet" videos with each influencer showing the company handing off its donated backpacks to World Central Kitchen. The nonprofit will then post its own videos showing its workers donating JanSport bags to young people in need.
"This is the first sort-of quick turnaround communication we've done with our consumer in a while," Rigali noted. "Our typical cadence is that tried-and-true brand strategy where you build campaigns that you know are going to be meaningful to your consumer and then you launch them at a time when the consumer is kind of in-tune with either your business cycle or when those products are needed."
JanSport leaned on the expertise of its partner, JUV Consulting, for choosing creators and messaging on TikTok. JUV is helmed by a Yale junior in his early twenties, Ziad Ahmed, and most of its team are part of Generation Z.
"I would call them a Gen-Z think tank," Rigali said. "They have brought our brand some spot-on creative thinking around Gen-Z consumers. They've really helped us look at Gen-Z as kind of that generation that is being tasked with solving the problems of the world going forward."
For more stories on how companies are using influencers to promote their brands on TikTok, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:
- A teeth-whitening brand studied TikTok's algorithm to decide which influencers to hire and ended up gaining 100,000 followers in a week: HiSmile hired TikTok stars from the Hype House and Sway LA to create a wave of attention-grabbing videos on the social app.
- Leaked campaign brief shows the video ideas Cash App pitched to TikTok influencers, including 'when you win a bet by doing something dope': Cash App paid dozens of influencers to promote its app on TikTok. Here are the content ideas the company shared with creators for sponsored posts.
- A milkshake brand blew up on TikTok, and its 460,000 followers have changed how it approaches marketing and its target audience: With 460,000 TikTok followers, the milkshake maker F'real has built a larger following than national brands like Chipotle, Walmart, and Burger King.
- CASE STUDY: TikTok ads have been 300% more efficient than Instagram ones in getting new users for fintech startup Tally: As more adults sign up for TikTok, fintech brands are using influencer videos and its self-serve ad platform to advertise on the platform.
