Easter Eggs & Loyalty Cards | Gen Z Marketing Insights - 6th March

Welcome to Gen Z Marketing Insights,?where we showcase the latest news, trends, and insights into student and Gen Z marketing. Be sure to subscribe to stay up to date with everything that's happening in the youth marketing space!

Today we bring you the latest news and trends from the sports marketing world, insights into Cadbury's viral Easter Egg Hunt, and what our students think of loyalty and subscription cards.

?? Marketing News - Virtual Easter Eggs

Cadbury has announced 'The Cadbury Worldwide Hide' for the fourth consecutive year, marking their annual Easter Egg hunt. This innovative event operates through an online platform where participants can hide a virtual egg anywhere across the globe. Entrants then create a clue for their loved ones to figure out, in order to locate the Easter egg. Cadbury have used previous clues left by people to help promote the virtual easter egg hunt on their socials. One social media ad shows someone hiding an easter egg in their back garden next to a tent, with the clue ‘I want to be proposed to here’. Cadbury have been pushing their wholesome and loving brand image for a while now, and the virtual hunt is a perfect way to continue this and create a bit of a fun buzz in the lead up to Easter.

Spotify has over 600 million users across the world, and it recently introduced AUX, a platform where a dedicated team assists brands in engaging with Spotify users through customized music campaigns. Spotify wants to use its knowledge of music to help advise brands on how they should use music in their campaigns to make them more successful, and to help them reach new audiences through music. The first AUX partner was Coca-Cola, where they connected with an emerging artist Peggy Gou, who became extremely popular last summer. Coca-Cola and Peggy Gou have now formed a longer lasting connection, and have partnered on a number of concerts, social media content and events together. Will we see other brands try to use their expertise to get into the consultancy / agency game? It will be interesting to see how Spotify does with this venutre.

Instagram is trialling new ways to help people make their live-streams more interesting. Some users will be able to pick a game to play whilst they are streaming, such as ‘This or That’ or a ‘Trivia’ game, similar to what is seen on TikTok. It could be a good way to generate more conversations and interactions, which could mean more people find your account and start following it as a result. According to Instagram bosses, they want to increase the number of brands and influencers live streaming on the app, and they want to move more into live-steam shopping, a little like TikTok has done. Is this another example of Instagram simply copying TikTok? Or will help boost Instagram live streams?

?? Student News - University Mergers

In some rather interesting news this week, two London universities will merge in August later this year. City, University of London and St. George's, University of London will combine to form City St. George's in a few months time. Imagine starting your degree at one uni but finishing it at one with a different name! It will be fascinating to see what happens, and how students are impacted by the change.?

Student finances are again in the news this week, with UEA students complaining after the university added a new ￡20 graduation fee for guests. More and more unis are charging for people to attend graduation, and with the current economic climate, students are rightly asking why.

Money won't be an issue at Albert Einstein College in The Bronx however, where a record breaking $1 billion donation has seen medical students be able to study for free!

?? Trend of the Week - Subscription & Loyalty Cards

With the likes of the Pret Subscription becoming more and more popular, are subscription and loyalty cards a must-have for brands wanting to target a Gen Z audience? We asked our students to find out more...

With the difficult economic climate right now, it's perhaps unsurprising that only 10% pay for a subscription card. Many shops offer these for free, so it has to be an extremely good deal to make students shell out for a paid subcription.

However, 91% of Gen Z do own loyalty cards, such as supermarket clubcards, and the vast majority believe this helps them save money as a result. But would students choose a shop with a loyalty card over one without?

Almost half of our Gen Z audience actively seek out stores with a loyalty card, and over half choose stores with a student discount.

Whether this process is simply psychological, or students actually are saving money, seems besides the point. If a shop makes an effort to create a student discount or loyalty card, it gives people a reason to choose that store over another. Even if the discounts are tiny, the advantage it can give stores over their competitors is huge.

In a world where customer loyalty and engagement is key, loyalty cards and subscriptions could well be the future of shopping, and brands which get ahead on this will likely reap the rewards.

That's all for this week, see you next time!

Freshers Festival Group