The scoop on H?agen-Dazs, Olympic ads, and Instagram updates…

By Ashleigh Morris, our Content and Comms Lead.

Welcome to ‘The Sauce’ – your dollop of marketing news from the past week.

This week we’re offering you an escape from the summer of sport courtesy of H?agen-Dazs, looking at the first of the Olympic ads for those who are sports’ fans, and giving our opinion on the latest Instagram updates.

Escape 2024’s Summer of Sport With H?agen-Dazs

Football is finally off our screens! As a non-football fan (and Scot whose team were knocked out a while back), I’m pretty relieved to be honest. And it seems I’m not the only one…

With the Euros, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and the upcoming Olympics, those who aren’t sports fans could be tiring of 2024’s ‘Summer of Sport’. That’s what ice cream brand H?agen-Dazs is counting on with its new ‘Flavour Club’.

Acknowledging that not everyone wants to engage with the summer of sport, the brand has launched pop-up experiential activity which has already visited London and Manchester, and will head north of the border to Edinburgh on 2nd August.

The Flavour Club embodies H?agen-Dazs’ ethos of #DontHoldBack and will feature a Disco Ice Cream Van, DJ sets and performances, as well as the opportunity to try the latest product offering, H?agen-Dazs Bites. The experiential activity will be supported with social media and targeted OOH.

It’s also based on research. A survey carried out by the brand questioned 2,000 people and found that 15% are ‘very uninterested’ in watching football, tennis or athletics and are looking for other activities to do while sport takes over their telly.

We love that H?agen-Dazs are doing something different with their marketing, and tapping into consumer demand. In a sea of sports-related marketing campaigns this summer, H?agen-Dazs has created a campaign to stand out.?

Let The Games Begin

For those of you who are sports fans and are lamenting the end of the Euros, don’t worry. The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games kicks off soon on 26th July and brands are already getting into the Olympic spirit.

Amongst the first lot of Olympic-themed ads, one of our favourites in the Awesomesauce office comes from Eurostar.

‘Let the Games Begin’ features comedian Tom Allen, and was created by adam&eveDDB and DDB Paris. It will run until the Paralympics finish on 8th September and will feature across TV, social media, radio and OOH.

The 20-second video features a humorous commentary by Allen as two travellers rush to be the first on their Eurostar carriage. His pacy commentary reflects a typical sports race commentary and is designed to build excitement in the lead up to the Games.

We’ve seen a range of brands create campaigns around sport this summer and this ad ticks all the boxes – it catches the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds, it’s short and snappy, well-paced, is relevant to the target audience, features a celebrity cameo, and ends with the brand’s existing ethos, ‘Together we go further’.

Has Instagram Lost its Identity?

At Awesomesauce we pride ourselves on keeping up to date with the latest marketing updates, and this week we wanted to mix things up and explore one of our favourite social channels – Instagram.

One of the hottest topics of discussion regarding Instagram recently has been around video content. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri recently addressed long-form video content in one of his reels, discussing if it was an avenue Instagram would be exploring.

Mosseri’s answer – no.

In his words, Instagram is about, “connecting you with friends” and “helping you explore your interests, usually through short-form video”. He claims that with long-form content “you see less content from friends, you interact with your friends less, you’re actually less likely to send that video to a friend.”

Makes sense, right? After all, this is Instagram, not YouTube. But then again, it’s not TikTok either…

So has Instagram lost its identity?

Arguably, yes. The platform has changed significantly from its launch as a photo-sharing app in 2010 (did you know its original name was Burbn?!) but seems to be struggling to find a balance between staying true to its core identity, and moving with the times to adapt to changing user demands.

Comments on Mosseri’s reel were overwhelmingly negative, with users commenting, “Instagram has lost its identity. it’s now a tiktok clone”, “Our reach here on Instagram is continuing to drop”, and “No mention of photos. Noted.”

Our resident Instagram guru Sapna said, “Instagram is continually updating its functionality and while it’s great to see platforms adapting, it seems Instagram’s changes and algorithm tweaks are leaving users frustrated and we’re seeing many content creators and businesses focus on other channels as a result.

“I love Instagram and advising clients on how to maximise ROI on this channel, but I’d love to see Instagram consider user-feedback, and give brands the opportunity to be more creative without being negatively impacted by the algorithm.”?

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