Our newest guest, Marius Bingener is the Content Development Team Lead at ABOUT YOU GmbH. Having previously worked as the Team Lead for Social Media, Marius shared his insights on how ABOUT YOU looks to produce native content, what trends he thinks will develop, and how ABOUT YOU is constantly integrating influencer marketing.
Native Content and Innovative Thinking (3:09)
For the ABOUT YOU Awards 2021, ABOUT YOU looked to shoot a social-only campaign on the iPhone. The campaign was a collaboration between ABOUT YOU and Nike, and commissioned through Cherrydeck. As this campaign was only to be shown on Instagram and in Instagram Stories, the brand thought it would be a benefit to produce native content.
Through the creation of content that looks exactly like the environment where it is published, ABOUT YOU was able to speak to the desired audience in a different way. The main advantage of native content is that it does not directly appear to the viewer as advertising.
ABOUT YOU’s Social Media Presence (9:16)
ABOUT YOU is present on all social media platforms, however they are not active on all. The brand places a great focus on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok and produces channel specific content.
Currently ABOUT YOU has live channels in 23 countries, with new channels on the horizon. However, when the brand is looking in what countries they can launch social platforms in next, they first look if the specific country cannot be merged into their international channel. This is often done for smaller countries.
What is on the horizon for marketing managers to look out for in the next couple years? (16:40)
Currently the content team at ABOUT YOU is seeing a huge demand in streaming. Platforms such as TikTok and Twitch are speaking to the brand more and more through the exponentiell growth and their features.
In Asia, for example there is a big development towards live shopping. This is extremely interesting to ABOUT YOU, due to the simplicity that is wrapped behind it.
Marius believes that the main ‘make or breaks’ of these new ventures would be to always include an opinion leader, or influencer. The reason for this being that they are able to build trust within the consumer. The factor of storytelling through presenting the products in an approachable way is something that ABOUT YOU is striving towards when following more digital trends.
The necessity in being bold as a brand today (27:42)
As it always depends on in which niche you are working, the idea of being bold has to be communicated in an authentic way. For ABOUT YOU, ever bold move that they make comes from the inside of the companies beliefs and culture.
Every claim, slogan, or campaign looks to focus on the consumer individually and share the message they you yourself are good the way you are.
Take a look at ABOUT YOU’s pride campaign, “Pride is Progress” below.
While being bold and discussing time-relevant topics usually has a positive impact on people, there is always the risk of offending certain people. When this happens, ABOUT YOU has no problem admitting to their faults and see that it will not happen again.
Influencer Marketing at ABOUT YOU (35:57)
At ABOUT YOU there are different pillars of influencer marketing. Probably the biggest one would be hauls, where people display in their Instagram stories what they bought, while at the same time providing a discount code for their followers.
This venture was started around 4 years ago as a test from the content team. However, after seeing the success and revenue which this brought forth, it has quickly developed into one of the main influencer marketing initiatives. At the moment, ABOUT YOU is doing over 1,000 hauls per month.
In addition to this, everything that the brand communicated is supported by influencers.
Listen to the full Episode
To find out more about Marius’ creative journey, listen to his podcast episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, and more. Or, simply hit play below!
Episode overview:
[3:09] Native content and innovative thinking at ABOUT YOU
[5:25] Co-producing big campaigns
[8:17] Actively recruiting brands for collaborations
[9:16] ABOUT YOU’s activity across social media platforms
[14:14] The presence of the social media channels in each country
[16:40] Exploring new social formats and platforms. What should marketing managers look out for in the next couple of years?
[18:42] Speaking to the wants of the consumers
[22:34] Newly found trend in second-hand clothes
[27:42] Necessity in being bold as a brand today
[35:57] Influencer marketing at ABOUT YOU
[44:40] The entrepreneurial impact from ABOUT YOU founders
[48:49] Upcoming opportunities at ABOUT YOU
Off the Record — Conversations on the Creative Landscape is brought to you by Cherrydeck and is hosted by Philipp Baumgaertel, today’s guest was Marius Bingener, and the music is provided by Era Beats.
Take a look at the previous episode featuring Max Tolsdorff, Arist von Harpe, or Lennart Wittgen. We look forward to seeing you on the next one — stay tuned!
