D&AD 2019: Connecting with Gen Y and Gen Z

How to use culture to connect with Gen Y and Gen Z

Guest speakers: Stephen Mai (Chief Content Officer - Boiler Room), L.A. Ronayne (Creative Director - Stink Studios), Leila Fataar (Founder - Platform13)

Boiler Room began as an independent music platform and cultural curator and aims to remain true to that history. The platform connects club culture to the wider world, on screen and in real life though parties, film and video.

Platform13 is a boutique and multidiscipline agency. Founded in August 2017 by Leila Fataar, it answers challenges faced by brands in the ever-changing world of creative innovation and the swiftly moving cultural landscape. Leila’s message was loud and clear: ‘RIP influencer marketing, long live influence’.

In an online community oversaturated by means of instant gratification, Boiler Room has shone a light on the enduring desire for longer form content and more meaningful narratives – a focus which has resulted in strong youth engagement across all projects. The panel discussed how they have created cultural moments that connect with a hard-to-reach audience in an authentic way time after time. The key messages of the discussion included:

  • the key about culture is to turn hypes to depth (converting clicks into meaning)

  • lead with story first, not media first

  • authenticity is the only way to cut through (your audience can see through any bullshit)

  • your purpose (or message) must be something you genuinely care about, and something that makes a real-world impact

  • a brand’s action must mean something

  • the consumers want a brand to stand for something more than just a product

  • we need to listen to a variety of different voices

  • audiences in Gen Y (‘Millennials’) and Z are less tribal, more fluid and connect better by shared passions.


Turning Hate into hype

Client: KFC

Agency: Mother

Guest speakers: Hermeti Balarin (Partner & ECD - Mother), Sam Waymont (Brand Strategist - Twitter), Jack Hinchliffe (Marketing Director - KFC)

The creative team from Mother provided behind-the-scene insights surrounding the KFC November campaign to launch the new fries.

This campaign began with an idea that no other brands have tested – to promote negative tweets about their fries from KFC haters. In a left-field mode of influencer marketing, the brand put itself in the firing line, against the initial guidance from Twitter, and launched a campaign into uncharted territory. It ended up being a success and talk of town.

The campaign was set up in three phases: spark, showcase and sustain. Originally the campaign was planned with a few days between each stage, but changed to scheduling posts one day after another to better fit the fast-paced online sphere.

Day 1: Spark

For the spark day, the team needed a hook to engage the haters – and what could be better than the haters' own tweets? By promoting tweets from their consumers, KFC showed the public that they had heard them and respect their opinions. At the same time, OOH and print ads were placed to generate the excitement. The response? People were interested and even their rival Burger King responded.

Day 2: showcase

On the showcase day, KFC launched the new fries and accompanying ads.

Day 3 (and onwards): sustain

In the sustain phase (still ongoing), KFC continues to encourage and amplify conversations about the campaign, while continuing to launch their new products.

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D&AD 2019: Diversity in Creativity