Clothing retailer Old Navy celebrated its birthday by asking fans to submit selfies for the chance to win prizes. The marketing tactic of utilizing selfies is nothing new – anyone who watched the 2014 Oscars knows that. But, unlike Ellen DeGeneres’ “spontaneous” shot for Samsung, which became the most retweeted image of all time, Old Navy is among the brands trying to convince consumers to take photos of themselves as part of a larger content effort. Tapping into consumers’ collective egos is likely not a bad strategy, but are there any other reasons consumers are compelled to create selfies on behalf of brands? And what do marketers need to know before asking fans to ready their camera phones?
Old Navy is celebrating its 20th birthday with a Selfiebration machine, which is basically what it sounds: The clothing retailer teamed up with “innovation studio” Deeplocal to build a 15-foot-tall machine that displays consumer-submitted selfies in the form of nearly 1,000 custom-made balloons that are inflated to varying degrees to create the customer’s likeness thanks to nearly five miles of wiring, according to a how-it-was-made video.
Per Deeplocal, the Selfiebration Machine was on display in Times Square in New York and at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles this month.
In the video, Greg Baltus, director of technical production at Deeplocal, said the machine is designed to do two selfies per minute and will be up and running for eight hours, so the brand is hoping to do 1,000 selfies per day.
An Old Navy rep was not available for further comment.
However, according to hashtag analytics service Tagboard, the #Selfiebration hashtag is being used about 23 times per hour and 72 percent of the tweets are positive.
To participate in Old Navy’s #Selfiebration campaign, consumers submit a selfie, along with a wish such as for a vacation in Bali, paying off student loans or a pony, and tag the post with #selfiebration. The brand says participants will have a chance to win their wish.
Old Navy follows the selfie footsteps of a number of other brands.
For example, British retailer Ted Baker’s Merry Kissmas campaign for holiday 2013 asked consumers to take pictures of themselves in front of several mistletoe installations and submit them via Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #KissTed, offering a potential vacation as reward.
In a similar vein, the Axe line of men’s grooming products asked fans to submit photos of themselves kissing with the hashtag #KissforPeace in January, which social media management system Sprout Social says generated more than 10,000 tweets and 8,000 posts on Instagram.
The brand also created a #KissforPeace video that has since been viewed more than 7.4 million times.
For its part, Turkish Airlines enlisted the help of athletes Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi in its #SelfieShootout campaign, which has a staggering 139 million views. The video was accompanied by a SelfShot iPhone app, which allows fans to shoot selfies and paste themselves into various scenarios, such as on safari with a lion or in the jungle with a monkey, for a chance to win a free flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhFqSlvbKAMAnd beauty brand Dove had another video hit with “Selfie,” which debuted in January, and includes mother-daughter duos “redefining” beauty with selfies. It has since been viewed more than 1 million times even though it is more than eight minutes long. A related website asks fans to submit photos (not just selfies), videos or finish the statement #feelbeautifulfor.
“I think Dove is an excellent example of a brand using selfies to create emotional and motivational user-generated content,” said Jennifer Beese, news editor at Sprout Social. “The adoption of selfies is used as part of a larger initiative by the brand and fits in nicely with their overall message of real beauty.”
Beese’s best tip for brands?
“There has to be value behind the ask,” she said. “If a brand asks fans to take selfies for the sake of incorporating a trend, nobody wins. Incorporating selfies into a bigger campaign or strategy can be extremely rewarding for everyone involved.”
In addition, selfies, which require consumers to actually take time to create content, which is sometimes a dangerous thing to ask, can also help humanize a brand.
“Yes, we are, of course, all egomaniacs, but people really strive for authenticity and transparency today and I think there’s nothing more transparent or authentic than a selfie because you’re showing yourself the way you are right then,” said consultant Barry Moltz.
That being said, Moltz said consumers have to really love the brand before they’re willing to submit content like a selfie.
In other words, while many brands like Old Navy, Ted Baker, and Turkish Airlines offer rewards in exchange for selfies, Moltz said that for some fans, notoriety and/or appearing next to the brand they love is reward enough.
Dunkin’ Donuts sort of taps into this notion with its Fan of the Week promotion on Facebook. While not strictly limited to selfies, the brand asks fans for photos of themselves with Dunkin’ Donuts products and rewards these enthusiastic fans by making their photos the brand’s profile photo and displaying the fan photos on a billboard in Times Square.
What do you think about the branded use of selfies?