The Super Bowl? More Like the "Advertising Bowl"
On February 09, 2025, households around the world will be tuning in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs battle for the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 59.
The Super Bowl is the biggest stage for not just athletes but for advertisers. Last year, 123.4 million viewers watched the Super Bowl, making it one of the most-watched television broadcasts ever (NFL). Brands spend months (and lots of money) to produce and market clever, star-studded commercials—Super Bowl LIX will be no different.
Super Bowl commercials are an important cornerstone of American popular culture. Apple announced its Macintosh personal computer in an ad inspired by George Orwell’s 1984; Michael Bublé teamed up with Bubly for a fun sketch about name mispronunciations; even the most outlandish of commercials, Mountain Dew’s “Puppy Monkey Baby,” had viewers repeating its catchy jingle months after the commercial’s launch.
Social Media & Super Bowl Advertising
With the rise of social media and influencer marketing, brands can now strategically connect with audiences beyond the television on the night of the big game. Social media acts as an amplifier in three ways: it boosts brand engagement & awareness, increases the reach and impact of brand campaigns, and presents unique opportunities for social listening and trendspotting.
Nerds generated brand awareness and buzz for their Super Bowl ad campaign by sharing teasers of their commercial featuring TikTok star, Addison Rae. Watch below to see how Nerds tapped into nostalgia and influencer marketing to attract candy lovers of all ages.
@addisonre Guess who I’m coaching…?! 🪩🕺🕺🎶🍬 tune in to find out!! @Nerds Candy 2.11 #ad
♬ original sound - Addison Rae
Brands featured during the commercial break spend, on average, $7 million for a single, 30-second ad spot on television. For brands with a smaller advertising budget, social media opens up the playing field. Everyone now has the opportunity to participate in the global conversation, while reaching both new and existing audiences. Brands with “social-first” marketing strategies are expected to reap the most benefits.
How We Play A Role
With our creative marketing solutions, brands can be part of the Super Bowl conversation using interactive ad formats across social media platforms.
Video Editing - Lay's & Doritos Game Day Contest
In a previous blog post published to our page, we shared that about 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands they love (Hubspot). Video continues to evolve as an impactful marketing medium for companies—especially when it incorporates motion graphics.
Videos promoting sweepstakes, giveaways, and other exclusive promotional events can boost audience growth rate/participation, drive sales, and encourage user-generated content (UGC) across social media platforms.
As part of their Super Bowl 2025 campaigns, Lay’s and Doritos ran two sweepstakes on X. Users who interacted with the posts and trigger hashtags (i.e., #OnlyLays, #DoritosCrash) were eligible for cash prizes that were announced on Super Bowl Sunday. Our team of skilled video editors put together two short promotional graphics videos for Lay’s and Doritos to bring awareness to these giveaways. These videos used animation and text elements to showcase the clients’ products along with simple instructions for entry. Contest participants then received one of our videos revealing their fate!
Custom Likes & Hashmojis - DraftKings, Pepsi, & Doritos
Hashtag campaigns are a popular way for brands to generate buzz and drive post engagement. For example, according to a report by Captiv8, the hashtag #SuperBowlLVII accumulated more than 225 million views on TikTok in 2023.
Custom likes and hashmojis are custom visuals brands attach to a limited-edition hashtag campaign on X. Custom likes replace the standard heart animation (triggered when a user ‘likes’ a post) with the branded animation, while hashmojis are static emojis featured at the end of a hashtag.
For the upcoming Super Bowl, we created a custom like and hashmoji for DraftKings to promote Super Bowl parlays and sports betting. With the hashtag #LetDKCook, X users could trigger the animation and design on their posts.
As an exclusive design partner for X (formerly known as Twitter), our team partnered with Pepsi in 2022 to promote the Super Bowl LVI Halftime show featuring Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Eminem. Any user engaging with the hashtag #PepsiHalftime on the day of Super Bowl LVI triggered our custom animation—the Pepsi logo inside of a music record!
In 2023, our designers and animators also created a custom like and hashmoji for Doritos’ “Triangle Scheme” Super Bowl LVII campaign. Our design was even featured in the Super Bowl commercial. It was truly amazing to witness how many X users engaged with our branded likes throughout the game!
Augmented Reality (AR) - KIA Robo Dog
In recent years, brands have turned to Snapchat for immersive, personalized ad campaigns perfect for the night of “the big game.” According to Snapchat, Super Bowl campaigns that contain a lens result in 1.5x increased ad awareness. Through unique activations such as “Super Bowl Winner Prediction” lenses, the #TouchdownCelebration challenge, and custom Cameo stickers, Snapchatters and their favorite brands can connect with one another.
TikTok has also become a destination for advertisers to reach Generation Z Super Bowl watchers. Brands are tapping into influencers and celebrities when delivering creative and disruptive short-form advertisements. The Addison Rae, Nerds collaboration on TikTok linked earlier in this article is a perfect example.
“Advertisers that are doing it well know that watching football isn’t just on the TV—it’s with the memes, social conversations, and opinions in real time through TikTok” – Shayne Millington, McCann New York
KIA introduced Robo Dog to the world in their 2022 Super Bowl commercial for their new electric EV6 vehicle. Bare Tree Media was thrilled and honored to have created a 3D model and TikTok AR experience to accompany KIA’s #fullycharged campaign.
Our TikTok integration invited users of the app to dance with Robo Dog, an electrically-charged dog, to Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. This effect was launched a week before the Super Bowl in conjunction with a 60-second Super Bowl advertisement and a “dogmented reality” experience. The dogmented reality experience simulates pet adoption virtually and entices users to consider adopting an animal in need from their local shelter.
@melissabecraft #ad Kia has given to the PetFinder Foundation to help find forever homes for dogs. I’m showing my support by doing the #RoboDog #turnaround
Looking Ahead to Super Bowl LIX
Social media has and will continue to perform well in conjunction with traditional Super Bowl advertising. Ultimately, the most important play in your marketing playbook is sharing quality content that is on-brand, attention-grabbing, and influencer-driven. As we look ahead to Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, expect to see:
- Interactive content: AR lenses and gamified content will continue to skyrocket in popularity. Other interactive content such as custom likes, hashmojis, and social media challenges require engagement and participation by a viewer.
- Influencer-first campaigns: brands will partner with micro and macro influencers with highly-engaged audiences across social media platforms—particularly, TikTok and Instagram.
With the right combination of experience, skill, and guidance, your brand can use design, animation, motion graphics, and AR to better engage and captivate the attention of your customers. To learn more about how we can be a part of your Super Bowl marketing, contact us at info@baretreemedia.com or visit our website.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to bring your brand’s ideas to life through digital animation and AR. Check out our Animation & Video page to see motion graphic experiences we’ve created for brands.
Motion Graphics Meet Marketing: Enhancing Brand Storytelling
To survive in the modern digital landscape, brands need to cut through the noise and capture the limited (very limited) attention of their audiences.
“Content is King”—the phrase followed by marketers around the world. However, most social media feeds are inundated with articles, advertisements, and social posts. While content is important, quality (over quantity) is king.
Incorporating motion graphics into marketing materials are a powerful way for brands to enhance their content strategies and reach potential customers. As a motion graphics studio, we may be a little biased, but our experiences creating super-slick promotional videos for brands (i.e., Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Interwell Health) have shown us first-hand the power of motion in marketing.
So why motion graphics? Read more below to find out.
What are Motion Graphics?
Motion design animates 2D/3D graphics using software to create a visual narrative. The technique emerged in the mid-20th century and is credited for transforming graphic design. Common examples include TV opening credits, digital adverts, news broadcasts, and explainer videos.
A Rise in Video Content
The number of digital video viewers worldwide is currently 3.3 billion (HubSpot). According to an article published by HubSpot, about 89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands they love. With video accessible on every major social media network, audiences use short-form videos (~60 seconds) to learn more about a brand, product, or service. Video marketing increases brand visibility and engagement as consumers are 52% more likely to share video content than any other type of content.
Aside from increasing engagement, motion graphics can benefit brands in three ways:
- Simplify a concept, product, or service
- Easily shareable
- Efficient & cost-effective
Explainer Videos & Motion Graphics
According to HubSpot, the most common videos that incorporate motion graphics are presentations (65%), ads (57%), and explainers (47%).
Explainer videos convey concepts, products, and services in a quick, clear, and concise way. Motion graphics used in these videos capture attention more easily than text. For example, Hank Green’s YouTube series “Crash Course” utilizes motion graphics to break down educational concepts in an entertaining, digestible way for students. The series has over 161.M subscribers on YouTube and is used in classrooms throughout the country.
Furthermore, explainer videos can introduce people to new-to-market products and services that may contain complicated features. Customers can make better-informed purchasing decisions, and in turn, conversion rates may increase. The onboarding experience for customers becomes more efficient, which can reduce customer support costs.
Motion Graphics & Virality
Motion design, like most video content, is inherently shareable. Marketers utilize video to generate organic growth across social media platforms. Videos containing motion graphics are more likely to go viral because they are visually engaging and perceived as higher quality by viewers.
In this 30 second advertisement, Porsche takes viewers through the evolution of the automobile and how their vehicles are integral to the automotive industry. Brands like Porsche use motion graphics not just to sell a product but to invoke a feeling and share an aspirational lifestyle.
Efficiency & Cost-Effectiveness
While engagement is important, the success of a marketing campaign is measured against return on investment (ROI). Traditional, live-action film shoots are expensive and carry greater risk than animated video. Because motion designers work in programs with highly-flexible capabilities, adjusting animations is a fairly simple, low-cost process.
Future of Motion Graphics
Video content will continue to evolve to fit new consumer needs, platforms, and trends. It is important to note that social media algorithms largely control what’s shown on a given platform. Short-form, motion graphic and explainer videos may be capturing the attention of millions now but algorithm shifts may change what kind of content becomes popular in the future.
How We Play a Role
Our experienced designers, animators, and editors work with brands to leverage motion graphics in their marketing and advertising campaigns. We’ve created campaigns for IFAW, BetMGM, and Samsung.
- To promote the new messaging stickers and Samsung Themes we created for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” we teamed up with WimpyKid Inc. in 2024 to create a digital offerings promotional video. The “Hot Mess” book tour kicked off in October and our video was featured before the show at every stop and on their social media account.
- At Bare Tree Media, we love using our design and animation skills to raise awareness for important causes. We collaborated with the Healthy Ocean Coalition (HOC) to create an animated explainer video that outlined the importance of protecting our oceans, mitigating climate change, and improving access and distribution to nature around the United States.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to bring your brand’s ideas to life through digital animation and AR. Check out our Animation & Video page to see motion graphic experiences we’ve created for brands.
The Power of Profile Frames
Short-form social media platform, TikTok, is unveiling new ways for brands to entertain and engage their audiences. To increase advertiser investment and enhance users’ in-app ad experiences, TikTok has introduced several interactive ad formats to the platform. According to TechCrunch (2021), the company promised these changes would make advertising more user-friendly, interactive, and creative.
This blog post will cover TikTok’s newest digital offering: TikTok profile frames. Read more to learn about how our team can help your brand use frames to enhance your ad experience.
Early Interactive Add-Ons
At an online conference in 2021, TikTok launched “super likes.” When a user likes an advertisement, surprise visual elements and icons will appear on the screen. Brands also have the option to add an optional custom pop-up window that will take viewers to the ad landing page after the “super like” display finishes playing.
TikTok has continued to deliver on their promise: they now offer standard add-ons such as stickers, download cards, and countdowns. Premium ad options such as shake surprises, pop-out showcases, and other interactive ad formats are also available to brands. Standard add-ons drive clicks and conversions, while premium add-ons build community and brand awareness.
What are TikTok Profile Frames?
Move over super likes—we’re saying hello to TikTok profile frames! TikTok profile frames are exclusive, limited-time displays featured on a user’s profile. As part of an ad campaign, brands can publish custom designs that wrap around, or “frame,” a user’s profile photo. Users can unlock these frames by completing interactive tasks or engaging with an advertisement.
Rising pop star Sabrina Carpenter partnered with TikTok to unveil an in-app experience to promote her “Short n’ Sweet” album. The #ShortnSweet in-app experience invited Sabrina Carpenter fans to participate in five interactive tasks in order to unlock an exclusive profile frame. This frame allows fans to showcase their love for the star and to signal to other TikTokers that they are members of Carpenter’s fanbase, “the Carpenters.”
Source: TikTok
Gladiator II: A Case Study
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, the sequel to Gladiator I, is an epic historical action film. The movie premiered in theaters November 22, 2024. The team at Paramount Pictures asked us to create a TikTok profile frame to promote the release of the movie.
We created three different designs for Paramount Pictures. Paramount provided Jackie (Creative Manager) and Chihiro (Senior Animator) with detailed design guidelines, references, and assets from the movie to work with.
Our team created mockups of the designs overlaying them over a TikTok profile template, so our clients would have a visual understanding of what the final product would look like in the application.
To unlock our frames, TikTok users had to post a video containing a Gladiator II green screen and the hashtag #GladiatorII.
Benefits to Brands
- Enhance brand visibility: when users apply branded profile frames, they are sharing content that reflects the brand’s identity. Users become brand ambassadors and organically promote the brand to their followers.
- Drive engagement: customizable, limited-edition elements invite interaction. When users personalize their profiles with branded TikTok frames, they are engaging with a brand in a creative way.
- Encourage virality: unique and visually appealing content generates conversation. A well-designed profile frame can be an important element in making a brand’s marketing campaign go viral.
How We Play a Role
The battle for attention is nothing new; however, TikTok profile frames and other interactive ad formats are essential for stopping the scroll and cutting through the noise. Users benefit by enjoying experiences that reflect their interests and encourage personal self-expression, while businesses benefit from increased visibility and engagement.
With the right combination of experience, skill, and guidance, your brand can use TikTok profile frames to captivate the attention of your audience. To learn more about how we can be a part of your next marketing campaign, contact us at info@baretreemedia.com or visit our website.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! As an official Branded Effect Partner for TikTok, we would love to bring your brand’s ideas to life on TikTok using our design and AR expertise.
The Ad Club Media Innovation Day: Highlights & Takeaways
As one of the leading animation studios and illustration studios in Boston, our team was invited by The Ad Club to attend Media Innovation Day 2024. This event brings digital media’s “brightest minds and industry leaders” together to “explore the latest trends, technologies, and creative strategies” that are shaping how we interact with media (The Ad Club).
Read below to learn more about Bob Ferrari (President) & Jackie Karnoff’s (Creative Manager) experience.
Keynote Speech: A Culture of Innovation
The event started strong with Gogi Gupta’s presentation on company culture, which emphasized the importance of fostering a strong, values-driven environment that prioritizes innovation and agility. As the founder of Gupta Media, he shared insights into how creating a positive and collaborative culture not only strengthens internal teams but also leads to better outcomes for clients. Gupta also highlighted the significance of transparency and trust within an organization. He shared examples of how his company’s focus on communication and employee empowerment has been key to maintaining high levels of productivity and creativity—especially in an industry that is constantly evolving.
Intersections of AI & Media
A major focus was on the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in media and marketing. AI is being used to enhance personalized advertising to streamlining creative production processes. Attendees discussed how AI tools, such as large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, are transforming search functionalities, media planning, and consumer engagement, especially in platforms like Google and TikTok.
Our company uses Machine Learning (ML), a subset of AI technology, when designing Augmented Reality (AR) effects for brands on TikTok & Snapchat. With our custom AR effects, brands can personalize digital marketing experiences for their target audiences. When combined with ML & AI, our AR effects become more personal; more realistic; more interactive.
3 C's - Creativity, Collaboration, and Community
Community-driven partnerships was another key trend we learned more about from Later’s Mikayla Caprio. Collaboration with content creators and influencers has shown to be a wildly successful way to create product awareness and engagement. Overall social media is where brands should be focusing their marketing efforts and spend.
In addition, there were a few case studies of recent marketing campaigns that featured cutting-edge omnichannel strategies that utilized new spaces to advertise in like Zillow, video games, and conventions with great success.
Interested in something unique for your brand?
Bid on our services at the Ad Club Media auction.
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to help your brand reach its fans, build community, and increase digital sales revenue. Check out our IP Licensing & Digital Publishing pages to see our IPs, as well as branded experiences we’ve published for mobile platforms.
By auctioning off our creative services at The Ad Club’s Media Auction, we are able to support the local advertising community and Ad Club’s first-generation scholarship/internship program. Bidding ends October 4th—click below to bid before it’s too late!
From Booths to Brands: Licensing Expo 2024
Bare Tree Media is the leading digital licensee for IPs such as The Smurfs, Betty Boop, and Care Bears. We offer brands a variety of digital solutions including, but not limited to, mobile messaging stickers, mobile phone themes, smartwatch faces, virtual goods within online worlds and the metaverse, and digital collectibles.
In case you missed it, our team flew out to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend Licensing Expo’s annual licensing trade show. This event hosts more than “10,000 professional attendees involved within the consumer product licensing industry” and connects the world’s most “influential entertainment, character, art, and corporate brand owners” with consumer goods licensees (Licensing Expo).
Bob Ferrari (President) & Sonya Priest (Licensing Coordinator) sat down to recap their experience at the 2024 Licensing Expo.
Why the Licensing Expo?
BF: The Licensing Expo is Bare Tree Media’s most important trade show of the year. This event provides us the opportunity to meet with our licensors outside of Zoom boardrooms for face-to-face meetings and social events. In addition to meeting with our partners, we also network and explore new business partnerships. Most of the licensing industry centers around physical merchandise—apparel, accessories, and home goods. We love showing brands how our digital offerings allow them to more effectively reach and engage their audiences.
Who did you chat with?
SP: We have a large IP portfolio primarily composed of media and entertainment brands. Each year, our brand partnerships list grows, giving us more opportunities to meet, network, and connect at the Licensing Expo. Some of our current licensors include:
- Paramount: Spongebob Square Pants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, Garfield, Avatar, Mean Girls, I Love Lucy, and Star Trek
- Cloudco: Care Bears and Madballs
- CPLG: Strawberry Shortcake and Teletubbies
- Paul Frank
- The Smurfs
- Betty Boop
We also work with numerous independent artists managed by Tate Licensing. We had many productive discussions with our licensors and are looking forward to announcing some exciting new projects.
What did you learn, if anything, from the expo?
SP: Beyond the networking opportunities and client meetings, the Licensing Expo holds many presentations, panels, and workshops. We received resources and guidance on navigating style guides and saw case studies for specific brand launches. We also attended the “Video Games: Driving Billions to Play” panel and “Paris Hilton and 11:11 Media: Building a Global Brand Across Culture, Content, and Commerce” keynote presentation. These presentations discussed trends within the licensing industry and how licensees can better engage kids and family franchises. We work with a lot of brands that have cross-generational appeal, so these discussions were really informative.
What about the future of marketing excites you?
BF: I am excited licensors are embracing digital as a key category for the future plans of their IPs. Our team is always focused on innovation, and we will present ideas that drive both digital sales and marketing initiatives.
How We Play a Role?
BF: We are positioned perfectly to help brands navigate the future of commerce through “Phygital” opportunities, the merging of physical and digital opportunities. In 2024, we will be offering AR experiences on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat to engage fans and link them to a site for purchasing our branded digital products. We are also exploring tech to link the purchase of a physical product at retail to a digital replica GIF to own. Exciting times ahead for our company and licensed IP owners.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
SP: The Licensing Expo is always a great week, and I am sad it’s over! Bob, however, will be attending the Brand Licensing Expo in Europe this September.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to help your brand reach its fans, build community, and increase digital sales revenue. Check out our IP Licensing & Digital Publishing pages to see our IPs, as well as branded experiences we’ve published for mobile platforms.
What is Immersive Marketing?
Gone are the days of traditional marketing and advertising. With the proliferation of new technologies, immersive marketing has become a useful tool brands can use to build stronger and deeper emotional connections with their consumers.
Immersive marketing uses cutting-edge technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality (MR) to provide consumers with more enhanced and engaging marketing experiences. Whether it’s through AR-enhanced shopping experiences, interactive branded events, or VR simulations, immersive marketing allows brands to connect with their audiences in more meaningful ways all while driving engagement, brand awareness, customer loyalty, and a positive return-on-investment (ROI).
Immersive Marketing .vs. Experiential Marketing
The phrases “immersive marketing” and “experiential marketing” are often used interchangeably. While both deliver memorable experiences and generate earned media, there are fundamental differences that set the two apart.
What is Experiential Marketing?
Experiential marketing describes any hands-on, interactive experiences brands design for consumers. The goal of these experiences is to draw visitors, and therefore, generate brand awareness. Audience members become active participants in crafting a brand’s story. Oftentimes, these do not occur within a simulated environment. Examples of experiential marketing include:
- Gen Z and millennial-focused marketing agency Wasserman Next Gen partnered with Coffee-mate to build a 20’ coffee cup “cafe” on Ohio State University’s campus to provide students with a caffeine boost for finals season. Wasserman Next Gen coupled this pop-up with an on-demand coffee and creamer delivery service.
- To reinforce the brand’s “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” tagline, Kit Kat installed benches that resembled the famous candy bar in public spaces. When people sat down, the bench would dispense a free Kit Kat bar and people could take a break and have a Kit Kat.
What is Immersive Marketing?
Unlike experiential marketing, immersive marketing transports consumers into an entirely fabricated world infused with the brand’s values, beliefs, and messaging. These multi-sensory experiences rely on technologies to bridge the gap between the real and virtual realities. In addition to increasing brand awareness, building emotional connections, and boosting engagement, immersive experiences can differentiate brands when tailored to a particular target audience and industry. Examples of immersive marketing campaigns include:
- Ally Bank teamed up with Monopoly and used AR to build an interactive multi-city scavenger hunt. Life-sized Monopoly-style game squares were placed across U.S. cities, and when activated via QR code, entered users into a virtual game. This campaign leveraged immersive technologies to gamify financial literacy.
- IKEA’s AR app, IKEA Place (now known as IKEA Kreative), offers customers a chance to design and visualize their own living spaces. Using their personal digital devices, IKEA customers can place virtual furniture and decorations in their homes in real-time. This immersive experience helps customers “try before they buy” and make more informed purchase decisions.
Future of Immersive Marketing
Immersive marketing is not a fad: according to Polaris, the immersive technologies market is expected to reach multimillion USD by 2030 and undergo a mean annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.7%. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), immersive marketing is expected to become more personalized. Finally, immersive marketing will integrate with social media to provide users of platforms such as TikTok and Instagram with opportunities to shop without having to leave the apps.
How We Play a Role
Our experienced team of AR developers work with brands to create immersive marketing solutions that leverage the power of AR. Interactive lenses allow customers to engage with their favorite brands within mobile apps such as Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. As the official Branded Effect Partner for TikTok, we’ve worked closely with PLANTERS, Macy’s, KIA, and Cannes Lions to produce personalized experiences for their larger marketing campaigns.
- We teamed up with Macy’s in 2022 and developed the perfect gift finder for holiday shoppers. By answering a series of prompts about their giftee with just the nod of the head, Macy’s shoppers could find the best holiday gift and later share their results with friends. “Macy’s Gift Finder” amassed over 54.8M views on TikTok.
- To announce the launch of three new cashew flavors, PLANTERS asked us to create a showstopping AR effect for TikTok. With over 55.6M views, “CashewOKE” had audiences breaking out their karaoke skills and singing along in real time to PLANTERS’ cashew-fied version of “Hungry Eyes.” The 2D cashew bounced across the lyrics to help users keep time.
Interested in something unique for your brand? Reach out to our team!
Bare Tree Media is a full-service creative studio and digital publisher creating super slick, mobile-facing content! We would love to bring your brand’s ideas to life through digital animation and AR. Check out our Augmented Reality page to see branded experiences we created for TikTok, Snapchat, & Instagram.
Bare Tree Media Named Exclusive Design Agency of Twitter
Boston, MA – June 30, 2022 — Twitter named Bare Tree Media the exclusive design studio of branded likes for the North America, Europe, and Middle East regions. For the last year, Bare Tree Media worked with Twitter ArtHouse to design custom branded likes for Twitter and their clients.
As part of a beta program, Twitter offered the creation of branded likes to only a select few advertisers. Branded likes are attached to any tweet that contains a brand-specific hashtag and are live for 24 hours on the platform. As limited edition campaigns, they drive hashtag and tweet engagement. Advertisers love branded likes and the awareness they bring their companies. As of June 30th, branded likes will now be offered to a wider audience of advertisers on Twitter.
Twitter Emoji Campaigns: A Primer
What is a Twitter Emoji Campaign?
Twitter emoji campaigns are a visually smart way to separate your hashtag from other hashtags. As the name may imply, they aren’t permanent additions to a brand’s main hashtag, but rather are centered around a specific campaign that the brand is putting out.
For a price tag of $1M, Twitter will—for 90 days—attach a picture that you provide to a hashtag of your choice (given it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s IP, of course).
On-the-nose advertisers may remember the tremendously successful #shareacoke campaign, one of the earliest campaigns to combine an emoji with a hashtag. The campaign created waves that led to the immediate introduction of other emoji/hashtag combinations.
But how worth it really is it invest in a Twitter emoji campaign? Since the #shareacoke campaign debuted in 2015, the number of hashtag/emoji campaigns has skyrocketed up; what value do these little emojis hold that are making them mass hits?
Create Campaign Hype
Having a visual next to your hashtag will instantly create an association in people’s mind and creates hype around the campaign. It separates your hashtag from other hashtags that may be similar, and even after the campaign ends, people will be left with the imprint reminder of your campaign. Additionally, it allows the user to create an emotional bond to the campaign that a text-only hashtag simply would not be able to achieve. The reason emojis are so popular is that people connect to them emotionally. Is your campaign cool? Funky? Nostalgic? Whimsical? The Twitter emoji’s art style paired with your hashtag will help determine this and will shape how people perceive the campaign overall. Yea, it’s that important.
Promotes Interaction Around the Campaign
A hashtag creates a quick avenue for a community to be built around the hashtag, and in turn, around your campaign. Once again, the visual element greatly helps people quickly recognize the hashtag, so they’ll be able to click on it and begin to interact with others who are also using that hashtag. This creates a feedback loop where those who are interacting with each other build on the conversation and continue to use the hashtag, keeping it active for others to see in their timelines and become interested in!
Improves the "Stopping Power" of your Tweet
Twitter users cumulatively generate millions of tweets a day, so the average user is scrolling quickly down an array of hashtags. Internally, Twitter refers to tweets and hashtags that hold people’s attention and pause them in their action of scrolling ‘stopping power’—essentially, it’s a level of retention that determines how effective a campaign is going to be in a user’s mind.
Twitter found that the stopping power of tweets with emojis increased by 10%, and if those tweets were promoted, that figure jumped up to 6x their previous impressions.
Case Study: Christopher Robin
For the release of their new movie Christopher Robin, Disney asked BTM to help them with their Twitter campaign, and we were more than happy to oblige! Christopher Robin was a movie steeped in nostalgia, so we definitely wanted to play up that angle and create emojis that felt timeless and resonated emotionally with the user. They actually had five hashtags, one for each of the ‘major” characters in the movie as well as one for the movie title:
This was one of our first Twitter emoji campaigns, as well, so we were very excited and curious to see how it would fare. The thought was that users would have an emotional reaction to the characters’ faces and thus use the hashtags because of it.
Once the hashtags were live, we monitored the hashtags to see how they were doing. Sure enough, almost immediately we began seeing tweets that reflected nostalgia beyond what we even expected. Some users were tweeting specifically for seeing the hashtag characters!
How We Play a Role
Our experienced team of designers work with brands to personalize their Twitter campaigns. Check out our “Branded Hashtags” page for examples of our work. Let us help your brand pack a powerful punch!
Pushing your Headlines into the Spotlight
The Challenge
It’s every brand’s dream to stand out amongst the crowd, and every marketer’s goal to help their brand achieve that dream.
In today’s world of exponential technological breakthroughs, marketing strategy has by necessity been evolving to complement—the Internet is the newest frontier for marketers looking to expand their brand. However, changes in marketing aren’t always revolutionary; sometimes, even little changes have a large impact on a brand’s identity and tone, and thus, the relationship with their consumers.
Pop-up and targeted ads, a long stalwart of advertising and marketing, have become taboo so companies are now looking to the next best strategy. People don’t want to be sold things anymore; in the new, transparent age, they’re looking for genuine connection.
The Solution
What does it take to connect to an audience? The answer may be simpler than you think:
Emojis!!! 😁😂❤️🌮🔥👍🤠
Emojis are ubiquitous in today’s world; which means there’s one for any demographic you’re looking for. They come in different skin tones, in a huge amount of objects, places, and even in travel symbols and signs. They add personality to otherwise-bland text and catch the attention of the community your brand is trying to appeal to because they’re connecting to the image on some emotional level.
Which one of these catches your attention the most?
Emojis are also the perfect way to show HOW you are saying something; emojis can be used ironically and sarcastically, which in itself helps frame the brand’s relationship with their consumers: are they cool and edgy? Professional? Fun? There’s an emoji for that! There is no genre barrier: apps like CNNMoney have fully adopted emojis, with over 50% of their push notifications including at least one. In general, companies who’ve been early on the trend and incorporated emojis into their notification headlines have already received tangible, data-driven results. According to a study conducted by the entertainment platform LeanPlum, consumers open push notifications with emojis 264% more often than those without. Email subject lines that include emojis are opened 66% more, and applications that incorporate emojis receive a 26% lower uninstall rate.
Which one of these jumps out at you?
In short, emojis drive engagement. There is no aspect of a company’s goals that can’t be improved by adding a little emotion to help their consumers connect to them on an emotional level; whether the goal is to get hits on a webpage or sell a product, emojis can unify and enlarge your audience and their retention of your content.
The Takeaway
Emojis aren’t going anywhere; Twitter emoji campaigns, which allow brands to publish an image in tandem with their hashtag, have caught fire and are only picking up traction. Platforms like Slack allow users to upload their own, specific emojis so people can message in-jokes to each other. Emoji use and variance is evolving, and the farsighted brand will take measures to ensure that in a world where brands emote, they aren’t seen as ❄️☠️💤.
Six Reasons Stickers & GIFs are Effective for Marketing
Marketing is constantly evolving around the consumer, and during the Age of Technology it’s evolving at a more rapid pace ever; it can be difficult for marketers to know whether or not they’re on the uptake or being left behind. Perhaps the most underrated game-changing tool for marketers are animated stickers and GIFs. Although many still use video, this format is frankly out of date for the modern internet user. According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, a whopping 71% of Americans would rather send a digital sticker over a block of text. With such a large user base, it’s no surprise more and more companies have been seizing the opportunity to make branded stickers and GIFs to seamlessly integrate their brand into their consumer’s daily life. We partner with these companies to make their brand come alive within mobile conversations. However, not all companies are aware of the wide gamut of opportunities afforded to them across platforms or the sheer flexibility stickers and GIFs inherently have.
1. Custom Twitter Emojis that create trending hashtags:
Companies can pay Twitter to attach a custom emoji to a Twitter hashtag for a period of time. Then, whenever someone uses their hashtag the emoji automatically comes with it! The brand’s hashtag instantly stands out with its unique emoji and helps create a community around the product.
Recently, we collaborated with Disney on a campaign for Christopher Robin and other upcoming titles, including creating a range of twitter emojis to promote the film and make the hashtags appealing, relevant, and most importantly create the cute Pooh-bear association to the Christopher Robin movie in people’s minds. We managed the storyboarding, sketching, and illustration for these emojis.
2. Clickable Branded Stickers:
A branded sticker campaign’s main objective is to organically increase brand awareness and engagement. To that end, stickers are a revolutionary tool because it enables marketers to have their brand present in their customers everyday conversations across mobile. In other words, their brand becomes a permanent part of their customer’s life.
A good example of this is Lovate Health’s MuscleTech stickers, promoting their MuscleTech brand of products. These stickers are centered around and cater directly to the consumer base that uses MuscleTech products; as a result, they end up using them a lot because the sentiments and in-jokes are relevant to them. This entrenches MuscleTech further into the community in a feedback loop that keeps both the company and the consumer happy, and helps new initiates to the community naturally find their product in a sea of competitors.
Lovate Health has taken it even further by making their stickers clickable. These stickers, when sent, allow the receiver or sender to click the sticker and be redirected to a website, the app, or the app store. This is brilliant because users are able to interact with the images being received and has quick access to the company’s brand. They also allow people to send links to products they enjoy in a fun way!
3. Sticker Markets on Messengers:
Stickers and messengers go hand-in-hand, creating a demand for sticker marketplaces, which offer a wide variety of branded emojis and keyboard and almost functions as an advertising playground.
In 2016, around 50% of all mobile users used at least one form of mobile messenger, according to Stastia. The fact that since then, messenger apps continue to add free features like video calls, encryption and social media means that usage has only been increasing. Sticker marketplaces have also grown in kind, and many of mobile messengers have created their own sticker markets that draw users to their specific platform.
Apple and Facebook are leaders in this industry with their respective iMessage and Messenger platforms; in total, over 1 billion stickers sent on them. We’ve has observed the intense popularity of stickers it created for the mobile game Plants Vs. Zombies, which had 1 million downloads 4 days, and 2.5 million downloads in a week with over 100 million impressions.
4. Everyone is a Brand Ambassador:
This was touched upon briefly in point number two, but one of a branded sticker’s major selling points is the seamless integration into a consumer’s life: in other words, converting that customer into a brand ambassador.
This is one of the most effective ways of creating brand ambassadors because people are sending these stickers to their friends organically; they love the content and they are spreading the brand to all of their friends in a win-win scenario. Furthermore, people who are friends tend to be in similar target markets, which means having stickers so your customers can share your brand with their friends is the ideal way to spread your brand.
5. They Can Reach New Audiences
Stickers are an important bridge that connects companies to a younger audience in a charmingly appealing way. In an age where this younger audience has been collectively groomed to ignore the millions of ads they see every day, stickers appeal as authentic and fun, leading more of this audience to be attracted to and spread your brand (in the form of stickers). Sometimes you even get people who were previously unaware of your brand but will buy sticker packs because of artistic appeal or funny witticisms, which could convert them into customers. If not, they’ll at the very least be creating more brand awareness for your brand.
6. They Have Potential for Going Viral
Some of these sticker apps/packs go viral and have millions of downloads. Although not a guarantee, the possibility is always there and because stickers are created to be spread on the internet, where the phenomenon of “going viral” first appeared and retains the farthest reach, it is a direct line to the culture that facilities going viral.
Overall, the existence of stickers as a marketing tool has opened a completely new avenue for brands and consumers to communicate through. Instead of having their message get “lost in textlation”, customers can augment their thoughts with your brand, without losing what they want to say.
Most importantly, they can do it in a way that feels fun and cool and makes them feel good, which will push them to keep doing it. People can show who they are by sending stickers of TV shows, music, or quotes they like from pop culture that curate their personality by showcasing the communities they’re a part of and appealing to others like them. In layman’s terms, stickers/GIFs are great for showing some personality!
