Student Beans x Weekday x Ratuken Win Two Awards For Best Social Commerce Campaign

Last month, we were delighted to learn the news that Student Beans won two awards from Performance Marketing World and Global Performance Marketing Awards in the category of Best Social Commerce Campaign for our marketing campaign with Rakuten Advertising and Weekday.

Considerable research and planning shaped this campaign strategy, so having our work recognised was truly the cherry on the cake of a fantastic year for the Student Beans Creators team. 

In this blog, we’ll take a look at why the campaign was so successful, discuss why your brand should utilise Student Beans creator marketing and share why it will be a valuable tool to reach students during the current cost-of-living crisis.

About the campaign

Did you know a massive 93% of people would act upon a recommendation from someone they know or respect? Utilising this insight, the Student Beans’ Creators team underwent a research and insights phase to understand what would help maximise Weekday’s online engagement within the student community - running focus groups with our users to understand the content and trends on TikTok that would help drive brand love for Weekday (and sales!).

This insight was incorporated into the content. We gifted twelve student tastemakers £250 to spend on whatever Weekday clothing item they loved the most, in return for them showcasing their style online in a relaxed, authentic way. This campaign was built upon a story-telling approach that would drive a diverse variety of content and inspiration to purchase via Weekday’s 20% student discount. Rakuten Advertising recommended additional investment in a multi-channel campaign that spanned on-site ads, email sponsorship and push notifications to optimise exposure across multiple touch-points.

Why was this campaign so successful?

Authenticity is key to reaching the new generation of consumers – expensive, carefully-curated adverts appear forced and unnatural to Gen Z and are unlikely to capture their attention. Students today are less drawn to flashy influencers and instead are more likely to be influenced by peer endorsement. Knowing how to work this into your marketing strategy is an essential for any brand looking to market to Gen Z – but the challenge lies in how to achieve this in-house.
That’s where Student Beans Creators come into play. Through our product, we work with brands and students to deliver the content Gen Z wants to see on a peer-to-peer basis. We recognise that the best people to talk about student discounts are other students – and the stats back this up, with our student creators having an 104% better click-through rate than other influencers. The content is yours to keep and utilise across social and paid media.

The January loan drop

Forget Black Friday and Freshers Week, the January Loan drop is arguably one of the hottest anticipated dates for the student calendar, and for brands, is not one to ignore. Loan drops happen three times a year: January, April and September. All students are eligible, but the cash amount will vary person to person. How students spend this money is totally up to them – however it's worth bearing in mind that they’ll have to budget it across bills, food, rent and educational supplies. For brands, the January loan drop is a key time to build loyalty through offering exclusive student discounts. This is especially pertinent given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis; many are looking to save their pennies and cut indulgent spending, so offering discounts and deals across your platform will help students make their money go further and keep them returning to your brand.

Utilise Student Beans Creators to reach student audiencies

The spending climate of this year is a whole different ball-game to before. Offering discounts to your consumers will be a key way to reach them and incentivize their purchases; but activating this engagement goes far beyond normal advertising. Gen Z consumers and students are spending most of their time online and gaining inspiration from sites such as TikTok,which has emerged with dominance in the world of search this year – just one reason why we primarily use TikTok for our Creator campaigns. With Student Beans Creators, brands are able to promote brand messaging in a native way that doesn’t feel overly forced or sales-y. Equally, through making students your advocates, brands are able to build connections underpinned by trust rather than the traditional marketing tactics that young consumers are often faced with.

Student Beans' Head of Influencer Marketing, Ruby Soave writes:

This campaign proves the importance of listening to and co-creating with your community, alongside utilising creator content across an integrated media plan. TikTok has performed across 2022 - beginning with this January Loan Drop campaign - as one of the strongest social media spaces to inspire purchase decisions for Gen Z. We expect this to continue into 2023 and look forward to supporting clients who are testing Gen Z-relevant creator content within TikTok (and other emerging platforms).

If you’re a brand looking to appeal to the student market, get in touch with our team today to learn more about how Student Beans Creators can help.

image source: performancemarketingworld.com