Is Online Trust at a Breaking Point? Introducing VideoSmart's Insights Newsletter

We're bringing out our trends barometer to assess 'what's hot and what's not' in the world of technology and marketing in this month's deep dive into our Insights Newsletter. 📰  

What's in? 🔥 

Reactive Marketing. 🏃

Reactive marketing is the latest trend, showing how big brands break through red tape to seize opportunities in real-time pop culture. The perks? (Mostly) great PR, viral potential, and bonus brand growth. But which brands are truly nailing it?

🌴 GAP launches their SS24 linen collection with a music-video-style campaign featuring rising star Tyla dancing the choreography that took over TikTok to Jungle’s ‘Back on 74’.

The video is a mesmerising nod to the brand’s iconic 90s ads. But are GAP too late in the game? With over 7 months having passed since the tune took over TikTok, we can only imagine the potential virality missed out on by taking the long road to this launch.

🛀🏼 In a rather tongue-in-cheek move, Lush jumps on the shock factor stirred up by Jacob Elordi’s infamous bath scene by releasing their ‘Saltburn’ bath bomb. As the film was ranked as Prime Video’s No. 1 film over Christmas, we’d say it’s an ingenious move for the brand.

🍅 Heinz takes on a different type of ‘reactivity’ in the marketing space. We’ve steadily seen User Generated Content (UGC) take precedence over (paid) influencer content. Heinz Arabia’s latest ‘Ketchup Insurance’ campaign is a great strategic move, compelling consumers to post their ‘ketchup calamity’ claim, aka ketchup stains, on social media tagging @HeinzArabia to make a claim. With 48% of those surveyed reporting red sauce-related accidents to the brand, we’re expecting to see the splotches all over our feeds.

What’s out? ❌

The Unknown. 👽

Recent headlines leave us wondering, is online trust at a point of no return? 

⏰ Is the clock on countdown for TikTok? 🎶 The social platform faces being banned for good in the US unless it's sold to a buyer that satisfies the US government within 6 months. It’s not the first country to take extreme measures against the app, whilst India holds a permanent ban, a large number of countries (including the UK) have been working to ban the platform from government official devices.

With questions like ‘Does TikTok use Wifi’ posed in TikTok’s congressional hearing in 2023, there is doubt around these institutions’ ability to effectively legislate tech. The potential ban is a reflection of the US government’s concerns around the platform’s relationship with the Chinese government and their handling of user data.

Concerns regarding data security, inappropriate content, and synthetic media in the tech industry are coming to a head. Implementing global transparency and data protection would be an effective but highly complex solution to these concerns for technology companies and governing officials.

👑 Did Kate Middleton’s Mother's Day photo scandal reveal a crisis of confidence in digital media?

The image in question does not appear to have been generated using AI. Rather, it seems to be a poorly edited image that was created to be passed as authentic. Such deception coming from a highly reputable institution only adds to the growing distrust in online media. The recent advancements in AI have also contributed to this skepticism.

“Synthetic media seems poised to act as an amplifier--a vehicle to exacerbate the misgivings, biases, and gut feelings of anyone with an internet connection.”  The Atlantic columnist Charlie Warzel writes.

It’s a commonly accepted principle that ‘we fear what we don’t understand’. Whilst the recent developments in AI provide a wealth of opportunity for us to progress as a society, do we need to take a step back to help the wider public be able to differentiate between the authentic and the synthetic?

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