Google has been busy lately and adding to its growing list of projects in the lead-up to the holiday season is showcasing a new approach to its latest Black-owned Friday promotion, with the search giant teaming up with the rapper Ludacris to launch a new song, complete with a music video that featured a range of shoppable products, all sourced from Black-owned businesses.
Sounds & Shopping
The music video features more than 100 products, from over 60+ Black-owned businesses, while it also highlights business owners, creators, athletes, and more, boosting their visibility and engagement rates, allowing them to better compete and establish themselves in the space. There’s also an interactive version of the video clip, with viewers able to guide Ludacris on his journey through the various options. While not exactly a VR option, it’s still an interactive little segment that’ll no doubt provide a bit of increased activity.
It’s essentially a form of influencer marketing cranked up to the highest level, with Ludacris helping to raise the profile of the promotion, shining the spotlight instead on these partner brands. Which is really something that most platforms are also now trying to facilitate. However, it’ll likely make your marketing budget take a hit due to the generally high sponsorship and endorsement costs, but that can potentially be offset by potential returns, so do keep that in mind.
While not all platforms can get Grammy Award-winning artists onboard, they do make up for it by providing new tools and processes that enable brands to showcase their products within the video clips of popular creators, which, given how things are going now, might just be the next big trend in digital commerce.
That’s part of the live-stream commerce push, providing a means to facilitate connection with popular creators, while also merging that with direct buying options, which has proven to be a winning formula for driving sales in Asian markets. While it hasn’t caught on in Western markets in the same way just yet, what is evident is when big-name stars talk, many consumers listen, and the capacity to actually tune in, in real-time, can be a key driver in prompting consumer action.
The Wrap
This is what Google hopes to also drive with this push, and it’ll certainly get attention. Now, you just need to tap into your networks to link up with your own celebrity-led campaign along similar lines – the latter, of course, is not so simple, especially for much smaller businesses. That aside, it’s a good initiative on Google’s side, especially as it spearheads its Black-Owned Friday push, which should send a clear message to all other social platforms to also give some love to their advocacy arms.
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