Big brands go small to stand out, says TikTok sensation GirlBossTown
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Robyn Delmonte of GirlBossTown at an Axios event in Cannes. Photo: Nicolas Gavet on behalf of Axios
In an era of hyper-personalized feeds and hyper-engaged micro-communities, consumer brands that go niche will break through, Robyn Delmonte, creator and creative director behind GirlBossTown, told Axios at an event alongside Cannes Lions.
Why it matters: The approach bucks decades of conventional wisdom that scale and mass appeal are the fastest route to growth.
The big picture: 88% of Americans engage in niche communities, according to research from strategic communications firm Confidant and marketing insights platform Vytal.
- 45% of Gen Z, millennials and Gen X say they feel more connected to niche communities than mainstream culture.
- Roughly half say they gravitate toward brands that cater to specific interests — rising to 53% among Gen Z.
- 51% say feeling part of a brand's community is important and 53% are more likely to try a brand recommended within a community.
Catching up: Delmonte built a following by merging pop culture commentary with marketing critiques and partnership predictions.
- She now advises major brands to embrace this niche-first ethos by listening to their active audience and giving them creative leeway to develop their own unfiltered content.
- "I feel like when these micro-creators fall into niche, or, as Gen Z calls it, internet lore, watching brands be able to tap into that and replicate it in a formula that becomes a big campaign and turn something that's so niche into something that's mainstream, is my favorite thing that I see brands do," she said.
What she'ssaying: Delmonte offers the example of Gap recently partnering with a micro-creator who reviews hoodie sweatshirts.
- "They found a micro-creator who her entire content was just trying on hoodies and finding which one 'hoodied' the best," Delmonte says. "And Gap worked with her to design their newest hoodie and utilized her niche audience.
- "This is what legacy brands should be doing. But to find those niches and to find those micro-creators to work with as brands, you need to be a consumer of their internet to do so."
Plus, engaging with niche trends or "internet lore" on social media offers a low-cost, high-reward experience.
- "There's a time to spend big and go timeless," she says. "But there's also power in jumping on a trend with no budget at all — because a lot of those trends are coming from creators on their couches, with green screens."
Yes, but: To do this effectively, the brand marketers and communicators must be social media savvy themselves, she says.
- "I meet with brands that spend massive budgets on campaigns, but no one in the room even uses social media," Delmonte says. "How can you understand your audience if you're not part of it?"
What to watch: Audiences also want an inside look at how their favorite brands operate, she says.
- "It makes consumers more excited about the process than even the drop itself," Delmonte says. "That's the best kind of marketing — using creators as creatives."
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