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\u2018Dark social\u2019 could change the face of influencer marketing, if Adidas\u2019 forthcoming campaign proves successful.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Festival of Marketing this week, Adidas spoke of its plans to create dark social squads of hyper-connected football fanatics, who will use direct messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Line to communicate their brand message, among their trusted online communities.<\/p>\n
The Tango Squads, named after one of Adidas\u2019 first footballs apparently, will be made up of groups of 16-19-year-old football content creators, living in 15 cities around the world. The squads will be comprised on between 100 and 250 people, and Adidas is hoping to reach around 500 members per squad by the end of next year.<\/p>\n
With one-to-one messaging\u00a0increasingly dominating the social space, Adidas is trying to get more personal in its communications with football fans, and rightly so. While influencer marketing is booming, dark social is the missing piece of that puzzle, and it forms quite a significant chunk. According to RadiumOne, inbound web traffic coming from dark social, such as via links from email, forums or instant message,\u00a0accounted for 74 % of all online sharing activity in the UK in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cYounger audiences are increasingly using these more \u2018private\u2019 channels because of the amount of advertising on regular social media channels \u2013 and to avoid their parents\u2019 prying eyes\u201d (Catalyst Magazine 2016).<\/p>\n
As part of its dark social activity, Adidas will share exclusive content and product news with its squads, before publishing on its Twitter and Facebook channels. They will also receive invites to events and access to Adidas\u2019 brand ambassadors, from athletes through to artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about sheer reach; what the hyper-connected kids bring is mass awareness,\u201d explained Adidas\u2019 senior director of global brand communications, Florian Alt, on stage at the Festival of Marketing. \u201cThese are the guys who will push out your stories and content. They give it longevity and authenticity, because they are talking in a private messaging environment. If it comes as a referral from your mate, you\u2019re much more likely to pick it up than if it comes from a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s exciting that Adidas is exploring the potential of dark social, and it\u2019s one of the first brands brave enough to do so. While it\u2019s an experiment and results are a while off, it\u2019s easily a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n \n Get exclusive insights into digital \n \n \n Stay Forward <\/h2>\n
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