When social is just done for the sake of it

Hi, it's Jonathan here.

I remember when Direct Mail was the dirty little secret of the agency world.

Those who had to ‘do direct’ often got to sit on another floor and not touch the bar snacks.

There was an elitism because work that had a measured and actionable response was just plain unsightly to ‘good’ ad brand creatives. A direct response, ‘how gauche!’

The thing is, direct creatives often were the bridge between print shops and ad agencies. It was the closest thing to a trade that existed in the industry. You had to know what card stock was, what a perf tear did, and what spot color adhered to acetate the best. If a brand creative needed a technical answer about print capabilities, they‘d quietly consult a direct creative.

Then, around 2005-2010, we saw at Cannes and D&AD an explosion in the direct category. Campaigns started to bleed lines between events, PR, ambient, and all had actionable responses. All of them were considered… direct.

If you look at the old award annuals in this time period it’s amazing to see the category warp, and along with it what a direct creative could now do. A boyfriend was broken up with from a plane banner ad. A house was posted one item at a time through a mailbox. These were things aimed at a direct response that were anything but folded direct mail pieces.

I never really thought much about it at the time, but in retrospect, these campaigns were the very starts of social advertising as we now know it. Before FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter (X) were in full swing and before the rise of the smartphone, these direct campaigns were created to try and enter culture, news, and be forwarded by email. In other words, ads that understood the need to enter the earned media space.

Fast forward a decade or two and the rise and domination of social media has now presented us with a dystopian reality: viewers are now inescapably intertwined with brands. Whether it’s an Instagram story or a long form sponsored post by an influencer, we’re surrounded by them.

Yet in a time where brands are expected/bullied/presumed to create social content, now is a salient time to ask yourself this: “Do I as a brand manager need to do any of this?”

Example: I’ve seen time and again social ads for Tide Detergent: “let’s check out this mom from Des Moines wash her weekly load”. And each time I’ve been forced to watch I’ve voiced to myself, “how many extra bottles of Tide are you selling from this?”

The same question can be levelled at a ton of brands who are being brainwashed to be ‘social first’.

I used to contract to one agency who had a soup brand and would create social content pieces for them, charging out $12,000 a post / piece of content (not media spend purely creative concept budget). Looking at the work afterwards, you’d be lucky if each post got more than 8 likes each.

The dating app, Hinge, has made a point not to ‘do social’. On their instagram are just 9 posts, creating a screen mosaic that tells the user they’re there to be deleted. It’s not just a clever wink back to their brand promise, it’s also a statement to say ‘social just ain’t worth it for us’.

I think it’s time that more brands asked, does their brand benefit from social?

And if the answer is no, then guess what: stop it and save all of our eyeballs.

When was the last time anyone chose their toothpaste based on a social TikTok post?

But if your brand really truly does benefit from having a social plan, then at the very least think back to the inflection point when direct became social in the mid 2000s. Every piece that was seen didn’t invade a person’s space. Instead, it intrigued, invited, and engaged.

Looking at the mid 2000s direct work will help to determine if your social posts are clutter and noise, or entertaining and provoking.

And when you get it right, oh man, what a treat that is for everyone. Believe it or not, even in the US, we get the occasional Curry’s post that has been forwarded to us from someone, somewhere.

That’s true reach. That’s social that isn’t just made for the sake of it.

‍Jonathan Horner,
Freelance Creative Director in NYC at jonathanhorner.com