Check Out The 3 Campaigns That Hit The Spot This Youth Month

In Trends

Youth Month jumped in front of brands and once again so many of them were caught coming short, but instead of focusing on the ones who failed, let’s recognize the ones that are winning with the youth. Standard Bank and Vodacom really got things right this Youth Month with campaigns that mattered to the youth, instead of being overly brand centric. Student Village also added its own flavor to the mix with an interesting take on youth entrepreneurship, with stories from successful young business owners who are blazing the trail for others who dream of a greater future.

What’s Your Next?

Standard Bank’s #WhatsYourNext campaign got social media buzzing the entire Youth Day for the right reasons. What this campaign aimed to do was provide some much-needed financial support to youth in desperate need of money; whether to pay off their fees or to strengthen their businesses. The mechanic was as simple as getting social media users to tweet Standard Bank a good reason why they should be given R10 000 and Standard Bank would then respond with the number of RT’s they should get and the deadline to reach it by, to stand a chance to win R10 000.

The campaign received some backlash from social media users for making the youth beg for help as the brand benefits from being in the Youth Day spotlight on social media. Regardless, students still responded with support for participants in the interest of the cause. The campaign is one of our top favourites because at the end, that R10 000 really ought to make a difference in any young person’s life and what’s more? Standard Bank trended for most of the day as social media users retweeted to help their favourites bag the ten-grand.

Taking it to the NXT LVL!

Vodacom knows a thing or two about being atop the news agenda and remaining relevant to the youth when it matters the most. With their NXT LVL campaign boasting youth relevant ambassadors, a tv show, grooming opportunities for youth by top entertainers, among other elements – we thought Vodacom was done for the month.

Needless to say, we were proven wrong on youth day when the cellphone giant dropped some inspirational videos linking them to the already existing campaign. They used 5 trailblazing youth poets to deliver a series of powerful slam poetry reminding today’s youth about the youth of 1976, while encouraging them to interact with this content through social media.

Vodacom rocked our socks off for one MAJOR reason: Nothing looked forced! This is simply because they tied youth day into their already existing social media activity. The power of this campaign was captured in the fact that Vodacom didn’t have to put out any last-minute messages on this holiday like other brands usually scramble to do. Vodacom thought ahead and took their time to really engage with the youth with their series of NXT LVL posts, way ahead of time, securing their place in the hearts of the students come Youth Day.

Living The Dream

This Youth Month Student Village created a short documentary on young people in South Africa who are taking the world of entrepreneurship by storm. This intimately shot 10-minute doccie features Nkululeko Busani of Busani MEN who specialized in making affordable suits for students and young professionals, Migration Tattoos’ Blaine Fortuin, one of the Founders of the exotic The Slush Bar, Simosethu Mdladla and Founder of The Sneaker Shack, Lolo Ndlovu.

It’s no secret that South Africa has high rates of unemployment, particularly among the Youth; the stories uncovered in this doccie give hope to every young person in the country to Get Up and chase their dreams, no matter what their circumstances.

Take it or Leave it!

This Youth Month the brands that remained at the top of the minds of the youth are those brands that really took the time to investigate what the youth want, what they are going through and what the talk of the town is within their market.