Drop Culture and Social Media Marketing
Even if you haven’t heard of the term ‘drop culture’, you’ve likely heard of brands that heavily rely on it, such as Supreme. Drop culture is the limited release of merchandise with little to no advance notice. While the term is mainly attributed to streetwear fashion brands, the practice has been embraced by higher-end fashion retailers and, I would argue, implemented by other industries such as technology, cosmetics, and music. Look no further for examples than the rush to pre-order the latest iPhone from Apple or the way Kylie Jenner’s lip kits sell out within minutes of being launched or the buzz generated every time Taylor Swift teases a new song or album release. While these industries do not utilize drop culture in exactly the same way as the fashion industry, they do successfully employ some of the same aspects.
Drop culture is successful because it utilizes several psychological aspects to draw in consumers, including hype, scarcity, exclusivity, and participation.
Hype gets consumers excited for the products, even if they have little idea what will be in store. This is largely driven by the desire for novelty but a loyalty to brands with expected quality.
Scarcity and the potential to miss out on obtaining one of the limited items is what creates that ‘gotta have it’ feeling. Even in instances that are not necessarily limited to item quantities, such as new music drops, the fast pace of the digital world means that missing out on the latest trend could leave one feeling out of the loop.
Exclusivity can refer to a couple of different things, such as either being one of the lucky customers to obtain a coveted limited piece or being part of a small members group that gets special or advance access to the drop.
Finally, participation is what really speaks to the younger generation of consumers that these drops are aimed towards. The effort to successfully shop the drop and then being able to share their haul generates a feeling of community among the customers.
In recent years, digital media has helped brands to boost their marketing reach and amplify these aspects through different techniques. In 2016, the brand Anti Social Social Club teamed up with the product release app Frenzy for a scavenger hunt-like event in Los Angeles that would only unlock access to the limited edition product to a person if they were in a certain physical location at a certain time. In 2018, Adidas launched their Falcon W line on Snapchat. Lucky customers who have successfully obtained drop items show off their hauls on Instagram and YouTube, which not only potentially introduces the brands to new audiences but also boosts that person’s social capital. Marketers are learning to utilize the timing tactics, language, and visual style of social media to create excitement, test new products, and drive more traffic towards their brand.
Brands also increasingly incorporate collaborations with other brands or designers. For example, in 2018, Supreme collaborated with high-quality luggage brand RIMOWA. Their suitcase collection, which had a starting price of $1,600, sold out in 16 seconds. The collaboration was announced by both brands with a simple picture post of the product on social media three days ahead of the release date.
In addition to their own social media profiles, some brands will also employ digital influencers to generate more buzz and attention around their products. This usually works because digital influencers often have the same effect as personally known friend recommending a product to their followers, even if their followers know that they are paid to advertise said product. Brands thus capitalize on the sense of trust between influencers and their followers to market their products.
And now I seem to have lost my own plot here. Well, shoot. In my head I had this high concept of seguing into some lesson on how drop culture takes advantage of how social media exacerbates hyperconsumerism, which would lead to my next blog post being about how digital media is tracking our consumption habits in order to build consumer profiles that are sold to marketing agencies, which would be my eventual presentation subject. But this blog post is already overdue and my Internet and power is sporadic at best right now due to the great Texas Winter-pocalypse of 2021, so I will here pose some questions for you and aim to do better on my next round.
- Do you follow any part of drop culture? If so, why? Think fashion brands, technology and gaming, cosmetics, music — anything that gets you excited at just the hint of a release and makes you feel like you gotta have it.
- Do you follow any brands on social media? If so, why? Consider that celebrities and artists can also be considered brands as they often use their social media profiles to market themselves.
