Brands are continuously innovating products to catch consumers’ attention. They’ve made them smaller, smarter, easier to hold, and longer lasting. But the latest round of product innovations has less to do with functionality. Instead, they’re all about buzz-worthiness, social clout, and shareability. With almost 1 million posts on Instagram, hashtags like #foodporn have set the expectation that products and services shouldn’t just be functional, they also need to be visually interesting and attention grabbing.
Take Sonic’s square shakes, for example. Instead of launching the same, old expected milkshake, Sonic catered its new product toInstagram by creating beautifully artful shakes in square glasses. The brand advertised them on Instagram and encouraged consumers to share their photos of the product in exchange for free shakes.
Similarly, the latest craze at Starbucks, the pink drink, is flying off shelves and onto people’s social feeds. The bright and fun colors that make up these off-menu beverages inspire consumers to snap pictures with the hopes of garnering as many likes as possible. Between May 10 and June 26, these drinks went viral with almost 18,000 posts on Instagram and a total of 1.3 million likes (Adweek).
Insta-worthy products, especially food and beverage products, are powerful because they tap into an already occurring consumer behavior. People are constantly snapping pictures of their food and drinks. So, making products that help them do this more easily is an extension of pop culture that also provides consumers with valuable social currency.
So, when you’re thinking of new ways to draw attention to your product, consider the visual interestingness of it. How can you make the product, the packaging, or the in-store display Insta-worthy?
Sonic Image Source: Adweek.com
Starbucks Image Source: Adweek.com
