For those of you who aren’t familiar with haul videos, they are show and tell videos typically filmed by teenage girls and shared on YouTube, sharing the spoils of their shopping trips with their friends. Savvy retailers like Forever 21, JC Penney and American Eagle have identified this as a potentially lucrative form of online marketing and are jumping on the haul bandwagon. They are hiring teens to engage in “hauling” at their stores, review their products online and use this as a means to create buzz and drive sales. And if their burgeoning video views and appearances on shows like Good Morning America are any indicators, some teens, like @allthatglitters21 and @juicystar07 are taking the world by storm. There are definite risks associated with this practice, but so far, that hasn’t precluded these retailers from testing the haul waters. “Hot but risky” is what Carol Tice’s recent post for bNet calls it, and she’s got some valid points, scoot over there and read it if you’re so inclined.
As with anything, there plenty of people who think that this practice is one step removed from complete and total ruination of society, but we’ll save that for another blog post. That said, Jessica D’s post for SodaHead in February of this year was pretty prescient. Too bad she’s not writing for them any more – I like how that girl thinks. But if read it and if want more of her, you can stalk her on Twitter.
By the way, my bounty was scored at the Brookside Community Farmers’ Market. If you live in the area and are not making this a part of your every Saturday morning, you are missing out!
P.S. Effective immediately, I am officially striking the word “awesome” from my lexicon.
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
