Talk Africa: SA selfie culture

by Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) You’ve seen them in your Facebook newsfeed, scrolled past them many a time on Twitter and maybe even hashtagged a couple of them yourself on Instagram. The selfie is a big player for South African consumers.

Springleap has identified up this trend in our digital platform and, after giving it some introspection, it’s all too clear — a great portion of South Africa’s consumer base is loving the selfie trend, and brands are using this more and more as part their marketing strategies. What a great way to engage consumers!

Too many selfies?

The question, however, is: “Are we taking too many selfies”? Even more so: “Will consumers get sick of brands asking them to take a selfie for marketing purposes?”

Social media has opened up a world of digital personalisation, and SA has caught the “me me me!” fever. Primarily, images shared online are taken in a specific direction — and the subject matter is the photographer. Now, the camera lense has officially been inverted, and things are being taken at “face” value.

Brands have picked up on this trend and are now asking consumers to take a selfie in a specific context or have some form of brand placement in the picture taken by the consumer. As with any new social media tech these days, the first wave of participating brands seem to make traction with consumers as they are positioned as early adopters. Over time, though, as brands rush in, it creates more clutter and it becomes difficult to cut through this effectively. Brands often face pushback as they are being seen as too intrusive. We have noticed this on Facebook and Twitter, and now Instagram and Pinterest (as well as Periscope).

International selfie stats

But what exactly is too much, and how may we classify the overuse of a mobile trend — doesn’t viral always mean good?

First, we need to look at the bigger picture, and some of the latest global stats are profound. According to Samsung (2014), nearly a third of all mobile photos taken by the global 18–24 age bracket are selfies. In fact, over a million are taken each day, with 34% of males admitting to digitally enhancing every picture taken — the female selfie consumer only “touches up” roughly 13% of selfies. The city of Manila in the Philippines is known as “the selfie capital of the world”, with an average of 258 selfie takers per 100 000 people over the course of a week (that’s 309 600 when compared to the total population of 12m!). At second place is New York City’s borough of Manhattan, which boasts 202 selfie takers per 100 000 people.

Not the typical stats that one would think of but, if that’s not enough, the selfie trend has transitioned into the movie industry. Two movies have been written and produced with the title “Selfie”, one being a horror and the other a comedy. [Don’t forget the #SELFIE pop song by The Chainsmokers! — ed-at-large.]

This global snapshot marks a world where selfies are possibly more common than the hashtags that may accompany them.

The SA selfie consumer

The world is hyped up about showing face, and SA mobile consumers follow this trend all too clearly — perhaps too much.

SA is a beautiful country; there’s no doubt about it. With amazing backdrops of mountains, rivers, wildlife, landscapes and seascapes at our disposal, you would think SA selfies would be more relevant to tourists. However, social media, especially Instagram, is a haven for local faces.

Search #CapeTown on the image-sharing platform, and every second image that comes up would be classified as a selfie. Type in #Durban, #Johannesburg or even #Pretoria, and we get the same ‘picture’.

The issue isn’t the promotion of our country’s indigenous beauty; it’s the focus of these snapshots that distracts the balance. Are SA consumers bringing to life the beauty of their “local ’n lekker” environment, or is this easy-to-use and popular social technology a platform of nothing but self-promotion?

The truth is that location isn’t always a key player. Nightclubs, bars, fancy restaurants, family get-togethers, scenic views…these are generally acceptable situations in which to take a few selfies (and share them too, why not?). Walking down the street, chilling with friends, drinking a cup of coffee, pets, working, even driving — this is the extent of how arbitrary and broad the essence of a SA selfie is becoming.

Putting a name to a face

The local marketing industry has caught on to this selfie trend, with many campaigns, promotions and digital activations using its popularity for relatable brand communication.

The Cape Times used it, when in 2013 Lowe SA ran a campaign for the newspaper. Iconic, world-famous pictures were reimagined by editing the subject to look as if s/he were taking the image as a selfie. A few familiar faces included Winston Churchill, Jackie Kennedy, Desmond Tutu and the couple forming the well-known “Wartime Kiss” photograph, taken in Times Square just after the end of World War II.

Since then, brands — such as Urban Degree — have integrated the notion of consumer selfies into campaigns. In 2013, the clothing line encouraged customers and fans to post selfies of themselves wearing its products, coining the #UrbanSelfie hashtag locally. A great way to stimulate brand awareness, Instagram was soon flooded with eager and engaged consumers. This was proof that SA consumers are willing to engage with the trend to show their love for brands.

In late 2014, Nedbank “flipped the screen” on its consumer by crafting the #selfie4success campaign. The brand asked its market to send through selfies that reflect success, asking the question, “If you could take a picture of success, what would it look like?” Unexpectedly, consumers in return played on the more comical side of success, revealing that selfies may also be used to stimulate engagement in unconventional ways.

This year, popular Namibia Breweries Limited brand, Windhoek, created the “Share your Umswenko Moments” campaign. Umswenko is a highly relevant trend on the local scene — and it’s uniquely South Africa. The movement is about ’90s culture, whereby fans style their appearances and make references to the decade, and it is particularly popular among the ‘urban black youth’ target market.

Windhoek encouraged consumers to take selfies of themselves enjoying the beer while dressed in their favourite umswenko gear. The results shed some light concerning how selfies may be used with popular culture to drive consumer engagement. Unfortunately, this campaign did not seem to strike a chord with consumers, despite its apparent relevance. Could this be a sign that consumers do not always want to engage with brands in this context? Or is there something else at play?

Here to stay

For now, it seems as if selfies are here to stay, even though some say they might be overused in a marketing context and end up frustrating consumers. The intentional value of taking selfies — representing yourself in interesting surroundings to stimulate conversation — is being pushed towards the hype of “I was here! And here! And here!”

The branding landscape is, at least, using the influx of selfies intelligently — to promote awareness and create something relevant for their target markets to engage with. What will the next selfie trend be?

References

• SocialTimes: The Year Of The Selfie – Statistics, Facts & Figures [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Elite Daily: Do You Live In The ‘Selfiest’ City? The 20 Cities That Take The Most Selfies In The World
• Time: The Selfiest Cities in the World: TIME’s Definitive Ranking
• Adweek: Famous Photos Reimagined as Selfies in Newspaper’s Wonderful Print Ads
• Financial Mail: RedZone

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This information was provided by Springleap’s Trend Spotting platform.
Every month, Springleap provides an oversight of local trends in the South African market,
sourced from among its 22 000 African creatives, with new country specific reports planned
for a number of key African and Middle Eastern markets.

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Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) is a burger fanatic, wine connoisseur and eSports enthusiast (yes, a fancy term for playing computer games). He is also the research lead for Springleap, heading up a new global creative research division while obscurely attempting a PhD. Springleap provides instant creative expert feedback to rock marketing ROI. Remon contributes the new weekly “Talk Africa” column, covering Pan-African trends, on MarkLives.com.

 

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