AdSpace by The Agency

Pinterest Goes Offline, On’s Cultural Shift & the Future of the WNBA

• The Agency

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 34:56

Fresh off their District 9 National Student Advertising Competition win, Elise and Jackson are back from hiatus with standout campaigns you won’t want to miss. First, Pinterest takes a bold, nostalgic turn with “How Did They Do It?," a campaign encouraging users to go offline. Then, they explore how On is evolving beyond performance wear into a cultural lifestyle brand with “Shape of Dreams.” Finally, the WNBA celebrates its 30th anniversary with an omnichannel campaign honoring the league’s GOATs.

For the social trend of the week, the hosts break down the Alix Earle vs. Alex Cooper internet drama and explore how brands can tap into gossip-driven, tea-style accounts to connect with Gen Z audiences.

In advertising and PR news, Nike is facing backlash over an out-of-touch Boston Marathon billboard. Elise and Jackson discuss how Gen Z responds not just to initial brand missteps, but to how brands respond to controversy. 

To close out the episode, Battle of the Brands heads to the desert to decide which brand won Coachella. 







 https://www.instagram.com/theagencyku?igsh=aWZ0M3FvZWhubnQy

https://www.youtube.com/@AdSpacebyTheAgency

This student-produced podcast is opinions and commentary and does not reflect the views of any organization. Any opinions presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk.  Unless specifically stated otherwise, The Agency does not endorse, approve, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast. 


© The Agency 2025 All Rights Reserved

You may not reproduce, distribute or modify this Podcast without written permission.



SPEAKER_03

We're back.

SPEAKER_05

Welcome to AdSpace. My name's Elise. And I'm Jackson. Each week we'll be breaking down the most buzzworthy campaigns, social trends, and advertising news through the eyes of Gen Z.

SPEAKER_02

With sharp analysis, authentic debates, and real audience insights, we'll unpack how Gen Z responds to the strategies shaping the industry today.

SPEAKER_05

Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02

So back from IATIS.

SPEAKER_05

And as you saw, obviously, if you watched our last episode, you know we were doing the National Student Advertising Competition. Um, huge advertising competition that we're done for the past four years, Jackson started for the past three years. Um, we were working on submitting our materials, putting together our big districts presentation.

SPEAKER_02

Presenting it.

SPEAKER_05

Presenting it, yes.

SPEAKER_04

And for the first time since 1989, we brought the trophy home to KU, which is pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02

We're very excited. It's just such a good way to like end our senior year. Absolutely. And just, I don't know, the J School, like everyone's very proud of us. We're proud to represent the J School here.

SPEAKER_05

Very proud of our team and all the awesome people that have worked on this. So yeah, we're excited. We can't say much more about the competition, obviously, but stay tuned till amateur finals.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the ad update, where we debrief the most impactful campaigns from the last week. First up, we have Pinterest with the how do they do it campaign with the with their new tagline. The best thing you could find online is a reason to go offline. Very interesting stuff. Um, and this was done by their in-house um agency, Pinterest's Pinterest's House of Creative. Is a 60-second spot narrated by a little girl asking P how people did it, meaning how do they do life? How do they do life without sharing every moment online or figure out what to do without inspiration online? The spot features vintage home videos and photos of real Pinterest employees. Yes. This was just such an interesting campaign given the moment. I think that we need to talk about um, you know, Pinterest kind of found that nearly half of US teens feel like they spend too much time on social media and that it negatively impacts people their age. Absolutely. I mean, like, I feel that.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And I think that's something too. We've just like kind of naturally learned like looking at a lot of these campaigns and just like the research we know about Gen Z, even Gen Alpha. I I agree. I think it comes at a wonderful time, just like in the conversation of social media itself, but also for Pinterest itself. Like we we talked about multiple Pinterest campaigns. Um, and also they're like uh talked about them in the PR news section that we do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, how they recently switched their um CMO back in um February. Uh, she joined from Amazon, Claudine Cheever. Um, and we talked about in that PR when we were talking about it in our PR segment, how she's a huge fan of AI. Yes. And how we thought that might negatively affect the platform. And instead, it leans into this trend that we've been talking about just completely separately, about how Gen Z is craving, obviously craving nostalgia, craving authentic, da-da-da, buzzwords we mention all the time.

SPEAKER_02

It's so interesting that it's done by Pinterest and not most of the companies that I see doing the analog trend are things that kind of it's like analog products, like or they it's big for like those like Opal or like those different apps that are like trying to get you off your phones or big and all that kind of stuff, yeah. Simple oh, they're like dumb phones, but it's it's surprising from Pinterest, and I think that's what makes it so impactful.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly, exactly. And I do funny story about this ad. So I saw up real first time last week. I was actually walk um watching Hacks TV show, really good. I recommend. I've blown through the past four seasons. Um, I was just handing on in the background while I was working on insect stuff, and I obviously was streaming and there were ads that came on, and I saw this picture, and I genuinely like stopped in my tracks and was so taken aback by just how like not only beautiful the ad was, but the message within the first like 10-15 cents, I was like, oh my god, who like what brand is this ad for? And then at the end, I thought it was so interesting how before they even popped up their brand logo, before they popped up the Pinterest logo, they like took all these photos and made them look like a Pinterest feed.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

And it was those like rounded corner rectangles. And I immediately knew before I even saw the like logo, I knew, oh my god, this is a Pinterest feed.

SPEAKER_02

Pinterest ad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Which is awesome.

SPEAKER_02

It's I it's so cool that they took that like that Coca-Cola bottle effect of you know, you know what that interface looks like. Which I mean, there's like like Instagram could do the same thing, but it was so it's so cool that they owned that. And it's not really something like I don't really think about the fact that I know what the Pinterest feed looks like, but it was just so beautifully put together and it made it the way that they put it after all this like cinematic footage, it made it make sense. It made the concept of Pinterest as an inspiration tool that you can find on offline activities with, it made the concept make sense. It was just such a beautiful way of displaying. I agree. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

And I think just one more thing before we talk about this. This is like it's it's not just something that people are talking about, this going off off the grid. People are actively doing this. So like 44% of like this Gen Z audience have uh are actively cutting back on smartphone usage.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, right, and they're recognizing how it's ruined, not necessarily ruining their brains, but affecting their vision of the world and how they go about their day. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02

And there's also a lot of government action in Australia, the UK, that have been pushing towards banning social media for minors just because it because that we are finding you know harmful effects.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And I don't know. It's just this campaign is it's coming in at such a good moment that's really it's capitalizing on this cultural phenomenon of going off the grid.

SPEAKER_05

I agree.

SPEAKER_02

In just a really transformative way.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, we loved it. Great job, Pinterest. Following a trend we've been noticing for multiple episodes now, specifically with brands like Adidas, Socani, Squarespace, um, on incorporating cinematic long-form video um directed by a renowned Hollywood director. We talked about a few. Um, but it almost seems like now a campaign is not complete without this element. I mean, we saw Pinterest do it. Um, similarly with their longer ad that they previewed on streaming, see it for some other things, and we're gonna talk about wandering out.

SPEAKER_02

On, on, as in like on cloud. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, this did, I don't know why, but when we were first talking about talking about this campaign, I was like, on, what's on? Um, on clouds. I thought the brand name the whole time was on clouds. That's just the sweet one. But it's just on.

SPEAKER_02

It's a learning curve. I went through a few. Anyway, anyway. Moving on. But on is incorporating this cinematic long form video directed by Spike Jones into their newest campaign, um Dream Together, or the shape of dreams in parenthesis. Um, so again, this is done by their in-house agency and Spike Jones. Um, basically, the center of this is a surreal cinematic short film starring Zendaya and directed by Spike Jones. It's less of a shoe commercial and more of like a high fashion fever dream that uses artsy choreography and dreamlike sets to celebrate the feeling of movement.

SPEAKER_05

This like kind of type of ad almost remind it reminded me of what Gap has been doing a lot recently with these like music video type like ads almost. Yeah. They're longer form. This doesn't feel like a music video, it feels like a story, yeah, kind of like a metaphorical story. But um, just this like way of using the cinematic long form video specifically with fashion, I think has been interesting. And for me, that works so well because you're able to show like movement of clothes, living in clothes, specifically what Gap did with dance. Yeah. Um, like when they used cat's eye to kind of show like you can move in your jeans no matter what they look like. Like it's they're exciting, they played your personality. Like, I think that's kind of like in the same vein of what this was in, but they did it in such a fresh way that I just think it worked for me really well. It was very cool.

SPEAKER_02

It's also such a good vehicle to do this like transitioning your target audience on where you know we're seeing on is kind of typically known as like a tech brand, like tech wear kind of runner style. Um, or I think like finance bros like always want the on club sneakers. Oh god, yeah. Um, but they're transitioning to more of a cultural lifestyle brand, right? And I feel like Zemdea is really the center of this movement.

SPEAKER_05

Oh god, yeah. I mean, she's like the center, obviously, like character person for this ad. And then I also think it was smart that they incorporated her um stylist, uh Law Roach, who she's been working with for forever now. Um, he has a little cameo in the little film, and I think it was just I think it's smart, and I think she's a smart choice. She skews to a younger audience. She's had a long-standing relationship with this brand too. Yeah. And obviously, I mean, they're using her because she's the one like helping curate this new collection. But I agree. I think it's like a Zendaya effect. She's kind of helping reframe the brands from Techie Runner to cultural lifestyle powerhouse.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think my favorite part of this campaign was the social content that Law and Zendaya were putting together on Instagram. Um, it just feels so organic. I feel like when brands try to do like collaborations with celebrities, or in this case, where Va and Zendaya are kind of a celeb collab. Oh, yeah, I didn't say couple, but that's not exactly correct.

SPEAKER_04

Um too much on Talon.

SPEAKER_02

Not too much on Tommy. Um, they're just, I don't know, it's just it felt so organic and didn't feel forced in the way that they're like showing them off. It's like a skit, but you still see the clothes and it's like they just look sick.

SPEAKER_05

Oh my god. And too, like the way that I feel like I've just seen so many clips of Law specifically on social talking about like how we specifically picked these shoes for Rosindea for this like event because of XYZ. Just the fact that his mind works is so interesting and they're like long-standing partnership. I just made, I think made the social content in the ad itself just feel so much more impactful. That both of them were in there.

SPEAKER_02

Such a strategic but they're not telling you about the fashion, they're showing you it. And I think that's what it really works.

SPEAKER_05

Agree. Totally.

SPEAKER_02

All right, moving on to the third campaign of the day. The WNBA is turning 30. Did you know that?

SPEAKER_05

Okay, no. I did not, and I feel awful for not realizing this because I was like, 30? What do you mean? They've been around for much longer than that. No, they've only been around for 30 years.

SPEAKER_02

It's kind of crazy to me.

SPEAKER_05

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02

They feel like it's such an institution.

SPEAKER_05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

The WNBA is coming out with this, it's their new platform. There's more where 30 came from. This first spot that they're coming up, coming out with Raising Goats, is the first of three short films celebrating this short history that they've had. Um, and you know, pushing the brand into a future of you know, exciting goats, right? Raising goats. It's all about is it features um Cheryl Swoops, um, who kind of talks about the history of the WNBA and how um, you know, it kind of transformed from a more of a humble beginnings to this huge league that's being hugely celebrated right now. It's having such a big cultural moment.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And if you don't know who Cheryl Swoops is, she was the first woman to be signed to be drafted by the WNBA. Um, she's a Olympian um NBA or WNBA championship winner. Super, super cool. She's also a mom, too. Just lots of cool things about her. I think she was a great face for this campaign. Um, we kind of were looking into like how they were bringing this to social because I think it's interesting. Um, we're seeing this omnichannel campaign at the beginning of the omni channel. Yeah. So obviously there's like content about it on their website and they're running the had. Um, but I mean, mainly they're just like launching and creating awareness on social for what the season's gonna look like. Um, but she does all this cool stuff where for the WNBA draft, she walked around Central Park with a ton of goats on leashes. Yes, and it was it created for like such funny social content that I think would grab anybody's attention in or yeah, attention. But when you kind of realize like the intention behind it, it becomes so much more interesting. And then it's like, oh my god, what are they gonna do next? What's the next of the short films that they're gonna do? I wanna be following this idea. I just think it was smart that just thinking about the Omni channel in this setup. I'm liking where it's going. Moving on to our social trend. Unless you've been living under a rock, um, hopefully you've heard about the Alex v. Alex internet beef. We're talking about Alex Earl versus Alex Cooper. Jackson, have you heard of this?

SPEAKER_02

I know that they are mad at each other.

SPEAKER_05

Do you know why they're mad at each other? At all? Nothing.

SPEAKER_02

They're both named Alex, maybe.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, well, to tap back into what obvious I mean, I've been following, I've listened to both Alex and Alex's podcast. So, anyways, but I did brush up for this podcast and watch a video of a lady explaining this entire beef ecosystem between the two Alexes on a whiteboard, which we'll talk about that more in a second. But essentially, Alex Earl, Alex Cooper, both influencers that got their start on TikTok. They both now have podcasts and these huge communities with all different um things happening on social product lines, all that kind of stuff. This v extends all the way back to when Alex Cooper started at Barstool. Um, and something happened. I won't I'll shorten it for you, but something happened where she left Barstool and started her own Unwell network, with then she started her own podcast, Call Her Daddy, which obviously gained huge traction. She's had guests on there ranging from like Kamala Harris to um oh god, who else? I'm blanking.

SPEAKER_02

But it looked to me.

SPEAKER_05

Jane Goodall, but also like Real Housewives, everybody. Um, then under that Unwell Network, Alex Earle, who got her start when she was an influencer at UMiami and has now since graduated, her podcast then was under the Unwell Network.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Then the two of them ended up having beef at some point, split, but throughout all this time, they've had the same publicist. And then during Coachella weekend, Alex Cooper made a video calling out Alex Earl for this passive aggressiveness across social, and then she just needs to come out and squash the beef. And nobody knows what the beef is. So there's the T. There you go, Jeff. So no one knows.

SPEAKER_01

So they're in the history of it.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, the internet has been going crazy trying to figure out if this is an actual like beef situation, something happened. So there's all these ties back to bar stool and just this whole like internet culture group and how like all of that works now, and like the the politics of all of that, and if it's something that happened with like, was it money motivated? Was it content motivated? Was it where did it come from? Um, or is it a publicity stunt? Because they so both have the same publicist, who's kind of genius? Um, with some other things that they've had happen evolved.

SPEAKER_02

I feel like they've both blown up so much. Yes, very, I mean, within the last year or two, there's no way that I I don't know. I I could buy into a conspiracy theory.

SPEAKER_05

And they have such similar like audiences that I'd be surprised at that. But you know, kind of how we like to think about like the social trends, like how can brands kind of like tap into this as an idea that some people are talking about. So kind of like I mentioned earlier, how I watch a a TikTok of somebody explaining all of this like beef on a whiteboard, that's like a whole section of the internet, probably specifically TikTok, is like explaining celebrity beef for people so you can always feel like you're in the know. So it's almost kind of like how can brands like tap into that and how can that help them kind of like position themselves as like a facilitator of knowledge, if you will.

SPEAKER_02

It's funny, like reading through just hearing about this and then that kind of that trend of informers online and people who were like, let me tap you in. It reminds me, I used to be so obsessed with like YouTube drama, like people on like I don't know, when I was like 14, just dudes that would like break down everything that was happening. Yes, are with YouTubers, and it was all so stupid and dramatic and we probably made up, but it got the views. It got the views. TMZ never dies.

SPEAKER_05

No, yeah. Oh my god, yeah. I like all of the different like internet groups. Like I think of like all the way back to like David Dobrik and like his like friend group on YouTube, and then when you get to TikTok, the like hype house, like it's just kind of like I don't know, it there's always something to be talked about with the drama, so no, it would be really cool to see how if a brand could almost tap into this or have their own informer that's like that would be really cool.

SPEAKER_02

And it's it's one of those tough nuts to crack that like really intrigues me because I don't know what it would look like.

SPEAKER_05

You know, exactly, and I think it'd be obvious. It'd be fresh too, but you would have to like do it for the brand almost have to do it in a way that feels like good for the brand voice, and only follows the brand voice, but I feel like these brands that are trying to cater towards Gen Z that could absolutely be a possibility.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. A lot of risk, a lot of risk, Bear. A lot of risk to lose authenticity points.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Wouldn't love to see it.

SPEAKER_05

And now the ad news. Let's jump into the latest ad and PR headlines from this week. We have one pretty big one that we saw just this past weekend um at the Boston Marathon. So, in one of the most visible spots on the race course throughout Boston, Nike placed an ad that said, runners welcome, walkers tolerated. It faced an incredible amount of backlash, um, specifically on social media, and even from the people at the race watching, spectating, um, even from some runners too. It came off sounding way too stuck up. Um, they and I keep ended up apologizing, which we'll talk about a little bit later, but um, they ripped the sign down and put something else up. Box Jackson.

SPEAKER_02

So I will say we kind of have a different take on this. I I think it's important to understand the controversy around this. It is it's an ableist thing to say. Like straight up, that that is the controversy. Um, one quote quote from Robin McCod, who's a 50-time marathoner and a time qualifier in the adapted division, wrote, due to a spinal injury, I have to take walk breaks. Even with assist in my spinal cord, I take regular, regularly, I regularly break five hours in Boston and plan to again this weekend. So thank you for tolerating me, Nike. Yes. And I understand that. That makes total sense.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I think that I just have a problem because I like the fact that it is edgy, right? I like the fact that it harkens back to like my favorite Nike ad, which is the um, you know, uh, am I a bad person? You know, Willem Defoe ad. I think that it has this edginess that Nike doesn't always like to show.

SPEAKER_05

Nah, they don't always lean into it as much as they could.

SPEAKER_02

But I just love that. I love whenever, you know, sometimes it like being a professional athlete is about being better than others. It's about being mean and like cutting and and going harder and harder and harder and like breaking yourself so that you can be the best. Exactly. And I think that that message, runners welcome, walkers tolerated, is exclusionary. And I think that the fact that it is exclusionary, people are gonna be hurt and offended. And I think that that really wasn't Nike's purpose.

SPEAKER_05

And I think too, when you take into account the place that the auto's in, I mean Boston Marathon, to run in the Boston Marathon, you have to have a very, very competitive time with your marathon time. You've got to like qualify for it, et cetera, et cetera. But I think when you also take into account the space that it was in the Boston Marathon, it's a cultural spectacle for Boston. I mean, it's been going for how many years? Forever. And if you're going to school in Boston, you go to a bar and you watch it. If you live in Boston, you're going to go somewhere or you're going to watch from your window or you're going to go get with your friends and you're going to spectate. Like, it's just a thing. Runners and non-runners are watching the Boston Marathon. Though I think, like, in addition to obviously the comment that we just read from somebody that is a runner, I think it also is getting back buttons from people who are just spectating and watching me like, um, I'm walking, so am I just being tolerated too? And that's funny you mentioned your favorite one of your favorite Nike ads, Drexen, because one of my favorite Nike ads is um Find Your Greatness one. And it's this like younger kid, he's a little more heavyset, he does not look like your traditional runner. And he's running down this like empty dirt road, like sweat pouring, pouring on his forehead, and he's just like, he's not really very fast, but he's running. And he is he's giving it his all. And the it talks about how kind of starting from nowhere, obviously the tagline is finding your greatness. And I think that this idea of um obviously uh runners welcome, walkers tolerate it is so contrasting to this idea of find your greatness. And I think we've been seeing a lot of ads from Nike the past year talking about how anybody can be an athlete. And as long as it's almost this idea kind of like, is this idea of runners different than what this message is trying to do? Yeah, that's nothing else we were talking about.

SPEAKER_02

I think that so for me, right? That that the find your greatness ad, you know, it's this bigger guy running down the path, but it's the fact that he is running that makes it an ad. It's the fact that he is heavy set that makes it the ad. Yeah, if it was a skimmy or walkie mic, that it it doesn't matter, you know what I mean? It's about the effort, and I think that's kind of what they were trying to get at. You know, runners are people who really put in the work, and walkers are people who are not putting in the work, I guess. And the fact that they were using the words runners and walkers is probably it ended up being problematic, and I can see that.

SPEAKER_05

Absolutely, and then I think what flip side, well not flip side to that, but moving on from that too, after all of this controversy online, they took it down and replaced it with the quote, movement is what matters, which to me felt so soft, so boring. Because like I totally obviously what they originally put up not gonna miss the market I gave. But if you're going to like lean into this idea of like we are the brand for people who get up off the couch and move and do something about it, movement is what matters, feels just so like so just soft for me.

SPEAKER_02

The issue to me with movement is what matters, is that uh it has no edge. Yeah, right? Like movement walking to the chip chip cabinet, like like that's like I just feel like movement isn't a strong enough word to mean action. You know, action is what matters. Exactly. Not movement. I mean it's hard to say because it's all you know lingual semantics, but exactly.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so then kind of going off of that, Jackson, thoughts on how Gen Z feels about pulling back messaging amidst controversy.

SPEAKER_02

I think they lose points. I think they lose points for me and Gen Z as a whole. Whenever in any case, whenever you're like pulling back or saying, oh no, we didn't mean that, you're losing authenticity points. Being a little messy is authentic, like it or not, but um they they definitely lose some points whenever they put up this movement is what matters ad instead of what they originally, I guess, wanted to say. So I don't know. It's it's a hard situation they were in, you know, it's really a loss loss. The wind would have been never putting up the ad. Exactly.

SPEAKER_05

And I think like, especially for Gen Z when it comes to handling controversies like this, because canceled culture is just obviously huge now. Um I think it has been growing in the past like 10 years. The way that you handle the controversy is there's so much weight, I think not not always, but a lot of the time, there's a lot of weight on the way that you handle it after birds. And I think Gen Z really, really, really pays attention to that. And yeah, I think the way that they handled it.

SPEAKER_02

So the thing is, and I think it's cool. You know, Gen Z cares how you respond. They don't like they don't just blindly take your the original action at face value, they wait for the fallout, exactly right. So, you know, that's what we do. Anyway, that's the news.

SPEAKER_05

All right, now it's battle time. Our next segment is Battle of the Brains, where two brands will go head to head to see who tackled the brief better. Um, today we are going off something that also happened last weekend and the weekend before. Coachella. Coachella. Um, so Jackson and I both have a Coachella activation from two different brands, and we're gonna tell you about them, and we'll pick a winner. So, kind of going off of the first campaign that we talked about, my brand is Pinterest. Um, so going off of Pinterest's analog ad, um they promoted a phone-free Coachella experience. Um so they created a phone-free tent essentially at Coachella. Um, and upon entering the tent, you had to lock your phone away with all of your stuff. And then you could enter in where they had these like digital cameras for you to record your experience so it wasn't like it felt lost upon you. Um, you could still like enjoy the moment after with your friends, but you could make um like friendship bracelets, you could get your hair and makeup touched up by ELF Cosmetics, it'll brand collab there. Um, you could mail yourself something back home. They had a little craft you could do and mail it back home. Um, and then so that's what they did during the weekend. And then after the weekend, they picked two influencers to talk about their phone-free Coachella experience. Um, so they used Quinlan Blackwell and Mickey Gordon, um, which I think were two interesting choices. I think one worked better than the other. I loved Quinlan Blackwell's video. She talked about how she'd been to Coachella before. She said, I'm searching for something different. And she said, I went phone free all weekend. She started the video, let's debrief Coachella. I went phone free all weekend with Pinterest. Um, she talked about her like experience in the 10, how being with her friends and um phone free was just a more of a fun experience for her. She felt like she could be more in the moment. She also tied it back to how she prepped for Coachella by searching for her outfits on Pinterest, which I thought was really interesting. And her videos have been performing very well on Pinterest's own socials. Um, then Mickey Gordon did a similar video too. After she got home, she said, Let's debrief Coachella, talked about how one of her favorite parts of the weekend was going into the Pinterest tent. Um, yeah, so kind of like we talked about earlier with the Pinterest campaign, Gen Z is spending less time on their phones and is more interested in real life experiences. Pinterest is able to offer them that. Um, going off of the ad, this campaign, this activation specifically encourages people to be present and instead of constantly posting. And I think too, like immediate thought is he lose, but if we're not posting, then people aren't seeing us. That is why they asked these influencers to make these videos after they got home. So being present in the moment and then later talking about their experience, which is why I loved his activation so much, and that they specifically use those influencers in that way.

SPEAKER_02

It was cute. I feel like influencers are because they live life online so much, are almost like separated from this analog that sure that Gen Z use is going on. It's true, but you know, bringing them into that and almost making it the it's like the antithesis of analog, but it worked really well. It was cool. Um my brand, YouTube, they almost took an exact opposite route, I think. That's true, we did. So um, with their little campaign behind the mage stage. So if you don't know, YouTube is actually who live streams like all Coachella performances and kind of does like the production recording of all the Coachella performances. So YouTube set up an exclusive backstage hub at Coachella that invited artists and creators to drop in during the concerts um to create real-time content, behind the scene moments, and just live interactions. Um, and they just they kind of gave like an authentic look into the influencers, them being, I mean, they're kind of on, you know what I mean? Like they're at the concert, they have to be, you know, them, their celebrity selves, but they still like they kind of created moments that you wouldn't normally see at an event like this, just where they're chilling backstage with other celebrities. Um, and then they also they captured a lot of these moments with booth by Bryant photos, which is like a basically a vintage style photo boot, right? Um, and then they also did some live Q ⁇ A's with YouTube at the at the studio in the lounge. So what I liked about this was I think that, you know, Pinterest, you have like these, they had a lot of influencers, but I had like two key influencers that really brought it to life. YouTube was really all about capturing a ton of activations and and celebrities. So uh you have like Good Mythical Morning, Cynthia Arivo, um, Caleb Marshall, Ben of the Week, a ton, a ton of names. Uh Hydala sign. Come on.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

The performers who are there and look actually performing in front of the audience and then coming back to take a rest. Not just people who are going to watch their favorite artists. Do you know what I mean? I think it does that it's hard to really compete the two because one that's two different audiences, two different people that are engaging with the audience, right? But I just, I don't know. I love the fact that we're seeing into the celebrities behind the stage. It's almost like um, like a biopic of each, like a cool banana, like they got screenshot from their future bio.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. I think that's something too that kind of similar to how we're talking though, oh Gen Z is like craving this like analog, nostalgic idea. I get YouTube is playing on the fact that Gen Z craves like behind the scenes things. Where scenes they things they don't already know about. Because especially with Coachella, like really hidden tie in 2016. A lot of the time, like Coachella content can feel super saturated. I think it's just the same thing over and over and over again. Okay, it's an outfit check, and then you go to the concert, and then you tell me how your feet are, and then you go to bed and you wake up the next morning and you do the same thing.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I think this gave Gen C like a new, obviously behind the main stage look.

SPEAKER_01

A fresh perspective on Coachella. Yes. One from the opposite side of the stage. You know what I mean? You're seeing the real lives of your favorite artist or celebrity.

SPEAKER_02

So I both campaigns tapped into some really great insights. I feel like this is this is a hard one. This is a competitive little race here.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly. Well, you can let us know which brand you think won this segment of Battle of the Brands by going to our Instagram at the AgencyKU to vote on either Pinterest or YouTube.

SPEAKER_02

You've been listening to Ad Space by the Agency.

SPEAKER_05

This episode was produced by Brennan Burnett and Joe Biendo, written and edited by Steam Whistle Creative Team. Sound design and mixing by Y Cooper, videography by Madeline Moson.

SPEAKER_02

Special thanks to our faculty advisor, Dr. Rhodes. This podcast is a production of Steam Whistle Creative, made possible by the William Allen White School of Journalism and NASA Communications.

SPEAKER_05

To keep up with new episodes, follow us on Instagram at theAgencyKU. And don't forget to like, rate, and review. It really helps us out.

SPEAKER_01

I'm Jackson.

SPEAKER_05

And I'm Elise.

SPEAKER_01

And we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00

This student-produced podcast is opinions and commentary and does not reflect the views of any organization. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the podcast. Any opinions presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the agency does not endorse, approve, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this podcast. Copyright the agency, twenty twenty five, all rights reserved. You may not reproduce, distribute, or modify this podcast without written permission.