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The 2021 Creative Forecast
Explore five creative behaviors driven by cultural shifts in 2020 that will continue to shape campaigns for years to come.
Extraordinary influences—from activism to a global pandemic—changed culture in profound ways in 2020, and these changes shaped the creative climate. People pushed brands to become more culturally aware, more personal and more participatory. In response, marketers took bold creative leaps.
While 2020 was unique, it marked an inflection point with lasting implications. To pinpoint key creative trends for the future driven by last year's cultural shifts, Facebook's Creative Shop reviewed 100 campaigns from around the globe that broke through on our platforms. This high-performing creative was selected based on many factors, chief being business impact.
The analysis identified five ascendent behaviors that will continue to shape creative. Below we briefly cover these, looking at the underlying cultural shifts, examples from standout brands and creative springboards for your campaigns. In our full report, The Creative Forecast, we explore the business impact of each trend and delve deeper into how you leverage these behaviors to break through in the future.
1.Build inclusively
In 2020, there was a social awakening across the world. People rose up and spoke up, clamoring for a world that respects, celebrates and sees everyone. Brands broke through by building inclusive creative that reflected and depicted their audiences in representative and insightful ways.
L'Oréal
L'Oréal reimagined the beauty festival for the digital age and also reimagined the representatives of beauty. For the first time, they paired men and women to provide beauty tips via Facebook Live. Afterward, people could communicate with a diverse group of 122 advisers via Messenger to receive more personalized advice from experts like themselves.
- How can we authentically and truthfully represent our whole potential audience?
- Is there a cultural taboo we could shed light on in an authentic way to make a deeper connection with people?
2.Create edutainment
The global pandemic forced people to embrace new ways of getting information in 2020, and brands that excelled earned attention by reimagining learning. Importantly, they did so not by lecturing audiences, but by building edutainment experiences that didn’t feel like a chore.
CoppaFeel!
To help make at-home breast checks for potential signs of cancer habitual, CoppaFeel created Boob Bot, a (world-first) Messenger monthly subscription tool that is inclusive, informative and fun. The brand then promoted the tool with a thumb-stopping, lighthearted campaign that focused not just on utility but also on levity.
- If we were going to reward audiences for their time and attention, what could we give them?
- How could we turn our ideas into something truly useful to our audience?
3.Sell with ideas
With many in-person interactions limited in 2020, social feeds became always-on engines for serendipitously discovering new ideas and interests. And people weren’t just scanning, they were taking action. Brands that thrived understood this dynamic and made themselves discoverable by using ideas not only to stand out, but to close the sale.
Allbirds
To introduce their first running shoe, Allbirds tested creative approaches with different mixes of product messaging and messaging focused on sustainability—a cause the company is deeply committed to. Highlighting their mission while conveying functional benefits helped the brand to increase direct response performance and establish credibility in a new category.
- How can we use a differentiating concept not only to drive interest but to convert potential buyers?
- What if we leveraged an aspect of our brand, product or a relevant moment in culture to inspire a larger idea?
4.Speak platform language
People shifted to expressing and connecting online in 2020, leading to an explosion of creativity that often colored outside the lines and left the traditional polish behind. Brands that turned heads and won hearts did the same, speaking the language of digital platforms through approaches like lo-fi production and creator content.
Sweat
When Sweat, a popular fitness app, had a new product to launch, they decided to shift away from their standard creative approaches and empower their community. Through a combination of Live With broadcasts and sticker packs, Sweat showcased how their members work out, enabling the brand to create authentic connections with new audiences.
- How can the natural language of our platforms be an integral storytelling tool to connect with people on their terms?
- What if we activated a community to tell a shared story in their own language, from their own platform gathering places?
5.Reward self-discovery
As entertainment and curiosity moved increasingly online in 2020, people jumped down the digital rabbit hole and loved where it went. Creative that connected deeply fed this desire for digital exploration and delivered experiences that let people actively explore at their own pace.
Hellmann's
To take community cooking to a new level for the digital age, Hellmann’s developed a Messenger bot that created temporary connections among people looking for ideas of what to do with leftovers. This enabled audiences to actively participate in meal planning—rather than passively consume content—and ensured Hellmann's was the key ingredient.
- How can creating ideas that drive participation and discovery elevate our connection with our audiences?
- Where could we use the community’s real-time feedback and support? How could we take their ideas and turn them into action?
Creating for the future
When looking to harness these five behaviors, keep in mind that they're rooted in people. The trends may have been catalyzed by the unique circumstances of 2020, but the changes to people’s relationships with and expectations of brands are here to stay. By keeping the underlying shifts in people's behaviors in mind—and by remembering how culture changed creativity in 2020—you can effectively leverage these behaviors in your creative for years to come.
To dive deeper into these five creative behaviors for the future shaped by cultural shifts in 2020, check out the full report: The 2021 Creative Forecast.
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