Condé Nast Looks to Court Millennial Advertisers in ‘Next Gen’ Campaign
Condé Nast is rolling out its new campaign meant to highlight the younger generation of talent at the media company — and hopefully catch the attention of advertisers looking to appeal to younger consumers.
Called “Condé Nast Next Gen,” the campaign draws on the publisher’s 22 titles and is meant to show advertising partners that the company is leading the conversation in print and digital. “Next Gen,” which will appear across video, mobile, display and social, was created by chief marketing officer Pamela Drucker Mann, along with head of the Condé Nast creative group, Raul Martinez, and Alex Grossman.
One video in the campaign makes use of florescent colors and stills of young people with funky hairdos alternating with marketing jargon-laden slogans: “Laugh Louder, Think Deeper, Cry Harder, Go Farther, Dream Bigger.” The other video is sleeker and shows equally cool-looking young people interspersed with flashes of scenes from concerts, street dancing, a rainstorm, and a guy flipping backward, as the words “Everyone is searching for something to make them think deeper, laugh louder, cry harder, go farther, dream bigger, something that means everything. Be there when it happens: Condé Nast Next Gen.”
The campaign is part of an annual reveal to clients, which reflects the company’s business strategy. Last year, then-chief marketing officer Edward Menicheschi had presented the company’s “Creativity Is” campaign, which was meant to underscore the importance of — you guessed it — creativity, to the publishing house.
With the digital success of Teen Vogue and Vanity Fair’s The Hive, Menicheschi’s successor, Drucker Mann, has tapped into the what’s generating some buzz at Condé and beyond.
“Condé Nast brands have always been at the forefront of provocative storytelling, but what’s organically happening right now is quite different,” she said. “Whether it’s Teen Vogue’s strategic pivot to more politically active editorial or the launch of Vanity Fair’s The Hive, there is a new energy at the company and it’s informing everything we create. Audiences are always searching for the next thing, but there is searching and there is finding — and they’re finding what they’re looking for in our brands.”
Even though the campaign is meant to appeal to the future of the company, artistic director Anna Wintour name-checked Condé Nast stalwart Alexander Liberman, who held the role of editorial director from 1960 to 1994, offering: “The most important thing Condé Nast’s legendary editorial director Alexander Liberman told me was to always take risks and try new things. It’s thrilling to see a generation of fearless young editors and creators carry that tradition forward. At a time when there is far too much disposable content in media, this company is investing in substantive and exciting talent who are creating brilliant journalism across all platforms that is finding a loyal and engaged audience.”
Presumably one that just has to be told to “laugh louder, cry harder.”
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