The very thing that made Instagram famous (highly-curated and stylized photos) was driving teens away. They used to love showing off their #bestlife -- but over time the pressure to impress on social media turned into unwanted stress, driving teens to shift engagement to platforms where communication and creativity were more casual.

Therefore, we were tasked with producing and testing different creative approaches to make Instagram more appealing and drive acquisition and engagement amongst non-users across multiple geographies.

Our idea was to make the routine of everyday life more fun: to make "boring less boring”. Creative leveraged “easy to create” Instagram content which demonstrated to teens they did not need to be “experts” in order to post on the social platform. Our campaign was a daily showcase of the cool ways Instagram can make everyday life more fun without being picture-perfect. Whether we were putting eyes on rocks or bologna on faces, running polls and asking questions about mundane activities, we drew from the themes of discovery and creation to give teens the means make “boring” less boring.

We also saw that the way we previously done the ads didn’t resonated with teens. We tried to use an iPhone instead when creating content in order to be on the same level creatively as teens. Suddenly the ads started to be more real, relatable and simple.

We used a number of research methodologies, including interviews, surveys and behavioural analytics, to compile data and research on our target audience - teens aged 13-17 in 30 markets. From our research, we found that teens labeled Instagram as time-consuming, stressful/intimidating, invasive, anti-social and fake. Thus, our strategic conclusion was to “lower the bar” and shift teens’ perception of Instagram from the “picture-perfect, only for the weekend platform” to a safe, everyday avenue for self-discovery and self-expression.

With our creative idea to make “boring” less boring, we doubled down on existing market relevant trends, market specific “boring moments,” and cultural nuances, to produce tailored creative for core markets that gave teens ideas on how to engage, discover, and create on Instagram.

We designed a bespoke team model that allowed us to combine 3 working days in one. Resulting in a steady stream of assets and a global rollout: Hundreds of versions and formats. Strategic and creative development was led by our agency team. Our partnering agency assisted us with ensuring transcreation efficiency, resonance across cultures and geographies, and swift post-production turnarounds. This allowed us to output over 500 assets per month. The campaign began in May 2018 and ran through December 2018 across multiple programmatic ad networks including GDN, UAC and Facebook Audience Network.

We also needed to create ads that teens can relate and respond to. Using an iPhone instead when creating content to be on the same level creatively as teens. Suddenly the ads started to be more real and relatable.

We crafted localization plans leveraging market-level insights in 30 different markets then created thousands of pieces of content

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