Reddit, Dubsmash and the Super Bowl.
The name ‘Dubsmash’ seems so far away and old, right? If you remember correctly, the ‘short-form lip-synching video’ social platform became very popular in 2015 for a very brief moment and just when you thought that TikTok did something innovative and fun, well, Dubsmash actually did it first. Just like Facebook acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, Reddit is also making a move by acquiring Dubsmash, becoming TikTok’s biggest rival to this day as the platform already has a huge community.
Strategic partnerships of this sort often reflect the need of the parent company to expand its reach to a much greater number of people. Although the terms of the agreement between Reddit and Dubsmash haven’t been made public yet, it is stated that Dubsmash will remain an entity of its own under Reddit’s umbrella. The video platform has supported uploads since 2017 but its editing features and tools are still very basic and limited. With the help and fundings from Reddit as well as its community growth engine, Dubsmash will be able to improve significantly. As a leading digital marketing agency based in Dubai, we see strategic partnerships happening for various reasons - in the case of Mint Stalk, our new partnership with His Excellency Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal and Sharjah Investment and Development Authority will be based on transforming the digital and creative landscape of Sharjah, to continue to promote tourism, investment and quality living. Not so different to Reddit’s strategy actually.
According to Reddit, Dubsmash provides a more welcoming environment for creators who are under-represented on social media. Indeed, Reddit has mentioned that Dubsmash’s diverse user base is one of the reasons for its acquisition - more than 25% of Black teenagers in the U.S use the platform and 70% of its users are female. As Reddit mentioned: “Video is increasingly core to how people want to connect” and Dubsmash is the perfect unique, dynamic and interactive addition to Reddit’s growing community.
Before we move on, did you guys watch the Super Bowl this year? If you did, then you might have seen Reddit’s ad popping up for literally just 5 seconds. Here’s an article from the New York Times about it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/business/media/reddit-super-bowl-ad.html
Basically, Reddit’s Super Bowl ad very briefly referred to what had happened with GameStop literally just last week - the ad read: “One thing we learned from our communities last week is that underdogs can accomplish just about anything when they come together around a common idea.” If you don’t know what happened, basically a bunch of Redditers figured out that some funds were betting against GameStop stocks and decided to step in to save the business by coordinating their purchase and raising GameStop’s stocks value from 20$ to over 300$. The end of their Super Bowl ad read “Powerful things happen when people rally around something they really care about. And there’s a place for that - it’s called Reddit.” Wow. Goosebumps. Well done Reddit, that was incredible. This situation with Reddit is a reminder that the internet does connect people to much deeper levels, and the constant flow of information allows people to use some of that information to their advantage, shattering old-school and elitist institutions. And this is what Reddit seems to be all about at the moment, and also probably doing a much better job at it than other social media platforms - Reddit is leveraging itself and reshaping this new generation opportunity.
As a leading digital marketing agency operating in the UAE, we see everyday the value of building strong communities that share the same values and mindset. Considering that Dubai’s population is made up of up to 70 % expatriates, making the emirate a true melting pot of cultures, it is undeniable that creating a sense of belonging and membership amongst people from different backgrounds keeps the fire going. Reddit is exactly that, but online and on a global scale. The acquisition of Dubsmash is also a way for Reddit to remain more relevant with the younger crowd - indeed, TikTok took the world by storm and its popularity is just insane. But with a little bit of improvement, Dubsmash could easily and very quickly gain traction. That’s also something we see a lot in the marketing world - big companies that have been around for a while wanting to become younger and more modern. Here at Mint Stalk, it’s always a great challenge to be able to redesign a brand to make it more appealing to the younger generations. As a digital marketing agency based in the UAE, we have firsthand experience on that kind of work, whether it is in terms of rebranding or campaigns, there’s always something fun and creative to think about to create a buzz.
Reddit’s move at acquiring Dubsmash is a true inspiration to what it means to be proactive at sticking to a specific mission in a very creative and strategic manner. The platform seems to be very in tune with its own community base and also to what is happening all around. Their message about bringing people together is an important one in the current state of the world - yes, the pandemic is still a thing - as most other social media platforms seem to have forgotten their initial stance about connecting people. Because yes, it’s all about selling our data to big companies now apparently. But for other businesses, Reddit could be a very attractive alternative for advertising purposes, same for Dubmash. Instagram and Facebook are still great but they’ve already had their moment of glory - time for a change and we are here for that.
