Introduction and Case Study Overview
Digital marketing is using any digital channels to market products or services. This marketing concept and field has evolved over the years since the advent of the internet in the 1990s to presently integrate digital goals, audiences, platforms, devices, media, data and technologies to facilitate the marketing process and influence consumers’ decision-making process. For success, however, individuals and corporations employ a digital marketing strategy to plan how to use the available digital tools to achieve their goals. One such case is the YouTube brand Ryan’s World, presented in the case study “Welcome To Ryan’s World” by Shaheen Hosany and Justin Obrien, which evolved from being an amateur YouTube channel to a well-known digital marketing brand in the toy industry. To understand more about this transition and the aspects of digital marketing, this essay will evaluate the digital marketing strategies at Ryan’s World and the ethical issues associated with the strategies. Given the dynamic nature of the business world today, it will propose strategies that could help the brand advance further.
Digital Marketing Strategies at Ryan’s World
One of the digital marketing strategies at Ryan’s World is embedded marketing, defined by Hosany and Obrien (2021) as a marketing technique where brands are incorporated into media content to promote their products or services. Gerhards (2019) defines it as the intentional incorporation or “embedding” of a brand into various media forms to influence consumer attitudes and memories. The strategy, also known as product placement, works through the subtle yet organic visual, auditory, associative, background or integrated placement of a product or service into digital media. On YouTube, it can involve featuring products sent to YouTubers by companies (freebies) on videos or a paid-for product placement where a brand sponsors a specific video (Gerhards, 2019). In the case of Ryan’s World, a YouTube video named “Christmas morning 2016 opening presents with Ryan’s ToyReview”features a cup from Mcdonald’s and toys from brands such as Fisher-Price, Toys “R” Us, The LEGO Group, and Mattel (Ryan’s World, 2016; Hosany and Obrien, 2021).
Following the visual placement technique, the brands are embedded into the video, in this case, consisting of the unboxing of the Christmas presents Ryan and her twin sisters have been ‘gifted by Santa’. This speaks to the need for embedded products or services to be relevant to the storyline or plot and gives the target market (children) a chance to engage with the brand products since they virtually and vicariously experience the displayed toys (Hosany and Obrien, 2021). The brand awareness and connection made by Ryan from such videos influence the memory and choices these children make regarding the type of toys they would want, in this case, for Christmas. The success of this strategy is leveraged on the ‘nag factor’ which is a situation whereby a child asks for an item relentlessly based on what they saw advertised (Henry and Borzekowski, 2011) or based on what another child has (Hosany and Obrien, 2021).
Another marketing strategy highlighted in this case is social media marketing, where Ryan took the role of social media influencer (SMI) on the social media platform (SMP) YouTube. Social media marketing (SMM) is a marketing technique that involves the utilization of social media platforms to promote products or services. To do this, brands can either market their products or services through their SMPs or with the help of SMIs like Ryan. In context, an SMI is a social media user who has built a solid and positive reputation on a specific SMP based on their knowledge and expertise on particular products, services or brands. They share their opinions on the respective brand products or services with a social network of people who follow them loyally. As noted by Lim et al. (2017), brands utilize this form of marketing, also called influencer marketing, based on the ability of SMIs to stimulate a consumer’s purchase intention. When coupled with social media’s ability to humanize brands (OPSPL, 2018), brands are assured of connecting and engaging with their audience on a more personal level, eventually driving sales.
A look at the execution of this marketing strategy in the case of Ryan’s World reveals that after the brand had amassed a significant following and a solid reputation on YouTube among young viewers, companies actively looked for it to promote their products. This is evidenced by its ranking within the top ten YouTube earners from 2017 to 2019 (Hosany and Obrien, 2021). Important to note, however, is that there are metrics to be met for this marketing strategy to be successful. While the typical social media user spends an average of two and a half hours in SMPs (Kemp, 2024), engaging and leaving a positive impression on them may be more challenging since they are excessively bombarded with marketing content. As such, engaging these digital consumers requires authenticity and relatability on the side of the SMI to build trust and loyalty to associated brands (Mehrbod, 2023). The case expresses that Ryan’s natural charisma, fun personality and approachability are captured in Ryan’s world’s videos to produce engaging, entertaining and emotion-evoking videos (Hosany and Obrien, 2021). Additionally, the parents ensure that the “videos reflect authentic reactions through spontaneous dialogue” (Hosany and Obrien, 2021. p.4), which further builds connections with the young audience.
The relatability is also seen in the brand extensions, that is, The Kaji Family And The Studio Space, which feature raw content on the Kaji family life (Hosany and Obrien, 2021). This highlights the content marketing strategy delivered through vlogging in the case. Vlogging, the short form of video blogging, is the marketing practice of telling a story, sharing information or expressing oneself through a video. The vlogger records themselves doing the aforementioned and shares the video (vlog) on their SMPs (Aran et al., 2013). According to Sheng et al. (2022), this strategy is especially effective when vloggers use the emotional stimuli of nostalgia. In the case of Ryan’s World, they use nostalgia for family time by vlogging during holidays, which is a persuasive strategy that influences brand loyalty and attachment (Irshad, 2023).
Ethical Issues Raised By The Digital Marketing Strategies At Ryan’s World
One of the ethical issues raised by the digital marketing strategies identified above includes the fact that the persuasive nature of a strategy such as embedded marketing and social media marketing is likely to negatively influence and shape a child’s behaviour, preferences, understanding of society, self-image, values and aspirations, and consumption habits. As Ward (2006) noted, these advertisements expose children to a culture of consumerism and pressure them to keep up with the latest trends, in this case, toys. Through the unboxing videos especially, the young consumers between the age of 1-8 years who consume the videos learn that “what makes people happy is getting stuff” (Bulger, 2021, Para. 12). The result is altered behavioural patterns depicted through the ‘nag factor’ (Henry and Borzekowski, 2011; Bulger, 2021), ungratefulness and materialism (Hosany and Obrien, 2021) that develops over time since the children do not have the mental capacity to process what they are consuming (Hosany and Obrien, 2021) and have easily impressionable minds.
The cumulative results of the above ethical issue are mental health issues based on low life satisfaction. According to Opree et al. (2015), there is a significant decrease in the level of life satisfaction when children are exposed to advertising based on social comparison, consumption experiences that are different from what is portrayed by the advertisers and the disappointment that comes from when parents deny them certain products. This is confirmed by Hosany and Obrien (2021), who report that the daily toy giving and the overly enthusiastic unboxing shown in Ryan’s World is an unrealistic depiction of reality, which children might not necessarily understand. The significant difference in satisfaction when trying to emulate their ‘trusted’ Ryan and the innate blurred line between reality and fantasy created by the overconsumption of digital marketing content (Montgomery, 2002) might have detrimental effects on their mental health, leading to stress (Ward, 2006), and thus a reduced level of life satisfaction.
Another ethical issue is consumer exploitation through selective disclosure. As Hosany and Obrien (2021) noted, Ryan’s World does not fully disclose to its target audience the commercial content associated with marketing incentives. In cases where they disclose, the disclosure is usually inadequate, citing texts that its target audience cannot read or fast voiceovers embedded within the content (Hosany and Obrien, 2021, p.8). This indicates a form of deception where the brand leverages the inability of its target audience to fully comprehend what is going on in its marketing communications, thereby exploiting its lack of awareness. This form of exploitation is unethical as it leaves out important information and uses aggressive sales techniques, which has been discouraged by GOV.UK (n.d.).
Recommendations To Enhance The Brand
In addition to the ethical issues associated with Ryan’s World, changes in Ryan’s physical body and the dynamic business environment pose a risk to the brand’s continuity and profitability. As such, some recommendations that would enhance the brand include:
- Carve out a new niche as early as now. The change in Ryan’s physical body may negatively impact the brand image, which has so far been mainly associated with a ‘young YouTube sensation that creates unboxing content’. By leveraging on his earlier interview, where he mentioned that he would likely pursue game development in the future (Hosany and Obrien, 2021), Ryan could start creating content for video games, which have a thriving following. In the UK, 69% and 81% of 6 to 10-year-olds and 11-14-year-olds play video games (Picton et al., 2010). In the US, 26% of video gamers are under 18%, a good figure given the distribution in the age groups, as presented in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1:
Video gaming audiences by age group in the US (2022)
(Clement, 2023)
Ryan’s World could successfully explore and position itself in this market by leveraging its successful reputation and brand loyalty and its previous partners, such as Mattel, who are already in the gaming industry. This would be an additional way to diversify its portfolio, heading itself against potential risks from the increasing competition, regulatory changes and changes in consumer behaviour.
- Invest in digital public relations (PR) to ensure the prioritisation of social sustainability by the brand. As the concept of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) keeps gaining traction in the business environment (Farzam et al., n.d.), it is essential that Ryan’s World also prioritizes social issues. An excellent point to start is to respond to the human rights risks (ethical issues) associated with the business, which can act as an appeal to Generation Alpha (target market), who are greatly concerned with the ethical issues outlined above (Booth, 2019).
Conclusion
Ryan’s World rose from being an amateur YouTuber to ranking within the top ten YouTube earners from 2017 to 2019. This success was enabled through various digital marketing strategies, including embedded advertising, social media marketing and content marketing through vlogging. Despite the massive success, its digital marketing strategies have been associated with some ethical issues, such as negatively influencing and shaping a child’s behaviour, preferences, understanding of society, self-image, values and aspirations, and consumption habits, subsequently leading to mental health issues. The other ethical issue is that it is involved in consumer exploitation through deception. To remedy this and ensure sustainability, some proposals for the brand are to carve out a new niche as early as now and invest in digital public relations (PR).
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