Provocative perspectives: What marketers can learn from the Redditors behind GameStop

It has been hard to escape the David and Goliath-esque story around GameStop or as Elon Musk has called it, “Gamestonk”.

Within a week, amateur investors had increased the share price by a whopping 1700% of this video game retailer, that was once a fixture in American malls.

Why? GameStop didn’t announce a wild new innovation. The stock surge was driven by Redditors who took on some of Wall Street’s most sophisticated investors that had shorted the stock (when you short a stock, you’re betting on its decline) and, at the moment, have won.

What marketers can learn from this:

1. Power to the People: we are living in a moment of time where people are making their voices heard. Coupled with cultural assessment, consumers are taking time to listen, learn and take a stand on any conditions they don’t agree with.
2. The Power of Emotion: talk to a stockbroker and they’ll tell you that logic is out the window on this investment decision. This is not a company that warrants a stock price at +$420 p/s. This was an emotionally fueled decision to save a nostalgic brand and simultaneously beat Wall Street at their own game. We expect to see more of this in 2021.
3. The Power of Community: it has been argued that buying GameStock has been a case of FOMO. However I feel this is due to a new 2020/21 trend, POTMO (wanting to be part of the movement). At a time where loneliness is at a high this was an opportunity to come together and feel apart of something. Brands should keep this in mind and acknowledge how powerful their community can be.

Overall, I see this as a battle of power between individuals and big institutions.

The internet and democratised access are seemingly shifting society’s balance of power, empowering the ‘little guy’, and enabling people to identify a cause and organise support well and quickly.

Big brands, take note, to drive positive brand consideration growth in 2021 consider the above.

Tap into the power of emotion via personalisation at scale, and win early on new or underused platforms (like Reddit) that are hosting engaged communities, but tread with caution and consider how you add real value to this communities experience as they may not take well to intruders.

Most importantly, review your consumer centric marketing strategy.

For more information, read our 2021 Growth Trends.

By Laurel Buchanan, Partnerships Manager at Wavemaker UK