Brands Deliver Graduates Virtual Proms and Commencements

The middle of May is normally a time for high school proms, college commencements and graduation parties, but the Covid-19 pandemic has made those moments impossible for the class of 2020. As millions of students in the U.S. are missing out on traditional graduation experiences, brands are stepping in to offer some quarantine-friendly alternatives: virtual proms and commencements. Paul Soseman, CEO of experiential marketing agency Department Zero, notes brands are seeing the benefit in hosting these experiences because they make it possible for graduating students to still share memorable moments with family and friends, albeit in a nontraditional way. “Brands sponsoring or being involved with graduation isn’t anything new, but now they have a captive audience that can definitely see their messaging. It’s an opportunity for brands to come in and play a bigger role,” Soseman says. “Graduating from high school or college sticks out in your memory, but graduating in 2020 in particular will stick out, because it was that time when we couldn’t leave our houses.” Prom in your living room When local governments began issuing stay-at-home mandates in March—and it was clear in-person gatherings would be unsafe, indefinitely—Jack in the Box was one of the first brands to announce plans for a virtual prom as part of a larger stay-at-home campaign. The fast-food brand started to tease the event on its social channels in early spring, leaving followers wondering: What exactly does a virtual prom look like? The brand ended up hosting its virtual Prom in the Box on May 9, creating two experiences on Zoom for Rolling Hills Prep and Polytechnic High School in California. The brand also expanded the event to the public with livestreams on its Instagram and Twitch accounts. [kickout id="4"] Adrienne Ingoldt, svp and chief brand and experience officer for Jack in the Box, explains the brand wanted to deliver a feel-good moment to high school students—and offer a culturally relevant livestream for brand fans. “We uncanceled prom and became the first quick-service restaurant to make prom a virtual experience,” she says. “When we first started planning, we wanted to partner directly with schools in order to create a very custom experience for them since we knew how important this night was.” Jack in the Box hosted two private Zooms for the schools so classmates could have a shared experience at home with the option of using custom backgrounds. The brand tapped YouTube personality Jesse Wellens to host the event at home, with remote DJ sets from Diplo and Dillon Francis. The event also included surprise pop-ins from rap duo Rae Sremmurd and TikTok star Jalaiah Harmon. To offer viewers some prom necessities, the brand integrated sponsors digitally for physical deliveries, providing Uber Eats codes for discounted and free meals, and promo codes for flowers from 1-800-Flowers, dresses from Lulus and tuxedos from Black Tux. [kickout id="3"] Jack in the Box worked with Nice Sweater, a digital experiential division of marketing shop Cashmere Agency, to execute the event. According to the brand, the #PromInTheBox hashtag drew 30 million impressions on social, and six custom Giphy stickers generated more than 12,300 views. “Outside of quantitative numbers, Nice Sweater and Jack in the Box wanted to do something that would recreate the human connectivity that consumers are missing during these unprecedented times,” says Ted Chung, chairman of Cashmere Agency. “We know consumers want more than just products; they want deeper connections to the brands they purchase from. This virtual experience was a safe space for the students to be with their friends and, most importantly, recreated the moment each senior had been looking forward to all year long.” Jack in the Box isn’t the only brand that has hosted a virtual prom this season. DJ D-Nice and social app and group video chat platform Houseparty, arguably the two biggest breakout stars of quarantine, joined forces last week to host their own prom, which was open to the public. [kickout id="1"] D-Nice, who’s become known for his Club Quarantine sets on Instagram Live, spun tunes during a three-hour event that invited guests to download the Houseparty app and dance to sets with friends. Groups also had the option of “personalizing” their prom by tapping a TV icon to bring his set into their virtual room. American Eagle also got in on the virtual action with its #AExMEProm on May 14, featuring performances and appearances by Tinashe, Cheer star Jerry Harris and electronic group Cash Cash. More than 17,000 viewers tuned in via Zoom and YouTube for the event, which raised funds for America’s Food Fund. [kickout id="5"] And Teen Vogue will leverage Zoom to host a virtual prom on May 16, led by Teen Vogue editor in chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner and presented in partnership with Axe and OGX. The event will offer a massive lineup of performances and celebrity appearances—by Ava Max, Beanie Feldstein, Chloe x Halle and H.E.R., to name a few—as well as curated playlists, custom backdrops and pre-event newsletter content that includes styling advice and dance prep. “Brands should be doing anything to elevate the experience and make it larger than life,” Soseman says. “Whether that’s through bringing in celebrities, delivering goodies or offering ways for students to connect with each other, brands should want to offer comfort and assurance.” Cue up Pomp and Circumstance (on your home speaker) A university's standard commencement ceremony might have one high-profile speaker. But brands are hosting virtual commencements to offer graduates a full slate of celebrity speakers—and leveraging sponsorships to support the class of 2020 as they head into an uncertain future, with U.S. unemployment above 20% due to the pandemic. When colleges began sending students home in March, the team at Her Campus, a digital media platform targeted toward female college students, began brainstorming ways to support its audience and the class of 2020 as a whole. [kickout id="6"] “One thing that kept coming up from our audience on social media was this huge letdown seniors were feeling about not getting to have that momentous and exciting day they had looked forward to their entire college career,” says Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, co-founder and editor in chief of Her Campus. “This was something we’re in a position to be able to solve. We wanted to create a unifying experience that, while virtual, could still be just as big as that in-person graduation experience.” Her Campus will broadcast #ImStillGraduating, a virtual ceremony, live today on a custom event site, the brand’s multiple media properties and social channels. The brand is using Vimeo to stream a combination of live and prerecorded content, including speeches from celebrities like Margaret Cho, Tamron Hall, Billie Jean King, Eva Longoria and Andrew Yang. The brand also invited students to apply to speak or perform, with selected students incorporated into live portions of the event with host and Her Campus co-founder Windsor Hanger Western. “The benefit of having a virtual event like this is there’s no reason to only hear from one or two people,” Lewis said. “We really found this as an opportunity to bring in speakers from so many different industries who could touch on a lot of things in their messages.” [kickout id="9"] Elaina Featherstone, vp of marketing and events at Her Campus, said while the brand has hosted virtual events before, it hasn’t produced anything of this scale. She said the goal was to create as interactive of an experience as possible, so the brand crafted pre-event features on its website. Attendees could create graduation profiles, make graduation announcements to share with family and friends and create and share video messages for the class of 2020. “Within the site, we wanted to give them as many chances as possible to showcase what they’ve done as graduates, but also be able to share tons of content with their family and friends,” Featherstone says. “That’s been the most valuable part. We’re able to get in touch with our audience virtually but in a way that still feels personal.” [article_summary section="2"]#ImStillGraduating has multiple sponsors, and Kaplan Lewis notes the brand wanted to integrate them in a “timely, appropriate and sensitive” way. [kickout id="7"] First Aid Beauty is sponsoring the event as part of its FAB Aid program, committing $1 million to pay back student loans for applicants from the class of 2018 to 2020. The brand partnered with Aussie Hair Care to launch the Aussie Business Plan Competition, which will help fund 20 Gen Zers' business ideas in 2020. And sponsor Sallie Mae’s Funded Futures Competition will award four graduates $25,000 each, announcing winners during the broadcast. Additionally, Her Campus partnered with Active Minds, a nonprofit dedicated to raising mental health awareness among college students. To amplify the organization’s "Here for You" campaign, Her Campus will encourage attendees to post a custom sticker on their social platforms to show support for those struggling with mental health issues during the pandemic. Natural Light took an approach similar to Her Campus with its Worldwide Commencement, which streamed on Facebook Live on May 14. Actress Amanda Cerny hosted the event, which featured speeches from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and actress Jane Lynch. While the event was public, seniors could RSVP on an event microsite to have their names read during the ceremony. “We’re a brand known for celebrating milestones with our fans, and commencement is normally one of those major moments,” says Daniel Blake, vp of U.S. value brands at AB InBev. “With college commencements getting canceled, we knew we had to step in and create a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those missing out.” [kickout id="2"] To help out graduates, AB InBev also pledged to donate $1 million to fans with college debt as part of its 10-year, $10 million college debt relief program; it's also hiring a remote intern this summer to help develop its next product. Hennessy and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund have also amped up efforts to help college grads. Following the virtual National HBCU Commencement Celebration on May 16 with Barack Obama, the cognac brand and the nonprofit will sponsor the #HBCUGradParty with D-Nice on Instagram Live. Hennessy brand ambassadors Nas and A$AP Ferg will make appearances during the event, which will raise funds for historically black colleges and universities. The partners will also use the event to welcome the next cohort of Hennessy Fellows, a program introduced in 2019 that provides select HBCU grad students corporate development experiences and financial assistance. And in the wake of Covid-19, they are working to launch an online academy in June, offering HBCU students 21 and over access to corporate learning programs and insights from C-suite leaders. Soseman noted that brands should aim to help students better position themselves for postgrad life as part of their involvement with virtual commencements. “Every brand has the opportunity to help set up students for success after this, but it depends on what kind of offering the brand has and how they want to participate,” he says. “This could be helping them learn how to put together a better resume, prepare for a job interview or learn how to control finances.” [kickout id="8"] [article_summary section="3"]Student participation is a major focus for upcoming commencements from Facebook and Teen Vogue, too. The social network is livestreaming its #Graduation2020: Facebook and Instagram Celebrate the Class of 2020 today, and launched a virtual hub earlier this week with features to help celebrate graduates. These include augmented reality graduation speech and cap filters, and a guide for how to create your own virtual ceremony via Facebook Live. Teen Vogue is following up on its prom with a commencement presented by Adobe on May 31. While the event will stream speeches from celebs and public figures like Stacey Abrams and Tracee Ellis Ross, the magazine also partnered with TED to invite graduating high school and college seniors to apply to deliver speeches. As many as 10 students will be featured on Teen Vogue’s platforms, while two students will be selected to receive coaching from the TED team to deliver two-minute speeches during the livestream. Soseman said brands that provide students ways to actively participate in these virtual commencements or proms—be it through submitting speeches or making videos—will leave a more positive and meaningful impression on attendees. “A lot of people will log on and watch, but the ability to have students get involved is key,” he says. “That human-to-human connection is what is missing across the entire planet right now. Anything that bridges that gap will be very powerful."

Experiential Marketing

2020 Is the Year of Virtual Proms and Graduations, With Help From Brands

Jack in the Box, Her Campus and Natural Light deliver digital alternatives to milestone events throughout May

Ian Zelaya

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Ian Zelaya