📷 Image Credit: Teen Vogue 👆By: Mary Retta TL;DR "Normal" morning rituals are the same except...the commute to virtual class for those who don't typically home school. Online school is a reality for many people this year. While it's a significant change to be taking classes at home for some, a few things are staying the same, such as taking the same courses, doing the same homework, and, surprisingly, having the same dress code. A student from Knoxville, Tennessee, confirmed her principal's message making it very clear over their online orientation that the dress code would remain strongly enforced over zoom. Most school virtual class dress code enforcement includes NO PJs or blankets worn during virtual class. The other rules are the same as if attending school on campus. Students must wear pants/shorts showing the waistband, no hats, and dresses and skirts must remain past finger length. The idea behind the dress code makes sense; the teachers want as little distraction as possible while teaching virtually. We have no idea how they will enforce these rules when some adult coworkers aren't even wearing pants on zoom; however, it is admirable that the rules are staying the same. We know dress codes have been rules for some students to rebel against. It will be interesting to see social media posts for those students who like to push the rule boundaries. Sources:Teen Vogue Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Mobile Marketer 👆By: Robert Williams TL;DR Häagen-Daz's "Secret Sofa" campaign is a massive hit. Movies, ice cream, and feeling like you're part of a secret society equal winning combination. Häagen-Dazs came out with a series, 'Secret Sofa,' and it was a hit. The ice cream company partnered with the storytelling company Secret Cinema to make its 8-week series come to life. What was the secret sauce to their success? Each week, viewers would sign up for the secret streaming service, Secret Cinema, with offers from Häagen-Dazs pairing ice cream flavors with the movie and entering the viewers in a drawing to win free ice cream. They also offered tips on how to make specialty cocktails using their ice cream via blog posts. They also delivered; Häagen-Dazs paired up with an Amazon subscription to get the ice cream to their customers asap. All of this combined made for a fantastic campaign driving a massive increase in sales. But that's not all; they also paired with influencers to promote their ice cream on various platforms such as Instagram. Facebook, and TikTok. This series and strategy were SUPER successful for Häagen-Dazs. The eight-week home entertainment series is an excellent example of how brand collaborations adapt their marketing directives during the global pandemic. Statistically, the brand's buzz score among women increased fourfold. Their consideration score hit a two-year high with targeted influencer activity on social media. Their "Secret Sofa" series received 80,000 new subscribers and had three times more engagement than industry benchmarks on Instagram. GREAT job! Sources:Mobile Marketer Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Search Engine Journal 👆By: Matt Southern TL;DR Let the platform war to keep creators begin! TikTok is dedicating $200 million to fund their best users. TikTok is introducing a $200 million fund to pay users in the U.S. for creating content over the coming year. Officials at TikTok said they are creating the fund to further support their creators and encourage people to use their voices to inspire creativity on the app. They also said they want to give some hope and opportunity to creators who want to make a livelihood through the app, making it possible to be a full-time content creator for TikTok. The TikTok creator fund will start to take applications in August. In order to qualify, users must be at least 18 years old, live in the US, meet a baseline number of followers, and consistently post content that doesn't violate the community guidelines. These qualifications are pretty vague, but we think they will become clearer when the application is actually released. For now, we don't know what the baseline of followers will be or how often one must post to be considered a "consistent poster." We don't even know what kinds of content they are looking to fund. We do know that their main goal is to keep the TikTok stars they have and give money to the dedicated and creative content creators on the app. Money talks! Sources:Search Engine Journal Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: Hospitality Net TL;DR TikTok is the platform to master if your goal is reaching a big Gen Z audience. Meliá Hotels figured this out and decided whom better to market to GenZ than GenZ themselves. Meliá Hotels International is targeting the next generation of travelers for its TikTok marketing strategy by hiring GenZ, with GenZ as its target market. The hotel company is working with the "UNTWO World Tourism Students League," which will connect them with 59 Universities all over the world. The University marketing teams are charged with creating the strategy and launch for the hotel's debut on TikTok. Meliá Hotels is hoping to gain authentic acceptance from future GenZ customers by building brand recognition with TikTok GenZ users. The University winning team will be invited to one of the company hotels in Mallorca to develop the pilot project. About 70% of the users on TikTok belong to the GenZ age group, with the app having more than 800 million users, and Meliá Hotels International hopes to hire GenZ to engage with GenZ will be the winning combination. Sources:Hospitality Net Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor

📷 Image Credit: AZFamily.com 👆 TL;DR With most in-person events being canceled, there is a need to get creative to keep young people engaged and entertained. YouTube is attempting to recreate the enchantment of outdoor summertime camp right in your own backyard. It is understandably challenging for parents to be working from home and also parenting from home full-time over the summer. Because parents are pulling double duty, there has been a spike in online searches for virtual summer camps as parents, grandparents, and guardians attempt to keep the fun of summer camp at home. Luckily there are several great options to consider on Youtube that can help keep kids at every age learning and entertained. For kids who like adventure, explore.org is a great option to bring the outside in. This is meant for kids over the age of 13, where they have the ability to learn science fieldwork and watch unedited footage of animals in their wild habitat. For those younger, they also have special comprehensive sections for children who fall under the age of 13. There are also many other options for kids' interests ranging from the arts to sports and for STEM lovers. You can find these camps at learnathome.withyoutube.com. Youtube is a far cry from the real deal, but it's better than nothing and allows kids to continue to partake in activities that create the feeling of summertime fun online. Sources:AZFamily.com Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor