Facebook Goes Offline

People are using ‘Facebook terminology’ more and more in general conversation so it’s not that surprising that a ‘Facebook verb’ was named as The New Oxford American Dictionary’s ‘word of the year’ last year.

Brands are always keen to talk to consumers in ‘their language’ so many of them are starting to harness this trend and make use of ‘Facebook terminology’ in their ads as a result. In fact, Skive were involved in one such campaign last year for Nestlé Skinny Cow.

I’ve noticed that some brands are now taking this a step further by including what appears to be a very clear visual reference to the Facebook ‘like’ or ‘thumbs up’ in their ads. The ad below for First Direct is one such example (pardon the bad photo, but you get the idea) and I saw a supermarket (I think maybe Sainsbury’s) use a similar reference in an ad just before Christmas.

Obviously people have been using the ‘thumbs up’ sign for years as it has very old origins, but it seems that some advertisers now feel it resonates more with audiences given its use as part of the current Facebook experience.