TheMarketingblog

Swearing, emojis and NSFW celebs: the quirks of marketing to Brits

With consumer confidence levels plunging into negative territory courtesy of Brexit concerns, marketing to British consumers has become a tricky business.

Whilst it’s common sense that any marketing strategy will need to localise itself around the cultural preferences of each demographic, research carried out by Mailjet throughout 2016 has upset quite a few assumptions marketers might have about how British consumers like to be approached by brands.

Using its database of over 15,000 unique identities, Mailjet has uncovered that in particular Brits are the most likely to respond to the use of swearing (29% boost in open rate), emojis (63%) and NSFW celebrity gossip (78%) in the content brands share with them. But this response is certainly not characteristic of other regions, with open rates actually dropping by 11% among French recipients from the use of emojis for example.

Amir Jirbandey, Marketing Manager at Mailjet, would like to explore how marketers should be using different countries’ quirks to improve their comms. This could look at:

  • Why it’s okay to use (the right) swear words, emojis and NSFW content when targeting Brits
  • How British reactions differ from the rest of Europe and America and how to adjust tactics accordingly
  • The best channels to test the water for these more creative approaches