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Marketing

3 Times Brands Used Discord for Branding And To Engage Communities

MM
Matt Montenegro Founder & CEO
04/07/2022 5 min
TL;DR

Discord gives brands channels, roles, and real-time conversation for a defined community. Samsung separated gamers from Web3 fans, Gucci tied access to member roles, and Jack in the Box built a Comic-Con afterparty.

  • Why it matters: A server can collect instant feedback and make members part of an event or product conversation.
  • How it works: Text rooms, audio channels, custom roles, and moderation separate interests within one branded community.
  • Case in point: Samsung split gamers and Web3 fans, while Gucci offered special roles to its first 20,000 members.
  • Reality check: The article's examples were rooted in fandoms, NFTs, and Comic-Con, giving members a reason to return.

The year is 2015 and, if you were a gamer at this time, you might remember how difficult it was to interact with your friends when playing online and remotely with them. If you’re not a gamer, I can explain it to you. We only had TeamSpeak (if someone could pay for it) and Skype, which wasn’t made for gaming. From this necessity, Discord was born.

Discord is basically a platform where you can create your own private server, with text rooms, audio channels, a role system that you can customize for each member of your community, and many different features. Like its presentation mode and customized chatbots that can record content from specific channels, for example.

With all these features and serving to bring together a loyal and engaged community, it was just a matter of time until Discord would serve greater purposes, especially in Marketing plans for big brands, such as Samsung, which is testing the platform for their metaverse Marketing strategy. Check out these 3 examples of brands that are using Discord in their Marketing strategies:

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Brands on Discord and their Marketing strategies

Samsung and their metaverse strategy

During NFT.NYC last week, Samsung said it has been expanding the ways it interacts with Web3 fans, creating digital experiences and virtual wearables, such as branded NFTs. Let’s go to the numbers: according to Digiday, only 12 hours after the company’s server debuted, it reached more than 100,000 new members. 

According to Michelle Crossan-Matos, SVP and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Samsung Electronics America, the brand is treating the platform “like a conversation in Times Square and a billboard.”

The server basically consists of two separate rooms for key audiences: gamers and Web3 fans interested in NFT or metaverse-related topics.

But creating a server isn’t enough, you must interact with your community and keep them engaged, and Discord is a perfect place to do so. 

What’s especially wild is how these servers, at least for a moment, feel like digital equivalents of old-school fan clubs—except with more memes and the ability to jump into an audio chat while half-asleep in different time zones. Moderators, sometimes just superfans turned semi-professionals, have a pretty interesting job balancing hype, keeping out bots, and making sure conversations don’t go off the rails. It’s not always smooth—there’s the occasional flood of off-topic chatter, or awkward attempts at brand banter, but that’s honestly part of the charm, even when it’s a bit cringe.

Another thing: Discord’s structure makes it easy for brands to create almost “sub-communities” tailored to different interests or fandoms under one digital roof. If you’re a sneakerhead, a digital artist, or just chasing the regular giveaways, it’s possible to find or create a channel that fits. It’s not quite chaos, but it can feel like a busy house party where everyone’s slipped into different rooms, each one with its own running joke and occasional drama. The sense of belonging there—manufactured or not—is at least something traditional social media pages never quite nailed.

The Gucci Vault

Gucci also created its own server on Discord as a part of a NFT strategy. Recently, the luxury brand shared an invite to its Discord server via Twitter. And, since we’re talking about an exclusive brand, there’s nothing better than creating exclusive experiences for its community. The first 20,000 members would gain special roles and the ability to access NFT-focused channels.

In two days, it had more than 28,000 members. Due to this successful case, Kering, Gucci’s parent company, opened an opportunity for a professional to manage its Discord server and presence.

Jack in the Box’s Comic-con Afterparty

Last year, Comic-Con had its second virtual edition due to COVID-19, and that made brands look to engage with their audience through the proper channels. The San Diego-based fast-food chain chose Discord to do so, and what a great choice. With its new “Jack’s Late Night Discord” server, the brand saw 7,664 users interacting across a weekend, with more than 27,000 messages.

Jack in the Box’s strategy also included a virtual concert with a superhero-themed band, The Aquabats, interactive channels dedicated to Funko Pop figures, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the DC Universes.

“We wanted to ensure Jack in the Box was taking an authentic approach to its own late night and building equity with gamers and comic book fans with a culture first approach,” said Ryan Ostrom, Jack in the Box’s CMO, via emailed comments. “Discord was the perfect platform to host our digital after party because it allowed us to take a personalized approach in engaging with our communities.”

How can brands use Discord to build a solid community strategy?

Of course, with NFT and metaverse news popping up in every corner of the web, community-based platforms would become popular, but it’s important to understand that platforms like Discord aren’t going to become the new TikTok or something like that.

For brands, Discord is a channel to talk to your community, receive instant feedback, and have a literal bidirectional conversation with interested users. Remember, your brand mustn’t be the highlight here, but the relationship it builds and how to make users feel like they’re a real part of what’s being created, not just waiting for the creation to be ready for their like (or dislike, in some cases).

Frequently Asked Questions

How can a brand organize a Discord server for different audiences?

Use channels and roles around the interests that brought members in. The article describes Samsung creating separate spaces for gamers and Web3 fans, while Discord itself provides text rooms, audio channels, and a customizable role system. That structure lets a brand give each group a relevant place to talk without splitting the whole community into separate servers.

What made Jack in the Box's Discord event fit its audience?

Jack in the Box built a virtual Comic-Con afterparty around subjects its audience could discuss, including Funko Pop figures and superhero universes. The event also included a performance and interactive channels. The article reports 7,664 users and more than 27,000 messages across the weekend, showing that the server was designed as participation rather than a static announcement.

Why does moderation matter in a branded Discord community?

Moderation helps keep a community usable when multiple conversations and member roles share the same server. The article notes that Discord communities can create sub-communities for different interests and describes moderators balancing discussion while keeping bots and off-topic activity under control. A branded space needs that attention if members are expected to keep contributing to it.

MM Matt Montenegro

Matt Montenegro

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