Kraft Macaroni & Cheese’s Mac & Jinx game on Twitter is an excellent representation of a social media campaign that is designed to generate a memorable and meaningful idea.
Mac & Jinx is an interactive game developed by the ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which is based on the traditional kids’ game of jinxing. The game is simple, easy to understand, fun and non-intrusive.
How it works:
When two people tweet about mac & cheese, they each receive a message and the first one to call “jinx” by clicking on the URL wins five boxes of mac & cheese and an official Mac & Jinx T-shirt.
Why it works:
By simply searching a given key term and identifying two people who tweet about the same phrase at the same time, Kraft is able to track down potential fans on Twitter using this low-cost method. The benefits of this campaign include improving goodwill, increasing their follower base and creating positive word-of-mouth buzz on the social network.
This campaign proves that a big budget is not necessary to generate big results, but rather that some of the most effective campaigns come from small budgets that are able to deliver substantial impact.
Something Pinteresting is happening and Marketers are paying close attention to this engaging platform. Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, LinkedIn and YouTube combined, according to Shareaholic’s Referral Traffic Report. These latest findings are based on aggregated data from more than 200,000 publishers that reach more than 260 million unique monthly visitors each month. In her recent post, Hannah discusses the fast-growing and wide-spread popularity of Pinterest and how this visually engaging platform is an excellent use for brands to connect with their audience.
Kate Spade recently launched their brand on Pinterest and represents a perfect example of a brand that is leading the pack in realizing that Pinterest is an attractive opportunity, particular in connecting with women. When Kate Spade was established in 1993, the handbag maker’s target audience were 40-year-old, suburban mothers who loved “vibrant bags with classic lines.” Today, this focus has shifted towards a younger and global demographic, as exemplified by the fresh, vibrant and modern design and aesthetic of the brand. Kate Spade was successful in repositioning their brand not only because they updated their products, but also because of their use of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach this new, younger target market. Now, they’ve ventured into the world of Pinterest.
Instead of purely pinning products that Kate Spade sells, the strategy behind the brand’s marketing is to use the platform in the same way that their consumers do. Kate Spade uses Pinterest to pin inspiring pictures that fit well with the brand, thus acting as a public mood board for the brand. A mood board is simply a collage of related images that marketers often use internally while preparing for campaigns or a new design in order for the team to gain inspiration and visualize what the end product should be like and get a feel for the emotions the product should evoke.
Here are some examples of these pretty pictures:
When asked what the business objective behind this move was, Johanna Murphy, Kate Spade’s VP of Ecommerce confirmed that the strategy was purely to establish brand presence: “It’s for presence. It’s to communicate our brand: who we are, what we believe in, that’s it. And I believe that those who will succeed in Pinterest, from a brand perspective, will take that attitude because if you go up there and start just pinning your own stuff, without having the mood and the spirit of the community, you know, you’re going to turn people off.”
According to just-released June 2011 data from Google, YouTube is the world’s second most popular website right behind Facebook, with 790 million visitors per month and 100 billion pageviews. Every second, one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube. That’s 24 hours every 24 seconds… or a decade every single day. Google has launched an awesome and engaging website and an animated video to visualize and put in context some of the extraordinary numbers of the popular video social network. Get ready for an enjoyable user experience and simply delicious visual treat!
In today’s digital age, many Super Bowl viewers spent commercial breaks going online to see what other people were saying about the game on Facebook and Twitter. Advertisers are leveraging social media to extend the buzz and reach of their ads, essentially creating a longer lifespan for the most expensive television ads of the year. Global brands such as Coca-Cola to Volkswagen have spent record-breaking sums to secure the most valuable and prime television slots in advertising.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year: $3.5 million, or about three cents per viewer. This is up from $3 million from last year’s Super Bowl. And this number doesn’t even count the cost to actually create the ad, which can easily run into the millions. So, there definitely be enough ROI to justify the premium being paid.
Social media is the logical way to best capitalize on the combination of sports engagement, the Super Bowl, and the viewer’s desire to share their thoughts and opinions on the game and the commercials in real time. Although there still are questions on how exactly to measure the impact of social media with a consistent, industry-accepted method, companies win when people keep talking about their commercials for days on Facebook and Twitter. This is the power and beauty of the buzz factor.
Companies have fully evolved their Super Bowl marketing strategies to emphasize equal weight on broadcast and social media buzz. The key purpose and call to action of most Super Bowl broadcast spots is to drive folks to socially tweet, like, share or mention their spots.
Frito-Lay is an excellent demonstration of how a leading brand has fully embraced user-generated content to pull in their audience. According to Ann Mukherjee, Chief Marketing Officer at Frito-Lay, “People don’t want to be told what they like; people want to tell you what they like.” It’s no surprise that this strong belief and accurate understanding of the consumer’s mind has generated an extremely effective and engaging campaign. The Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” campaign challenged fans to submit a Super Bowl-worthy commercial with the top prize of winning cash, working with The Lonely Island and obviously bragging rights of having millions of eyeballs viewing their spots.
PepsiCo announced that its consumer-created Doritos brand commercial “Man’s Best Friend” ranked No. 1 in USA Today‘s annual Super Bowl Ad Meter. The ad’s creator, Jonathan Friedman, earned a $1 million cash bonus prize. TiVo also released this year’s top 10 most engaging Super Bowl commercials and moments based on its anonymous audience research data, and Doritos’ user-created “Man’s Best Friend” commercial took the winning lead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3bqbJduK2w
In addition, Dorito’s consumer-generated “Sling Baby,” created by Kevin T. Willson, scored No. 4 on the Ad Meter.
http://youtu.be/4GIeIpcRv7o
These two consumer-created Doritos ads were among five finalists that were hand picked by the Doritos brand out of over 6,100 total submissions. This year also boasted a record year for the contest as well, with the most consumer-created ad submissions ever and an exceptional level of consumer votes.
Doritos also won Mullen’s “Brand Bowl 2012” based on 400,000 tweets monitored by the Boston ad agency. Doritos was the most effective brand to advertise on the Super Bowl telecast on NBC. Brand Bowl ranks brands based on volume of chatter and positive or negative commentary on Twitter in reaction to their Super Bowl commercials.
What was your favourite Super Bowl commercial this year and what did you think of the Doritos’ consumer-created commercials?
According to Edelman’s 2010 goodpurpose study, the traditional marketing mix consisting of Product, Price, Placement and Promotion has, if not should make some room to embrace a new adoption to the age-old family of four. Meet the fifth “P”: Purpose.
Let’s look at some sexy stats to help set up this story, shall we?
When choosing between two brands of equal quality and price, social purpose continues to rank as the number one deciding factor for global consumers above design, innovation and brand loyalty
66% are more likely to take action in supporting a company with a purpose by recommending its products or services
64% believe it is no longer enough for corporations to give money; they must integrate good causes into their everyday business
It’s no surprise to see several companies integrating cause marketing by placing efforts into doing good and helping social and charitable causes. Traditionally, companies would pump in “Purpose” into their brands through cause marketing by teaming up with a non-profit organization. Fast forward into today’s digital era and we see the game-changing role social media has played in shifting the landscape of cause marketing. Enter Cause Marketing 2.0, where brands and non-profits are able to spread their message in new ways through the power of social media and user-generated content. Thus, establishing their position in their own legitimate right.
The success of Tom’s “One Day Without Shoes” video campaign is a fascinating case study and excellent representation of what a beautiful marriage between social media marketing and cause marketing looks like. Toms Shoes is a for-profit, buy-one-give-one shoe company with a social cause.
Based on a simple idea of empowering others to become your video advocates and channeling the power of pull marketing, Toms leveraged YouTube by asking users to create their own original videos endorsing the campaign. There was a strong response ranging from skateboarders to YouTube guru Mitchell Davis and even celebrities Kirsten Bell and Jonas Brothers.
Better yet, watch this inspiring campaign video to see for yourself!
The big wins that define the success of this compelling movement:
YouTube users indirectly promoted the product by default, generating buzz and building brand awareness
This platform costs way less than traditional outlets like TV and out-of-home billboards, effectively allowing Tom’s to keep expenses lean and trim
Tom’s has settled nicely in a unique and established position of being in the middle ground between charity and big business
Customers support the movement by actively participating in events and even being advocates and ambassadors for the brand
I myself am a proud owner of a pair of Tom’s shoes. Initially, I was attracted to the style and comfort of the product. But upon discovering the story behind the shoes, my willingness to purchase just spiked off the chart. I remember wearing them one day and receiving a compliment about them from a complete stranger. Without hesitation, I immediately shared the story about the cause. What can I say? It does feel good to participate in something that raises awareness for a good cause, especially one that is preventable and actually possible to fix. So, after my passionate plug, the stranger and I went our separate ways and I was left with this rare and delightful “A-HA!” thought: Cause Marketing 2.0 done right is pure marketing magic.
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