Marketing 3.0.

NASA | #GlobalSelfie

2016-09-12T20:14:00.001+03:00

In 2014, NASA found a way to get people excited about collaborating on a creative project it called the Global Selfie. By gathering photos that people posted of their environment, NASA created a mosaic of the entire world. The result is pretty incredible.

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/2014-globalselfie-wrap-up/#.V9blJjtfSF5

Marc Jacobs| #CastMeMarc

2016-09-12T19:50:00.002+03:00

Want to find fresh talent and build brand awareness at the same time? That's exactly what Marc Jacobs did when he sought out to find the face of his new contemporary label. For the chance to star in the fashion icon's next campaign, all you had to do was share a photo of yourself on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #CastMeMarc. Marc announced the winner of his online casting call from his personal Twitter page.

ALS Association| Ice Bucket Challenge

2016-09-12T19:29:00.001+03:00

The Ice Bucket Challenge is now considered one of the legendary social media campaigns of all time after using a simple (but unpleasant and hilarious) challenge to raise over $115 million dollars for a disease that most people had never even heard of.

What helped propel the virality was the fact that people were publicly challenging their friends and family on social media, which made them more likely to get involved than someone asking for a retweet.

http://www.alsa.org

Kraft Foods A.1. |For Almost Everything. Almost.

2016-09-12T18:35:00.002+03:00

Kraft Foods has decided to re-brand A.1. by removing "steak" from their name and encouraging people to use the sauce on almost everything.

The posted this screenshot of their Facebook fan page changing their relationship with steak to "it's complicated."

Consumers can be resistant to a re-branding if your product has been solidified in their mind as one thing, but using humor and social media is a great way to build awareness and get people excited.

Marvel| Ant-Man Mini Billboards

2016-09-12T18:25:00.001+03:00

To build hype for their upcoming movie, the marketing team behind Ant-Man placed tiny billboards in Australian cities.

Naturally, people reacted in the only way you would expect in 2015 when seeing something out of the ordinary, they posted pictures of it on social media. This is a genius way to get people talking about your brand, without asking them to.

Airbnb| #treehousetuesdays

2016-09-12T18:21:00.001+03:00

A great way to get people excited about your brand is to offer them the chance to experience something unique. With #treehousetuesday, Airbnb features photos of actual listings in their service that allow you to spend the night in a real-life tree house. Judging from the engagement on this photo, I'd say it's working well for them.

Head any direction from this Washington state treehouse, and you’ll find something extraordinary to explore. A five-mile stroll north gets you to quaint village-within-the-city Fairhaven, find the majestic Skagit River Valley 20 minutes south, head east for the waterfalls of the North Cascades, or venture west to board a ferry to the San Juan Islands. #TreehouseTuesday Click the link in our bio to check out this listing's nature-inspired design. Photo cred: @moneal
A photo posted by Airbnb (@airbnb) on Apr 26, 2016 at 5:19pm PDT

Offbeat Bride| Altar Your Thinking

2016-09-12T18:12:00.001+03:00

Offbeat Bride is a wedding website that brings high-quality content curation to social media -- pinning their own content and other useful content for their followers to explore.

Their Pinterest account is a must-follow for brides-to-be, providing ideas for engagement photos, wedding venues, dresses, and much more, along with some of the most creative wedding ideas you've ever seen.

While more of an every practice than a campaign, their sharing attracts a great deal of fan attention and interaction.

Samsung| Celebrity Selfie

2016-09-12T18:07:00.003+03:00

Who could forget the star-studded selfie from the 2014 Oscars that received 1 million retweets in 45 minutes? While this isn't technically a campaign, it was a great accidental social marketing by Samsung.

Diesel| Road to Tokyo #forsuccessfulliving

2016-09-12T13:38:00.001+03:00

To celebrate 30 years in Japan, this week, Diesel created a shoppable video that was shown ahead of its FW16 runway show in Tokyo.

The cinematic short, titled “Road to Tokyo,” follows several Diesel models around the capital as they prepare for their catwalk appearance.

In the film, icons appear over the models. Once clicked, these display the different items they are wearing. Users then have the option to save them to a personal “look book” or follow a link to buy on the Diesel store right there and then.

Part of its #forsuccessfulliving campaign, the video is unusual in that it aired ahead of the catwalk — meaning users had an earlier peek into the collection to “see-now-buy-now” before the press and attendees. This is a trend that’s featured heavily in New York Fashion Week.

Welcome to Tokyo Diesel style. Click on our bio to watch the full story. #fw16
A video posted by Diesel (@diesel) on Sep 6, 2016 at 5:03am PDT

Oreo|

2016-09-12T05:09:00.001+03:00

Oreo found a great way to engage their fans by posting DIY content on Vine. Fast tips like these do very well on the platform and it gave Oreo a unique opportunity to engage with their fans and see how they engage with their product.

Pepsi | #LiveForNow

2016-09-12T04:59:00.001+03:00

This might be difficult for most companies to pull off unless you have a large enough budget to make room for these special effects. As part of Pepsi's #livefornow campaign, they created this incredible bus shelter in London that's designed to get funny reaction from people. This is one you really have to watch.

Doritos | #crashthesuperbowl

2016-09-12T04:43:00.002+03:00

Doritos utilizes two great strategies in this campaign: highlighting user-generated content and building off of the buzz from a huge event -- the Superbowl. This social media contest allows fans to submit their Doritios commercials and the winner gets their video on TV during the Superbowl, along with other cool prizes.

Kohls | #PeterSomForKohls

2016-09-12T04:39:00.001+03:00

A lot of brands are undecided on how to leverage Google+, because it doesn't fit neatly into one category of social media. However, Kohls has found a way to leverage the popularity of influencers to promote their Peter Som line of clothing on Google+ -- while still keeping it fun for the fans.

CapitalOne | Personable Brand Voice

2016-09-12T04:33:00.002+03:00

Banks and other financial institutions generally don't do a great job of connecting with people through social media. (Amex is the notable exception.) However, CaptialOne does a great job of consistently posting snappy and relatable content on their LinkedIn page. This is a reminder that "serious" businesses can get away with keeping it casual on social media.

Tiffany | Tiffany Blue by

2016-09-12T04:27:00.002+03:00

Sugar Pop Wishes shows you can position your brand around nearly anything to increase brand awareness -- in their case it's around their signature blue. Instagram users posts tens of thousands of photos with the hashtag #tiffanyblue and many of the blue items have nothing to do with Tiffany.

40th birthday cake balls 🎂4⃣0⃣ #sugarpopwishes #cakeballs #40thbirthday #turning40 #tiffanyblue #tiffanybluecake #bentonville #homemade
A photo posted by Sugar Pop Wishes (@sugarpopwishes) on Aug 21, 2015 at 12:36pm PDT

Urban Decay | Get Electric. Festival Style.

2016-09-11T19:23:00.002+03:00

Urban Decay built a social campaign on Pinterest where users could submit their best recreations of makeup styles that they've seen at their favorite music festivals. Throughout the campaign Urban Decay gave away free festival tickets to Pinterest users that created the best boards featuring festival looks.

Essence | Justin Bieber Believe Tour Sponsorship

2016-09-11T19:18:00.001+03:00

The European beauty brand Essence made the most of their sponsorship of Justin Bieber's Believe Tour by creating social media events around each show.

They gave away free products at shows and offered various sweepstakes that highlighted user-generated content as contest entries for free tickets and other prizes.

Not only did they generate a lot of interest in their own brand, but they helped build buzz around each of the shows on the tour. The campaign resulted in 263 million brand impressions, 82,615 brand expressions, and 35 percent of on-site activation through social.

National Geographic | My Nat Geo Covershot

2016-09-11T19:14:00.001+03:00

National Geographic launched a Facebook contest where their fans had a chance to have their own photo featured on the cover of the magazine and win two tickets for a free vacation. All the fans had to do was upload their photos and caption it and they were automatically entered to win.

Samuel Adams| April Fools: Helium Beer

2016-09-11T19:09:00.005+03:00

This is a perfect example of leveraging a holiday to create a viral piece of social content. The beer maker Sam Adams posted this video across their social media platforms, showing off their new helium beer as an April Fools prank. You have to watch the video to see why it was such a hit.

Honey Bunches of Oats | 50 Million Smiles and Counting

2016-09-11T19:09:00.001+03:00

Honey Bunches of Oats ran a campaign with the tagline “50 Million Smiles and Counting,” during which they shared the testimonial videos, images, and quotes from fans they had "made smile" across the country in exchange for a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip. By sharing the user-submitted content across Facebook and Instagram, they were able to add 162,000 new fans (a 721% increase) and increase engagement and traffic to their pages.

Qdoba | Queso Bliss Showdown

2016-09-11T19:07:00.000+03:00

Popular restaurant chain, Qdoba, created a campaign where their fans could vote for their favorite queso, deciding which one the company would keep and which one would have to go.

The best part about this social media campaign was that the Qdoba team updated the results in real-time, keeping everyone engaged, and building suspense around the showdown.

TD Ameritrade | #itaddsup

2016-09-11T03:45:00.001+03:00

With this campaign, TD Ameritrade was able to capitalize on the 2014 Winter Olympics hype by comparing the accumulation of small investments over time to the practice and preparation that athletes go through to compete.

An entire staff created for the campaign stayed in Sochi to document the athletes' journeys with photos, videos, and other content. The campaign resulted in 78,000+ uses of the campaign hashtag #itaddsup, a 12% increase in overall social audience, and 97 million brand impressions.

Biltwell | Fan Helmet Art

2016-09-11T03:41:00.002+03:00

Biltwell sells motorcycling accessories and does a great job of keeping their fans engaged and passionate about their brand using their Facebook fan page.

One way they do this is by sharing fan-shared helmet art on their timeline. Fans get their 15 minutes of fame and Biltwell gets to show off the awesome things people do with their products and "delight" their fans in the process.

GE | #6SecondScienceFair

2016-09-11T03:38:00.000+03:00

GE launched a campaign hosting a #6SecondScienceFair on Vine and Tumblr where they re-vined posts from people using this tag to encourage interest in science, increase engagement, and build GE's reputation as an innovator.

The particular Vine below highlights what happens when you combine milk, food coloring, and dish soap. It has been liked 130,000 times and re-vined 105,000 times.

Volkswagen | Trailer Assist

2016-09-09T21:16:00.002+03:00

BRAND:: VW
CATEGORY:: Automotive
REGION:: Norway
DATE:: January - March 2016
AGENCY:: MediaCom
MEDIA CHANNEL:: Branded Content,Online

Insight

The market for large family cars is very competitive, and the launch of the new Passat was somewhat a challenge, as the design was not indicating this was a completely new car.

Advanced driving assist systems, though, are main features in the new Passat including Trailer Assist. The optional Trailer Assist steers automatically while the driver is still responsible for gear shifting, acceleration and braking.

The target audience was adult men with a family and the need for a roomy car, which often also means from time to time a need of a trailer. Passat is segment leader among family cars, and most of them are equipped with a trailer hitch.

The agency also build on one basic insight: Most people find it difficult to reverse with a trailer and hate to do it. A system that will help them out will obviously create attention. However, MediaCom needed to demonstrate it in an exceptional way, to ensure that the target group would find it worthwhile seeing and sharing.

Since social media to a large degree is about entertainment, and surprising videos always create a large number of viewers and involvement it decided to move along that path.

This gave MediaCom the communication strategy and the idea for the campaign.

Strategy

The fight for attention is hard even for entertaining video content. MediaCom believed it had content with a potential for sharing, but in order to make it happen it had it to get it right from the start, and decided to make the content look less like a commercial thus increasing the potential for sharing.

Most importantly it decided to focus its paid digital media towards young adult men even though the average car buyer is 40 years +. By targeting influencers rather than the actual car buyer, it expected to achieve far higher sharing and thus organic views of the video, and the car buyers would get the video from their younger colleagues and children rather than from Volkswagen directly.

Even though it was tempting to use TV from the start, the agency decided to place TV at the end of the campaign period, to create as many organic views as possible before launching the TV ad.

At the start it sponsored Facebook posts and placed the video on selected sites in the BeOn network. It made the content easy to share and used YouTube as the hub for organic viewing and sharing.

The content lived up to its potential and was shared even faster than assumed. This gave a good story to use in PR, and the 250 online articles in 46 countries further increased the engagement.

Execution

The creative solution was to perform a stunt where the agency wanted to demonstrate an exceptional maneuvering with a trailer in reverse at high speed.

In ordinary streets and along ordinary roads where the public should believe they observed a 100% real reverse driving with a trailer.

In order for the illusion to be realistic, it built a trailer around a car, which it stripped for the body. This way it allowed the “trailer” to reverse with a new Passat, giving the illusion that the Passat was reversing.

Stuntmen drove the trailer and the car and everything was recorded on video, which gave two films: One that shows the actual stunt and one behind-the-scenes film. Both produced primarily for the use in social media.

Results

The campaign reached the following global results initiated from a country with only five million people:

• Created a Facebook reach of more than 55 million, • Achieved more than 28 million video views so far, 69% of these were organic. • The videos were watched in 125 different countries • Close to 1,800,000 engagements with the campaign: - 1.190.000 likes - 470.000 shares - 133.000 comments.

• Reached 2.4 million views on YouTube, all of these were organic • The stunt was described in more than 250 online articles in more than 46 countries with more than 396 million potential readers • The campaign was launched in a post diesel gate atmosphere with a lot of negative buzz around the brand, and managed to break the negative curve • The sale of Volkswagen Passat in Norway increased 15% the following month.