Background
Price Waterhouse Coopers, also known as PwC offers worldwide accounting services. For the past 82 years PwC has been tasked with counting the votes submitted by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscar Academy Awards. Accounting firms, like Price Waterhouse Coopers, aren’t typically the icon of incredible social media marketing, but PwC decided to change that. Their role in counting the ballets for the Oscars was the start of an incredible Snapchat campaign. The Snapchat story followed the incredible journey across the country of the briefcase containing the winning ballots. Campaign Strategy Why · Increase awareness of PwC’s role with the Oscars How many of the thousands of viewers of the Oscars know who counts the ballots? Not very many people know, or necessarily care enough to find out. PwC knew that it would be a great marketing strategy to connect their brand with the Oscars. There is such a big hype with the Oscars and PwC saw an opportunity to insert themselves into the talk on social media. · Connect the PwC brand with a younger audience I can only imagine how difficult it would be for an accounting firm to reach out to millenials through marketing. Lucky for Price Waterhouse Coopers, a primary demographic for the Oscars is millennials. This young audience rules the social media world and right now their kingdom is Snapchat. What better way to connect to this younger audience than using Snapchat? Not only is their connection to the Oscars a great way to connect to that audience, but over 80% of PwC’s staff are millenials. PwC’s campaign encouraged their employees to share the campaign on their social media, which helped create more organic buzz. · Create a buzz about PwC that gets people excited about the brand PwC’s main job as an accounting firm is not counting the Oscar ballots. By performing this Snapchat campaign, they are not trying to recruit more ballot counting jobs, rather latch on to fame that comes with the Oscars. By using the big buzz that comes with the Oscars, PwC was able to get people excited about their brand. Who · Millenials who watch the Oscars As mentioned above, the largest demographic of people who watch and follow the Oscars are millenials. By using their connection to the Oscars and utilizing Snapchat, PcW was able to connect with a younger audience that they typically have troubles connecting with. · PwC employees and their friends As mentioned above, over 80% of the 200,000+ staff at Price Waterhouse Cooper are millenials. Not only did this briefcase campaign increase visibility externally, but they were able to use Snapchat and the Oscars to create buzz internally. What · Use the Briefcase as the campaign centerpiece In the 2015 Academy Awards, Neil Patrick Harris used the PwC ballot briefcase as a prop for a magic trick. This created organic buzz on social media and PwC decided to jump on the bandwagon and continue to use the Briefcase as the centerpiece of the campaign. They personified the Briefcase by giving it a unique and engaging personality of a famous star. They even allowed the Briefcase to engage with fans and followers on Snapchat by replying. The Briefcase took a six-week journey to six different cities where it made “celebrity” appearances. Not only did the Briefcase hit up different tourist sights in the cities, it visited employees and and allowed them to take photos at “meet and greets”. Those photos were shared on the employee’s personal social networks, which organically spread awareness of the campaign. How · Create a unique Snapchat handle for the briefcase. They intentionally did not include “PwC” in the username which helped the Briefcase remain the centerpiece of the campaign. · Share the Briefcase journey real-time through Snapchat. · Share daily “lifestyle” footage of the Briefcase. · Educate viewers by sharing facts about the Oscars balloting process. · PwC created supporting videos, images, icons, and banners to share the campaign across PwC social media channels. Results · 1,062 mentions on Twitter within the first three weeks · 12.3 million Twitter impressions · 406 mentions on Instagram · 126K impressions on Instagram · 700 Snapchat Story views within the first two weeks · 8-10 direct outreach Snaps per day · Increase in secondary channel growth Analysis Price Waterhouse Cooper set out to increase awareness of their brand among millenials through their #BallotBriefcase Snapchat campaign. Was their campaign successful? Their Snapchat numbers were increased and their other social channels grew. But after analyzing this campaign I do not think it was very successful. There wasn’t as big of a buzz created by millennials as they probably hoped there would be. I can only imagine that the cost of creating and documenting the journey of the Briefcase cost more than they saw as a return on investment. I think Snapchat is a hard platform to use and have amazing campaign success. It is more of an exclusive social network and doesn’t reach as many people as other social networks can. With Facebook you can put money behind posts and ads in order to reach more of your target audience, which is unlike Snapchat in that it is almost all organic reach. They had a great idea and I think it was smart for them to try and latch onto the Oscar buzz, but I think they could have been more successful in using a different social channel.
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BackgroundWhat better way for a home improvement store to live true to their slogan of “never stop improving” than to create videos that teach their audience how to make such improvements? Lowe’s, the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world, set out to make good use of Vine’s six second video sharing capabilities. With a small budget and low quality resources, Lowe’s successfully shared 55 home improvement vines and taught the world just how easy it is to create viral worthy content.
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Background
As a premiere outdoor enthusiast brand, CLIF Bar has had much of their success because of how well they engage their core audience. They are constantly looking to demonstrate their passion for nature and outdoor adventures. CLIF Bar initiated the Meet the Moment campaign to create a community that could inspire and spark new adventures. This social media campaign encouraged people to share photos of their outdoor adventures using the hashtag Meet the Moment. The company committed to donate $1 to a Meet the Moment nonprofit partner for every hashtag submitted. The promotion ran for seven months and each month featured a different nonprofit organization. Campaign Strategy Why
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CLIF Bar produced an excellent campaign, Meet the Moment. I thought it was especially effective because, I imagine, that most of the traction from the campaign came organically. Once the large athletes started sharing their images with their fans, then their fans sharing their own images with their friends – the campaign was off! It was really great of them to donate money for every share. That probably inspired more people to share their photos and use the hashtag. By donating to nonprofits it pulled at the heart strings of their consumers and inspired them to share their photos and give back to the great outdoors. I think it was a good move to use the force of traditional marketing (new custom packaging) and combine it with social. They merged the two worlds together very effectively. Many of the outdoor junkies that consume their product are also the health nuts who probably read the ingredients and the packaging. After reading the adventure challenge they were probably inspired to participate. In conclusion, CLIF Bar conducted an excellent social media campaign that helped create a community for outdoor enthusiast, raise awareness of their product, and donate to nonprofit organizations. Facebook advertising has boldly made its way to the top as one of the most cost effective marketing platforms. With a budget of as little as $10-$20, you can reach a wide audience and see measurable results.
Lucky for us, Facebook has given us a plethora of ways to spend our money, but which is the best for you? Before spending all of your marketing budget, let’s take a quick look at the ad tools that Facebook has given us and discover which will give you the best bang for your buck. Boost your posts Also known as the Page Post Engagement Ad, boosting your posts is a great way to get people to engage with your posts. By running a Page Post Engagement Ad, you are likely to reach more people and get get more likes, comments, and shares on your page’s content. Just because someone likes your page does not guarantee that they are going to see all of your posts like they would see a friend’s. When you run a Page Post Engagement Ad, it will reach more people who have liked your page along with a new audience that you determine based on location, age, gender, and interest. Boosting your posts is a great way to keep your audience up to date on the happenings of your business. Promote your page Let's take a quick look at what Facebook says (https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/facebook-create-ad-page-like/) about their Page Like Ads. “When someone likes your Page, your posts may appear in their News Feed, along with posts from their friends and family”. When talking about paying Facebook to promote your page and get more page likes, be weary about their intentions. When you run a Page Like Ad and you drive more people to like your page, you will indeed see the number of fans go up, but that’s about it. Your posts may or may not appear in their News Feed. As we discussed with boosting posts, just because someone likes your page doesn’t mean they will see all of your posts. Before sliding your card out of your wallet, take a minute to think about your goals and what you are wanting to achieve by running an ad. If you are wanting to reach as many people as possible, a Page Like Ad is not the best use of your budget. But, if you are wanting to build more credibility by having more fans like your page, then this may be the ad for you! Send people to your website Clicks to Website Ads allow you to send people from their Facebook News Feed directly to your website. Your ad can feature a custom message, a photo or video, and a button that will encourage your viewers to learn more or shop now. Like the rest of the ads, you determine your audience based on location, age, gender, and interest. By clicking the ad, your customer will go directly to your home page, online store, product page, or whatever page you want! Increase conversions on your website Have you ever wondered how running an ad will directly impact your sales? Running Website Conversions allows you to track what someone does after they click on your ad and head to your website. All you have to do is add a snippet of HTML code to your desired webpage. You can later view reports of what action people took after they saw your ad. For more information on how to install the code, head here(https://www.facebook.com/355092301329125/videos/371394766365545/). Get people to install or use your app App Install and Engagement Ads help you find the people who don’t even know they need your app! Like the previous ads we have discussed, your ad will show up in the News Feeds of the people you target based on location, age, gender, and interest. Facebook offers a few unique features for the App Install and Engagement Ads. First, they let you target people based on the device they are using — desktop, mobile, iOS, Android, and more. Second, your audience can install your app by simply clicking the install button on the ad. Third, you can direct users to specific places within your app such as your online store, registration, and more. Reach people near your business One of the greatest tools that you are given to market your business is Facebook. It allows you to reach potential customers in a way traditional advertising can’t. The Local Awareness Ad is designed to reach people in the area of your business and get more people walking through the front doors. Not only will this ad be targeted to the people living in your area, but people who are visiting or just stopping through. You simply need to put in your business’s address, and Facebook will put your ad in front of as many people near you as possible. The bottom of the ad also gives directions to your location. Raise attendance at your event The Event Response Ad can be created either on your page or through the Ads manager. Simply add the location, time, and description of the event and choose an audience based on location, age, gender, and interests. The ad will show up in your audience’s News Feed where they can click the join button and the ad will be added to their Facebook calendar. Depending on the user’s notification settings, they will even receive a notification reminding them of your party or grand opening! Get people to claim your offer An Offer Claim Ad is designed to let you offer customer discounts and other special deals. You have the liberty of choosing what the deal is, how long it lasts, and how many people can claim it. Just like all the other ads, simply choose your location, age, gender, and interests, and let the claims come rolling in! Get video views Do you have a video that’s ready to go viral? Or perhaps you just have a fun video of your manager singing karaoke. Either way, videos are one of the best ways to engage with an audience. They help your customers get to know you better. Creating a video ad is simple and can be done in Ads Manager Collect leads for your business Lead Ads(fb.me./leadads) provide people a quick and safe way to sign up for information from your business such as offers, newsletters, product demos, and more. When someone clicks on your ad they will be taken to a form that is populated with information they have already given Facebook such as email addresses and phone numbers. Of course, they can edit the information before submitting it, but Lead Ads are an excellent way to receive accurate information. The information is then sent to the advertiser and the advertiser only. Advertisers are not allowed to share or sell information. With more than a billion people using Facebook, it’s one of the best ways to do marketing. Facebook helps you not only spread awareness of your business or product, but it helps you create a community. Before jumping in head first with ads, make sure you asses your business goals and then determine which ad would work best for you. For more information on creating Facebook Ads, visit facebook.com/business. There was a man who was working on an oil rig in the North Sea. After an explosion killed most of his crew, he was stuck on a burning platform in the middle of the ocean. With his life flashing before his eyes, he had the choice to stay on the burning platform with the certainty of death, or to jump into the freezing water and into an uncertain death where he may or may not be rescued.
As marketers, we are constantly standing on a burning platform. We have two options: to cling to the classic strategies and tactics that we know, or to jump off into the uncertain with the hope that we will reach new possibilities, always knowing the possibility of death. It's better to face uncertain death than true death. Marketing is always changing and we are constantly faced with new possibilities that present risks. Davy Ratchford said "What got you here, won’t get you there; you’ve gotta keep going" Our job is to evolve, we are ALWAYS on a burning platform. If you don’t innovate— you burn. Inspiration for this post came from a lecture given by Davy Ratchford at the LDS Business College. |