In an attempt to engage with consumers at a more emotional level, Speedo have just launched ‘Unforgettable Swims’ – a campaign which encourages you to share your stories of ‘favourite swims’. The integrated campaign will use digital as well as in-store and press ads, but will keep the website at its core.
Interestingly, the main Speedo UK website does not mention the campaign at all (at least, when I looked), but it is on the homepage of the international version of the site? Perhaps just an oversight. The use of Facebook also seems a little strange – with the campaign page only having 109 likes at the time I viewed, but the main Speedo International page having considerably more, and talking about the campaign just as much? Would have been a better idea to keep the one space, but integrate the campaign within it. Still, its early days yet, and this approach MAY work for them (although I’m not convinced!).
On the whole however, it’s a really nice idea. In the lead up to the Olympics, I can understand their approach and can see that making people think about swimming as an ‘experience’ as opposed to exercise (as I do!) or anything else, will no doubt have good results for them further down the line in this 3 year brand exercise. Kinda nice that they have not overtly pushed any of their products within the microsite either, which would have really put people off from the start.
2. Friskies – iPad app for cats
I think I’m gonna let the video do most of the talking about this ‘campaign’ (can you call it a campaign?).
When I first saw this, my first thought was” why would anyone let their cats paws anywhere near their iPad?!”, but actually, looking at all the publicity Purina have gained from this for their Friskies cat food brand, I think they may well have come up with a fantastic idea! Although looking at their Facebook page – which has miserably low ‘likes’ – it seems that they may have been better off putting more effort into online coupons (as that is what most of the posts seem to be asking for.)!
Check out gamesforcats.com for the full range of cat-tastic iPad fun!
The list of the top 100 social brands was released this morning. A couple of surprises in the Top 10 – including GiffGaff (who I have never heard of!), Best Buy UK & Blendtec
There were lots to choose from this week, but here are my pick of the most talked about digital marketing campaigns from the past 7 days.
(disclaimer – that doesn’t mean that I think they are the BEST campaigns, just that you will find them interesting!)
As always, if you want to receive a regular email of my weekly round-up, just subscribe to this blog (bottom of page) and join the gang!
1. BT – the 2nd biggest wedding of the year
Although this campaign idea is very cheesy, it has been executed nicely, the concept being that the long-running characters from BT’s TV ads – Adam & Jane – are getting married. Thanks to the early arrival of their baby, it seems that Jane needs some help with the organisation of the ‘big day’. Crowdsourcing? Well, kind of…..
Using their Facebook page as the main campaign platform, and some nicely produced videos, you can vote for your favourite dress, first dance song choice, or wedding car.
By taking part in the voting, the user could also win the chance to be there for the creation of the ‘wedding’ ad, due to be screened in April to coincide with…you guessed it….the Royals getting hitched. Riding on the back of the nations predicted wedding fever it seems!
It’s not the first time that BT have asked for the publics opinions on how this couples lives should develop – last year saw them use a similar campaign to decide if Jane should get pregnant or not. Both are good examples of integrated marketing across both online and offline platforms.
I still prefer the Gold Blend couple personally, but maybe that’s just an age thing!
2. Cadburys – Race Season
Cadbury’s latest campaign – Race Season – launched on 29th Feb, with a whopping overall investment of £6.5 million.
The integrated campaign includes TV and community events as well as digital, and encourages users to take part in everyday challenges in order to try to set new world records for how fast you can do them, as well as earn extra points for your team. Un-rolling a toilet roll, or making a bed are amongst the handful of fun tasks you can take part in. You can upload videos of your own attempts, and for certain challenges, such as ‘the fastest clicker’ actually take part in them online.
As part of their larger ‘Spots v Stripes’ initiative which kicked off early 2010, participants are asked to take sides before embarking on their challenge, and there are even separate Facebook groups set up for both teams to really get the competitive juices flowing!
The main site homepage displays which team is in the lead at any given time, giving you all sorts of opportunities and ways of pushing your team back in front should you have backed the losing side. Also cleverly enticing you to access the campaign more and more in order to make sure that you stay on top!
They obviously have the budget to put some serious online promotion behind the campaign, which was developed by Fallon, as well as pushing it via their TV ad spots. Great idea and execution though, and ties in really well with the run up to the London Olympics.
3. Coca-Cola – song inspired by fans
In an attempt to get more in touch with teen consumers and hit their 2020 company vision of more than doubling their revenue to $200 billion globally, Coca-Cola have hooked up with Maroon5 to create a campaign which will see users help the band to write and create a new song within a 24hr period on March 22nd.
Whilst driven by the main microsite, the campaign also has very strong links with both Facebook and Twitter, starting by sending event invitations out to their 22million plus Facebook fans - a really obvious and simple thing to do, but something which is often forgotten about.
Participants will be able to help inspire the band during the day, by sending them photos, lyrics, comments etc., resulting in a song which will later be ‘shared with the World’.
This campaign spearheads the new music initiative – Coca-Cola Music – again, aimed at the teen market, which will allow fans to see more behind-the-scenes info on the creation of music, as well as access to view leading artists at work.
4. Nursery & Garden Industry of Australia – Plant/Life Balance
This is a great campaign for the Nursery & Garden Industry of Australia, which began with them giving away 20,000 plants at major train stations across the country to kick things off, and has been getting lots of thumbs up from digital marketing bods around the World over the past couple of weeks.
The nicely designed Facebook app lets you match yourself with the perfect plant for you, teaches you how to take care of it in a fun and engaging way, and encourages you via competitions, content and interaction to take part in a 12-week challenge. Your plant will even get its own Facebook page! Love it.
(Yet another post on a car brand…this in turning into a trend!)
It’s no secret, given all the trouble they had with the Prius last year, that Toyota needed to do some serious work on their PR and branding, and I think their Ideas For Good campaign is a great start.
The technologies which go into developing their cars far surpass other industries. In the past they have shared these ideas and innovations with others, including universities and hospitals, but via this campaign they are now asking the public for ideas on how their technology could be used ‘for good’.
From November 2010 when the campaign was initially launched, people could upload their ideas via a simple but nicely designed microsite, in the hope of winning the prize of working with Toyota to develop their idea further….oh, and choosing one of Toyota’s cars for themselves too!
Submissions are now closed, but you can still show your support by voting on your favourite idea. Finalists will be announced on the 10th April and people will be asked to vote on which they prefer up until the end of the month. The winner will then be announced on the 6th May.
I really love the idea behind this campaign, and the fact that it has given Toyota a chance to showcase how their innovations have helped others and their involvement with the wider community, so I’m a little surprised that they have not done a better job at promotion. There are hardly any votes on the ideas, which in my view is a sure sign of poor marketing around the campaign. There is also no mention of it on Facebook. Could be because the submission date has passed, but surely whilst still in the period of voting on finalists, now should be the time they are pushing this more than ever?
On a positive note, I do quite like the ‘Auto-Biographies’ which they DO have on their Facebook page, which allows people to upload their car stories, and in some cases have them animated. They are also due to launch a campaign on the 7th March which will give 100 cars to 100 do-gooders over 100 days, again voted for by the public. Another great crowdsourcing idea, lets hope that they do a better job of promoting it!
In an attempt to engage with consumers at a more emotional level, Speedo have just launched ‘Unforgettable Swims’ – a campaign which encourages you to share your stories of ‘favourite swims’. The integrated campaign will use digital as well as in-store and press ads, but will keep the website at its core.
