06.Social media case studies

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Module 6:

Social media

case studies

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Case study 1: HP’s 31-Day Dragon Campaign

• HP provided its flagship notebook HDX Dragon systems

to 31 selected influencers to give away to lucky readers

on their sites over 31 days (one per blogger)

• Worth US$5,500: 500GB HDD, Blu Ray player, games,

movies, software.

• Each blogger was able to create

their own unique contest

• 31 days of ongoing discussions as

bloggers also created and shared

custom marketing materials,

graphics, logos, videos,

RSS feeds and then

cross-promoted these items.

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ResultsMonth over month data from HPshopping.com

84% increase in sales on the HDX Dragon system 14% increase in traffic 10% increase in overall consumer PC salesSales figures for the month of the program set

several records. Usually a softer month and does not include

channel salesThe sales gains continued even 2 months after the

program

Costs

• Total cost for systems, shipping, software and

paying to offset taxes $250K (costs shared by HP

and partners)

• $0 media spend

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Google reports well

over 380,000 links

discussing the 31

sites and giveaways.

Virtually no negative

comments about HP

or the promotion

associated with the

giveaway

Linkbait

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Enthusiastic reaction

• 31 participating sites/blogs saw an average 150%

increase in traffic, with some increasing as much

as 5,000%

• Estimated reach for the programme is well over

50 million impressions (Alexa data)

• Coverage reached 123 countries and was

translated into 40+ languages

• Readers/entrants created more than 10,000

videos on sites such as YouTube.com and Blip.tv

• In excess of 25,000 entries received by

participating sites

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Why it worked1. HP and Buzz Corps built up real relationships with

the influencers: “We really know them at a personal

level – we consider each other friends, not just cards in a

rolodex. We spent over a year demonstrating that we were

willing to do the right things for, with and by them and

therefore earned their trust.”

2. Provided the tools, then gave them control: They

helped design the rules and helped manage and organize

each other.

3. Not just for big boys: Mix of small and large blogs/sites

to vary the coverage

4. Social media marketing is about conversation, not

news: The HDX Dragon had been shipping for 10 months

when the giveaways began

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“Word of mouth is so effective

because of the natural credibility

that comes from real people with no

profit or agenda tied to their

recommendations,”

Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing

mouse

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Case study 2: Blendtec

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Blendtec’s viral videoshttp://www.willitblend.com

• 6 million views in 5

days

• Was 3rd most

viewed video on

YouTube

• 2006 revenue up

43%

• Blendtec, little-known blender company spends

US$50 to make unusual video

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Case study 3: Dove “Real Beauty”• Unilever's “Campaign for Real Beauty”

marketing campaign sought to

challenge stereotypes.

• Featured non-models that did not fit in

with the idealized images of super-

models.

• Videos went viral online and raised

debates in countries it was launched.

Mothers were encourages to talk to

daughters about self-esteem.

• Some critics felt the campaign was

contradictory because it aimed to

convince women to buy Dove's Firming

range, a product for reducing cellulite.

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Dove: Reinventing advertising

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“Viral” Marketing

One of the most effective new marketing

strategies uses “viral” techniques that spreads

through “word-of-mouse” among members

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Power of Viral Marketing

• Builds awareness through low-key

product/message placement

• Lets word-of-mouse spread your message

• Gets people talking about your product,

service or campaign

• Inexpensive: Others do the distribution

• No hard sell or interruption: It spreads

from peer to peer. Audience chooses to

view it and engage in conversation.

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Viral Marketing: Cons

• Control

– You don’t control the distribution

– Randomness to who gets the message

• Context

– The context of the message can be distorted

since others are distributing it

– Audience may mash it up and change intent

• ROI

– May be difficult to show how it translates into

sales

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GM “Chevy Tahoe” campaign

• General Motors invited

Internet users to create or

remix their own

“advertisement” for the

SUV truck “Chevy Tahoe”

• A website was created with various elements of

video that the user could use to arrange the

commercial

• The user could also add their own “text” over the

video

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Viral Marketing Campaign Misfires

The goal was to let users

interact with the product in a

fun, unique way. They would

then distribute their creation

and the message to friends and

via their blogs. GM hoped to

build brand awareness of the

new truck.

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Success? Or Not?

• Some Internet users decided to create

negative commercials that complained about

the environmental impact of the gas-hungry

truck.

• 21,000 user-created ads were submitted

• 2.4 million page views

• 80% of the ads were positive

• However, 20% of ads were critical

– The media coverage focused on the

negative

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Fail: J & J Camp Baby blogstorm

• Johnson and Johnson invites mommy

bloggers a 2-day all-expenses paid event in

early April, 2008 at their HQ.

• Mommy bloggers looked forward to seeing

their friends, making new ones, lots of

conversation ensues in the blogosphere.

• Then two well-read moms, Julie Marsh and

Stefania Pomponi Butler, were “disinvited”.

• Apparently, it was an adults-only event with

no child care!http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2008/03/camp-baby-blogs.html

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Faking it: Online Street Teams

• Boston-based Alt Terrain arranges “alternative

media” marketing campaigns

• “Online street teams” infiltrate chat rooms and

blogs to post positive information on clients

• They pose as fans expressing spontaneous

opinions, but they are really paid promoters

• The web community hates fakes!

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Astro-turfing

• Avoid such techniques

like the plague

• If outted, there will be a

backlash.

• Online community will be

skeptical of future

campaigns.

Astro-turfing refers to a brand of artificial grass.

In marketing, is an artificial attempt at gaining

“grassroots” support covertly for a political or

commercial entity.

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Case study: Post-it

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From prank to marketing campaign?

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What not to do

• Dec 2006, pranksters covered a co-worker’s beloved

Jaguar with 14,000 Post-it Notes.

• Scott Ableman posts photos of prank on Flickr. Idea goes

viral online.

• A year passes before marketing geniuses at 3M Corp’s

Post-it Note thinks to capitalize on the viral success.

• In spring 2008, they contact Scott photographer to ask

about using the photos in a marketing campaign. He

quoted an amount for a typical licensing fee.

• Their response: They tell him they’d rather not pay

when they can just recreate the photograph

themselves.

http://www.all-about-content.com/2008/09/3m-carjacks-postit-note-jaguar.html

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3M Carjacks Idea

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Mentos-Diet Coke geysers

EepyBird’s

Experiment #4

video of geyser

fountain goes

viral.

Mentos site links

to video, then

supports record-

breaking events

around the world.

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Contrasting reactions

• Mentos: “We are tickled pink by it,” says Pete

Healy, vp of marketing for company's U.S. division.

“When they appeared on Late Night with David

Letterman and The Today Show, we were there.”

The company spends less than US$20 million on

U.S. advertising annually and estimates the value of

online buzz to be “over US$10 million.”

• Coke: “We would hope people want to drink (Diet

Coke) more than try experiments with it,” says Coke

spokeswoman Susan McDermott. She adds that the

“craziness with Mentos ... doesn't fit with the brand

personality”.

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“In the world of the Internet,

you don't own your brand. Your

customers and your users own

your brand,”David Sifry, founder

Technorati

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Idea 1: Using Flickr.com

Memories come alive in photos

• The Star and Federal Hotel KL organises “1957

Photo Album” project in June 2007.

• Readers submit old photos with creative captions.

• Received close to 150 photographs.

• Held for over 12 weeks.

• The photo album was available for viewing at the

hotel and online at Flickr at visiting

www.flickr.com/photos/the1957album

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Idea 2: Reaching out to fans

http://www.chevroncarsblog.com/

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Idea 3: Adopt-A-Pilot

http://adoptapilot.blogs.com

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Idea 4: Southwest Airlines viral video

contest

1. US airlines Southwest asked people to post a 20-second clip of something embarrassing or humiliating happening to them, with the winning video to be used in Southwest's official "Wanna Get Away" campaign.

2. Contestants signed up and posted video at http://www.youtube.com/group/Southwestcontest

3. Winning videos and honourable mentions were cross-posted at www.southwestwannagetaway.com.

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Idea 5: Doritos chips contest

• Doritos’ “Crash the Super Bowl” contest

encouraged wanna directors to produce an

ad that would be aired during Super Bowl

2007.

• More than 1,000 submissions were

uploaded to Yahoo! Video and Jumpcut,

and voted on by consumers at

CrashTheSuperBowl.com

• Two winners were aired: ‘Live The Flavor’

and ‘Check Out Girl’.

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Dale Backus, 21, and

Wes Phillips, 22, shot

the 30-second spot,

featuring Dale’s wife

Cori, with borrowed

equipment, a skateboard

and total expenditure of 12 dollars. They were

awarded a prize of $10,000 and a trip to the Super

Bowl in Miami, where the winning entry was

announced and aired during the game for est.

US$1.25m.http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/

Production cost: US$12