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brands on reddit: 2013

such 2013 so advertising

much success

so case study very marketing

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“Well, I don’t know if brands should be more like Bill Murray, but there’s no question they should suck less.

Ads aren’t bad in themselves. It’s just the attitude. We all have to go to the store, we all have to have groceries, but

there’s a way to sell you things to make the exchange more of a human one.”  - Bill Murray, reddit AMA 1/17/2014

On Making Ads Suck Less

The year was 2012.

reddit is an advertising wasteland.” (actual quote from an agency executive)

Brands are scared, confused, and uninterested.

“In a world of social media behemoths

They seek Performance. They crave Engagement.

reddit holds the key.

They wait for a sign…a signal…a prophecy?

But the brands. They do not come.

“And then the one they call Nicholas bellowed

let 2013 be the year that the power of reddit is revealed to brands.” - Book of Nicolites 2:14

/u/bazlightyear  www.reddit.com/r/onetruegod  

reddit was Denny’s #1 traffic driver during this multi-platform paid campaign. This ranks as the 2nd highest traffic driver EVER to the Denny's Tumblr page.

National Pancake Week! The week when the major pancake players bring their best to the table. Denny’s approached reddit to help drive traffic to their corporate Tumblr page, which coincidentally was filled with whacky pancake related animated gifs. The best way to get Denny’s in front of the most eyeballs in a short period of time was with cleverly-worded sponsored headlines that lived solely on the front page of reddit (which sees 50-70 million impressions daily). Although it was a short campaign with limited budget, reddit exceeded expectations and was a major force for the campaign’s success. Because of their progressive thinking Denny’s became reddit’s first QSR brand and a benchmark for all future campaigns.

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Overall you might say it was a “Grand Slam”!  

To promote the new Nissan Versa as the first car ever to be sold on Amazon, Nissan USA utilized a reddit Sponsored Headline to ask the question, “If you could buy anything on Amazon, what would it be?”. Comments came flooding in at a rate faster than anyone could have expected, ranging from serious (new boots, beanbag chair) to ridiculous (4500 ladybugs, horse mask). Then Nissan took smart marketing a step further. They actually went through the comments and started buying users the gifts they mentioned. That Nissan thought of reddit for this clever campaign was cool enough. That they took the time to understand the platform, its users, and what to expect were another thing altogether. Nissan was one of the first brands to figure out what other brands are figuring out everyday. That reddit, despite being different than what they’re used to, holds a far greater reward than you can achieve anywhere else on the internet. The sooner brands learn this, the sooner they can succeed on reddit.

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“Within hours of topping the front page, the story of our Nissan/Amazon partnership showed up across more than 150 articles in 30 countries. Our work with reddit hopefully points to a future where we can create marketing that is truly in the language of the community and site it is on - and have a blast doing it” – Kyle Luhr and Jason Clement, Sr. Digital Strategist and Exec. Director, TBWA

“Nissan Buys Gifts for redditors – and Some Love

for Itself” – Digiday

“Why Nissan Bought Someone 4,500 Ladybugs”

– Business Insider

“Nissan Successfully Navigates Social Promo

on reddit” – brandchannel

When’s the last time you heard a car company that loved traffic? Web traffic.

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Finance and Life Insurance could never thrive on reddit, right? Wrong. Transamerica is fortunate to have very clever employees responsible for their social media strategy and it showed with the reddit component of their campaign. The Unitas Challenge, a college football pick’em competition, was the brands first foray onto reddit and responded with some pretty promising results. Utilizing a one day Homepage Roadblock and two weeks of Sponsored Headlines, Transamerica branded seamlessly for their competition and built awareness with redditors who otherwise may not have been exposed to them. We’ve even heard a rumor that the person in charge of this campaign was promoted and given larger budgets for thinking outside the box. One campaign = 3 wins. Transamerica, reddit, and the guy that said “Let’s try reddit.”.

“Not only was reddit the #1 source of entries to the contest, but it drove more traffic to this contest than all of our other social networks combined.

- Director, Social Media Strategy, Transamerica

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Transamerica is an insurance company that gets it. And they know how to handle acclaim!

In fact, 9 out of 10 brands report that after advertising on reddit they feel something like this:

“Personally, it has been my favorite marketing campaign to date and has set the benchmark for campaign engagement going forward.”

- Jacqueline Sandberg, Innovation Cavalry, The Economist

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The Economist brand is constantly searching for innovative ways to build brand loyalty. And so when The Economist wanted to engage reddit users directly on their own turf, it was a no-brainer. The question was: how would redditors respond? The answer? Awesomely. Redditors were amazingly active in the comment thread of the first part of their campaign, providing well over 200 answers to the question “What would you brand with The Economist logo?”. And not an obscene comment to be had. In fact, every answer was thoughtful, poignant, and relevant. The second leg was just as successful. The Economist sent pre-stamped post cards to users to redeem for reddit gold and was able to reach a brand new frontier of new potential subscribers. Brands are always talking the talk about how important engagement is to their campaigns. The Economist just walked the walk.

The Economist wasn’t sure they could “connect” with reddit. But the reception was amazing!

When reddit user frigidcoke ordered a Tom Brady Fathead, you can imagine his surprise when he received a Tim Tebow one in its place. After posting this experience to /r/NFL, it quickly became the #1 post and something of an overnight internet phenomenon. Enter Fathead’s PR team. Realizing the event happened on reddit, the team intended to finish it on reddit. They not only sent the disappointed user their complete collection of Tom Brady Fatheads, but also placed an ad in the NFL subreddit responding to the situation. Users in the comment thread were quick to decry this as a set-up or a pre-planned corporate trick, so Fathead created their own user account and quickly diffused the situation with a completely transparent and self deprecating tone. Not only did this clever campaign resonate with reddit users, but numerous publications reported on this as a perfect example of in-touch crisis management.

“I’m amazed by the influence and power of redditors.  Acceptance on reddit was like being invited to eat lunch with the cool kids.”

- Jake Mahoney, Director of Media and Advertising, Fathead

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“Fathead Turns Crisis Into Opportunity”

- DIGIDAY

“The Fathead PR Crisis Transformed by reddit”

– Spin Sucks

“Has Your Brand Crisis Gone Viral? Follow Fathead’s Example”

– Scribewise

Kudos Fathead, way to handle a “Tebow-verload”!  

“The response we received was everything we could have asked for and more.”

Being the first to market in any industry can be a risky proposition, so when Maker's Mark and reddit embarked on a campaign for the platform's first-ever alcohol brand, we wanted to make sure it was done right. Working together on a Homepage Roadblock, it was important for Maker's to keep their ads on-brand while also tipping their caps to the reddit audience. We ended up adding the phrase "Let it Snoo" to their creative, a clever take on the holiday song, "Let it Snow" and the reddit alien, Snoo. The results were staggering. The Maker's Mark roadblock was the most successful brand roadblock ever on reddit from a performance standpoint (300% our typical benchmark) and received over 150 comments, all overwhelmingly positive about the brand. A true reddit first, on a few different fronts. Nice job, Maker's Mark.

- Sr. Director of Marketing, iCrossing

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Whoever said that reddit ads were a whisky business…Maker’s Mark just proved you wrong!

What’s new in 2014? Full page

self-text posts

Set the record straight

Articulate your point and make your case. (and be seen by millions!)

Send out the world’s biggest thank you!

Better geo-targeting Embedded media

Embed your video content right into reddit with advanced analytics

Livestream your event in real-time

Crowdsource ideas!

Reach a more focused audience than ever before.

Engage with redditors in a specific geographic area.

Cost efficiency!

118 million unique visitors

visited reddit last month (Jan. 2014)

Your brand can be awesome on reddit

tomorrow.

Brands, VP’s, Directors, Managers Where were you?

It’s dangerous to go Alone! Take HIM!

Michael Cole Sales & strategy

[email protected]

@Iammikecole

/U/freedomthebucket