T-mobile Digital contest

T-mobile decided to rebrand themselves in 2013. They started by calling themselves the 'Uncarrier' and getting rid of contracts as you traditionally knew them for 24 months. This was a really cool marketing and branding strategy. It resulted in the highest number of post paid account growth in the companies history. What they did next was truly amazing. Imagine a contest where the clues are given online, the research is done on line and the answers are all posted online. Now take it to the next level and say that all of that is done through social media.

T-mobile introduce a contest to catch Jeremy. Jeremy is a kid(young adult) that is traveling all over the world and posting his adventures on social media. What you had to do was figure out where pictures were taken based on clues that were posted on Jeremy's and T-mo's social media sites. hey made it more family friendly by having Jeremy use a competitors plan which was racking up the cost for every post. T-mobile did this to introduce their new plan for no cost roaming. The Grand prize was a trip around the world for the winner. It also showed that Jeremy racked up over $74k in charges on his trip. It was a great way to introduce a new service and use social media to do it.

https://explore.t-mobile.com/catch-jeremy

Above is a link to the final page for the competition and in the background you can see a lot of the pictures that were shared on social media during the trips. T-mobile does a great job at engaging new and potential customers online with new contest on a weekly and in some cases daily bases. They understand the social media generation and I believe they are really taking advantage of it.

Heineken #Openyourworld

For my second blog post I was asked to write about a particular company and how they are using social media for marketing. The first thought that came to mind was one of my favorite companies and most often my drink of choice, Jim Beam. I already follow Jim Beam (Beam Global) on various social media sites but more so to follow their growth, so I logged in to Facebook to look at what they are doing from a marketing perspective. At first glance it seemed nice enough with updates every few days and plenty of pictures of their products but then I realized that's all it was. There are only pictures of their products and they all look like magazine adds. Nothing about their posts were engaging or made me want to participate in the conversation.

So I began to look at other companies and decided that I should limit my search to adult beverage companies so that there would be a somewhat level playing field since these companies can't really market to people under 21 (in the us) and there are certain legal responsibilities and restrictions. I looked at the Facebook sites and websites of companies whom I remembered their many vibrant magazine adds and commercials like Absolut, Corona, Grey Goose and Jack Daniels. While most of these companies did a better job than Jim Beam, I was astounded that these companies who spend millions of dollars of top notch brand recognition have missed the mark so drastically on social media. Then I remembered a Heineken commercial I often see while watching football. You know the one where the guy is on a date with a beautiful woman, there is great lively music and tons of eclectic people like magicians and over the top personalities and the whole place is an amazing party. The commercial itself reminded me of the bold adds of the other companies but since I hadn't seen it in a while I went to their website and facebook page to check it out. What I found blew me away.

Although the Facebook cover photo and profile pic look just as mediocre as the all of the other companies that's were the similarities stopped. Heineken's Facebook page has very little actual Heineken branding and you rarely see their product in posts. Even when they do showcase their product it doesn't come off as boring and "cookie cutter" as the other companies I researched. Instead what you encounter is a very fun and engaging environment. Heineken posts twice a day under the hash tag #openyourworld. each article is about all sorts of ecletcic and fascinating, some times funny, things from all over the world. One article is about  bitcoins and how you may soon be able to buy beer thru virtual currency, another is about some of the strangest hotels to sleep in in the world, another is about a real cool company that can make exact replica miniature figurines of people with just a picture. Everything on their page is inviting and engaging. I was also amazed at their transparency, openess and willingness to address an unfortunate incident that caused them some negative press. They responded to every post and question regarding the incident, even when they were asked months later by someone who hadn't already read their numerous responses.

I love what Heineken is doing and how they are doing it and I believe that more adult beverage companies, no actually ALL companies should look at what they are doing and take note. Although I like Heineken's product and voluntarily imbibe in it every now and again I have never been a "fan" of theirs. I certainly would not put their beer at the top of my list in fact not even in my top ten but after discovering their page I am now following them on Facebook and go to their page frequently to read the stories. I would also recommend their page to everyone of my friends and consequently I now have an urge to try their beer again tonight. I may do it just to support the amazing job they are doing but who knows, maybe I'll start drinking it a little more often.

OREO!

Oreo has been really stellar at using social media to reach their consumers. Their campaigns are thoughtful, timely, and spot on. When the power went out at the Superdome during the Super Bowl, Oreo had a new Twitter campaign launched within minutes. "You can still dunk in the dark" they tweeted with a picture of an Oreo cookie in a dark room. Whenever there's a momentary lull in action, regardless of the situation, most people with a smart phone kill time with social media apps. So this post was pretty genius, and got the attention of other major media publications and of course, anyone that followed them at the time... and probably anyone that followed their followers! I didn't have a Twitter presence at the time, but just reading about it made me want to eat an Oreo or two (or row). Mmmmmmmmmmmm Double Stuff.

Another thing that caught my eye was their Oreo-A-Day campaign:

For over three months, Oreo tweeted pictures like these commemorating significant events for those dates with pictures of their cookies taking different forms. I loved this because the pictures were thoughtful and adorable, and show their followers things that matter to them, or rather more simply, things that matter (period) like equality, science, the environment, and (duh) pop culture icons! ;)

I have always liked to eat Oreo cookies (even though I have to limit myself now that I'm not 12 anymore) but I appreciate them more for their creativity and community involvement, not matter how small. They don't have to post about things like "Pride." It's kind of a risky topic because of how vastly different the views are about the subject. But for me, it's an important one and the way it is handled by businesses (regardless of the viewpoint) influences my feelings about that business. Waytago Oreo!





Cite:
http://www.shopify.com/blog/7589919-the-secret-behind-oreos-social-media-marketing#axzz2nw1UhSED

Coca-Cola is Changing the World

Coca-Cola launched its Facebook ‘Change the World’ campaign in June. As a part of this campaign Coca-Cola posted questions about current world issues such as gender equality and asking what is “your vision” for changing the world allowing consumers to post about things that are important to them.

 In addition to posing questions Coca-Cola gives you the opportunity to vote for your top six things that are important to you and family to make changes in the world. I am intrigued by the campaign and while I am an avid Diet Pepsi drinker I appreciate the Coca-Cola initiative and program but it does not change my preference in Pepsi over Coca-Cola.

Post #2 "Dove Beauty Campaign"

Dove took a different approach in appealing to their major demographic, which is women, in their latest campaign. They came up with the "Real Beauty Sketches" campaign and became one of the most viewed videos in social media of this year. Dove decided to appeal to women since this is their target market and focus on a deeper aspect. I do not know of a single woman, including myself, who is completely happy with their overall appearance. We tend to be our worst critic and most likely see ourselves worse than we really are. Whether this weight, height, aging skin whatever the case as woman we seem to focus on our flaws. This is exactly what Dove concentrated on to attract their audience.

Dove asked woman to describe themselves to a person, who unknown to them was an FBI sketch artist. He then drew a portrait of each woman only going by the description each woman was saying of themselves. Then they asked a different individual to describe the same woman who they had previously encountered in a short meeting. The results of the two portraits were dramatically different from each other. They showed the two portraits to the women that had initially described themselves versus the one from the stranger they had met. They where all astonished to see the difference in the sketches of how they perceived themselves to how others truly saw them. The portrait being described by the women themselves targeted on the flaws making them look unattractive versus the portrait of the stranger was a more positive beautiful picture.  The woman realized how negative their view was of themselves and how beautiful people actually saw them.

I do believe this was a great campaign that attracted many viewers and consumers. It illustrates how "Dove" is not only concentrating on superficial beauty but really wants women to see how beautiful they really are themselves and how the world really perceives them. I think almost any and every women can relate to this topic and feel it resonates with them. I feel Dove did a great job on touching such a deep issue with many of us women today and making it a positive message.

Nikon

Nikon, a camera company, took a major risk last summer at Warner Music Group’s 2013 SXSW Music Residency. In lieu of recording the great musical performances at this summer festival themselves, they gave out Wi-Fi-enabled cameras to select fans to film and take photos that could be instantly shared via social media. Having familiarity with music and technology, these attendees were the perfect candidates to spread the word about Nikon’s new camera. The gamble paid off as the live streams from the concert were viewed for a whopping 11 minutes on average. In large part due to tweeted photos and videos from concert-goers, the campaign resulted in over 166 million social impressions for the company. 

This is a great example of a large scale word-of-mouth campaign that was spread with the aid of social media. Nikon gave complete control to its fans by allowing them the opportunity to use the latest technology and share their impressions of it. The fans basically had the influence over marketing the new gadget and the brand’s reputation. I think it is incredibly cool that the company took this risk and allowed the product to speak for itself while refraining from using some sort of gimmicky ad. It makes them come across as a company that is proud of and confident in its product. I am much more likely to become interested in a product if I see that “real” people are using it and liking it.  

State Farm - Discount Double Check

This an awesome marketing campaign that State farm came up with that took on a life of its own. This campaign started out about saving money to a full blown competitions on Facebook. You can find all of the commercial ads on YouTube and other places all over the Internet looking to capitalize off of the popular ad. Arron Roger is the State Farm pitchman and quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. State Farm took the ad a step further by playing on the rivalry of the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.

I really didn't pay much attention to the ads until the Daaable check Bear fans joined the ad. I even started saying around the office that Arron Roger was going to get Double Checked, i.e, sacked. The more I see a State Farm, I actually stop and watch  the commercial to see if they have a new ad.

Unfortunately, the campaigns are more entertaining than anything, I do not feel compelled to buy the product. As a consumer I understand that they are focusing on saving money in a tight economy, but I would be more interested in details.