We’re always on the lookout for innovative social media campaigns at Mashable. This week we scoured the web and our Twitter feeds to find some of the most interesting campaigns out there.
From utilizing online video in an inventive way to creating a unique presence on Facebook, these six social media campaigns are some of the most original pieces of work as of late. Let us know about your favorite recent social media campaigns in the comments below.
1. Intel: Targeting a Digitally Savvy Audience
Ad agency Amsterdam Worldwide unveiled the first in a series of blogger films, called “Visual Life,” for technology brand Intel back in January 2011. The series showcases top bloggers discussing how they use technology and how it has transformed their work.
The first video of the series documented the work of fashion blogger and photographer Scott Schumann, The Sartorialist. The video garnered nearly a quarter of a million views in its first two weeks and has been viewed more than 850,000 times on YouTube and the Intel site, helping increase Intel’s YouTube channel views by 200%.
The video went viral when it was embedded on The Sartorialist blog, but also gained a lot of views from Facebook, The Cool Hunter and mobile devices. This campaign has done quite well, as it targets a digital savvy audience that is interested in learning about how top bloggers are utilizing photo and video technologies. Such viewers are more likely to share the videos with their social graphs, increasing the virality of the series.
This week, the campaign launched its most recent video (embedded above), which documents the role technology plays for two young Chinese wedding photographers, Kitty and Lala.
Overall, the series takes on a lifestyle approach that is uncommon for tech brands, focusing on the effects that technology has had on each video’s featured subject, both personally and professionally.
2. The Century Council: Using YouTube Ads for a Good Cause
In April, The Century Council, a national non-profit organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, teamed up with a bipartisan group of 23 attorneys general from around the country to release a creative public service announcement (PSA) in conjunction with Alcohol Awareness Month. The attorneys general each taped an animated or radio version of the PSA that encouraged kids to say “yes” to a healthy lifestyle and “no” to underage drinking. The animated version of the PSA leads attorneys general through many scenes depicting the type of behavior that the council is promoting.
The campaign, called “Ask, Listen, Learn,” has proven to be an amazing success, garnering millions of views via The Century Council’s YouTube Channel. Much of this success was due to smart ad placements on YouTube.
“Utilizing YouTube’s TrueView ad format, we worked with Google’s specialists to buy keywords likely to rack up traffic fast within our core demographic,” says Ralph Blackman, president & CEO of The Century Council. “For example, two of our top five Ad Group Themes were ‘first dance Justin Bieber youtube’ and ‘Baby lyrics Justin Bieber YouTube.’ Utilizing YouTube’s TrueView format, we were less concerned with ad waste and more concerned with impact, as disinterested users were more likely to skip through the ads, resulting in no cost to us.”
“Our main goals were to get our message across to kids nationwide and to put the participating attorneys general in front of their youngest constituents,” says Blackman. “In that regard, we considered our ad buy an enormous success. We racked up more than 2.5 million views over the campaign, had all of our videos frequently embedded, and had website traffic at 11 times its normal levels. Our view-through rate hovered at around 25%, with daily views anywhere from 60,000 to 125,000. Many attorneys general afterward said they were surprised at the reach it delivered as well — constituents frequently mentioned seeing their PSAs.”
3. Johnson’s Baby Canada: Offering Low-Value Prizes for High Return
Johnson’s Baby Canada tripled its Facebook fan count in just three weeks with a baby photo contest that offered users the chance to have their little ones featured on the Johnson’s site.
For Johnson’s Canada, offering a low-value prize (placing a baby’s photo on its website) yielded high returns in fans and engagement. Besides tripling its fan base, it also garnered more than 1 million visits to the Facebook application, more than 3.5 million photo views, and more than half a million votes. The brand benefited from entrants who shared through their social graphs to rally votes; there was an average of 10 clicks per shared link.
The campaign was developed by Edelman Digital on the Strutta contest platform and was available in English and French, as it was targeted towards a Canadian audience.
4. Ford Fiesta: Behind-the-Scenes Product Placement
Car manufacturer Ford, product placement company Stone Management and online marketing agency Wpromote, recently teamed up to launch a behind-the-scenes social media campaign in conjunction with the forthcoming Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.
The campaign promotes the Ford Fiesta via product placement and features Hanks’ assistant Bo Stevenson, also known as “FiestaBo.” During the filming of “Larry Crowne,” Stevenson and Stone Management took videos and pictures of behind-the-scenes action, which would later be used as engaging content for both the movie and the new Ford Fiesta. The content was then posted to YouTube and Facebook. The YouTube channel has received more than 70,000 video views, and the Facebook Page has garnered nearly 16,000 Likes.
In the embedded via above, Stevenson explains the campaign as a “social media experiment” that attempts to give fans a true behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to work in Hollywood. As Stevenson assists Tom Hanks, viewers get to see what it’s like to drive Hanks to work every morning, fetch a typewriter for Hanks to make old-school script changes and chat with the other actors on set.
While the success of the campaign is mediocre, we’re more impressed with the innovative approach to product placement. As the film wasn’t car-centric, Wpromote and Stone Management needed to launch a creative way to showcase that the Ford Fiesta was key to the movie’s filming. Highlighting the daily life of Tom Hanks’ assistant as he drove around in the lime green Fiesta was an inventive way to do just that.
5. Samsung: Driving Engagement and Sharing
Created by social media agency Ignite Social Media, Samsung TV’s “Like It, Reveal It, Win It” campaign features a weekly product giveaway on Facebook that incentivizes users to participate regularly and invite friends to join them.
After “liking” Samsung TV’s Facebook Page, users are able to enter to win Samsung products by unlocking pixels, which can be done by recommending the contest to friends. The more pixels a user unlocks, the more chances he or she has to win the hidden weekly prize, a Samsung TV-related product. The contest also dynamically incorporates hidden Easter-egg prizes that can be unlocked instantly.
Unlike a standard contest, where users enter once and then leave the page, this campaign actively engages fans on a weekly basis and gives them a reason to invite more of their network to the page.
Facebook fan acquisition is Samsung’s key goal with this campaign. The company saw an increase of more than 12,000 new fans within the first week and a half, and reports that growth seems to be accelerating as the contest continues and entrants reach out to their networks.
6. Mello Yello: Relaunching with an Existing Fan Base
Remember that citrusy soda from your childhood called Mello Yello? Well, it still exists, and it’s doing what it can to make a comeback.
Mello Yello recently relaunched its brand under the campaign “They Call Me Mello Yello,” which circles around retro kitsch and a remake of Donovan’s 1966 hit song. The brand is utilizing social media, especially Facebook, to spread its message.
After discovering a consumer-created Facebook Page for Mello Yello, marketing agency BFG Communications identified the owner of the page, contacted him and worked with him to transition it to an official brand page. At that point, BFG worked with Mello Yello to develop a brand voice by creating a character sketch that would become the framework for the tone, language and topics the brand would use on Facebook. This distinct voice officially came to life as the brand took on management of the Facebook Page in August 2010, focusing on posting fun content, answering fan questions and responding to comments.
The Facebook Page features a Retro Smooth Photo Generator, which enables users to transform a photo of themselves (by uploading or using their webcam) from “not so smooth” to “smooth,” using a hipster-feeling photo filter. The Page also features a Smooth Quiz, where users can find out just how suave they really are. For a limited time, users can also download the free “Mellow Yellow” remix.
“The goal was to reach 10,000 fans by the end of 2010,” a brand representative told Mashable. “Without any gimmicks or ads, we surpassed that goal within one month of content and community management. The Page continues to grow, and currently has around 78,000 fans. It is also notable that about 80% of the Page’s fans are 24 or younger, showing that the brand is reaching a new generation of fans, not just the consumers who remember Mello Yello from the early ’80s. Many brands focus on bells and whistles to attract a social media audience. The Mello Yello experience shows that personality, content and responsiveness, while simpler, can go a long way and lead to long term engagement.”
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