Other People’s Money

“By definition, remarkable things get remarked upon.” – Seth Godin

ONE thirty-second ad played during the 2015 Super Bowl cost $4,500,000!?Their ad agency Grey, New York had a brilliant idea to help Volvo gain traction with ads on Super Bowl XLIX.

But, Volvo ran NO ads on the Super Bowl.?Instead, they did something remarkable.

They ran a #FreakingBrilliant publicity and social media campaign that capitalized on the multiple millions of dollars spent on Super Bowl ads by other car companies.

The campaign was appropriately called: Interception.

The way it worked was this. Every time people saw a commercial on the Super Bowl broadcast for ANY car company they would tweet @Volvo and tag the person they wanted to win one of several Volvo XC60 SUV’s the company was giving away along with the hashtag #VolvoContest.

The cost of the advance publicity and the vehicles that Volovo gave away was FAR less than the cost of even one ad during the game or pre-game show.

Yet, they realized the benefits of ALL the vehicle advertising on the game. Sales of their XC60 SUV rose SEVENTY percent in the month following the game! That was the highest February sales increase of any vehicle in its class.

And, they got those results using Other People’s Money.

Below is a two-minute video recap of that campaign.

I tell you the Volvo success story because your company can emulate it!

Here’s How:

To utilize this idea for your business, all the budget you really need is enough to have a few giveaways that people are willing to share a post for that tags you and features your hashtag.

Depending on what you sell, these giveaways could be some of your products or services, or an iPad, concert tickets, etc.

Whatever you decide to give away should be relevant to and attractive for your target market.

Like in the Volvo campaign, whenever someone sees an ad for a company in your industry, they share a post about YOU featuring a designated hashtag.

The other companies' ads could be on any platform and you designate where contestants should share posts about you featuring your hashtag.

For example: Let’s say you are in the insurance industry and an ad comes on T.V. for a large insurer. To enter your contest people will share a post featuring your hashtag on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social platform. (You know which one your target audience mostly frequents)

This campaign should be of micro duration: No more than 24 hours.

Announce the winners in short order and let people know another chance is coming. By doing that, you will get even more traction each subsequent time you run a contest.

If you do this right, you’ll see big sales increases within 30 days!?

BONUS

There is a huge bonus to doing this! In his amazing book, Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Professor of Marketing at Wharton, Jonah Berger laid out a formula for remembering the factors of why things get shared and are memorable.

Even his formula is…memorable. It is STEPPS. (if you want a list of what all those letters that form the list acronym, PM me)

The T in Berger’s STEPPS formula stands for Trigger.

Consider this:

When you think of the phrase

Peanut Butter and _______

what goes in the blank?

That’s an example of a trigger. Jelly just naturally follows peanut butter in the consciousness of a large majority of people.

If you execute this strategy properly, LONG after you end your hashtag/giveaway campaigns every time someone sees an ad for any of your competitors their thoughts will automatically be on YOUR company or offering.

Competitors ads trigger people to think about you.

I believe you would like that!

Wouldn’t you??

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Need help creating ideas and strategies that will help your company increase sales and margins?

Want to have one of our Certified Trainers conduct Creative Business Thinking Training for your team??PM me.

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Expert Tip

The Greatest Hits - Volume II

We have had?such?amazing advice from our guest contributors since launching this Newsletter! So, this week I am providing direct links to a few of the previous Newsletters featuring these Expert Tips so you can re-visit them - or see them for the first time. Either way, you will be pleased you took the time to check them out.

* Julie Smith Nester:?The Art of Referrals

* Bret Packard:?Powerful Leadership Questions

* Falguni Katira:?Find Yourself Within

* David Juergens:?Making a Cruise a Wonderful Vacation

* Carter Varn:?Making Technology Work For Your Organization

* Christine Kivett:?Benefits of Hypnotherapy

* Brian Butkowski AND Lori Knudsen:?The Psychology of Color and The Four Pillars of Career Satisfaction

* Lindy Chapman:?Finding a Home in Today’s Market

We'll have a brand new Expert Tip next week! I would love to know what your favorite Expert Tip from our Greatest Hits is! Share in the comments?

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Want to be considered to contribute an Expert Tip to a future edition??PM me.

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Puzzle and Trivia

To add some fun to our readers' lives, the?Freaking Brilliant Ideas Newsletter?each week features a fun Puzzle and Trivia sheet.

To view or download a pdf version of this week's Puzzle and Trivia sheet, click on the image or go?here.

Can't solve the puzzle? Find the solution and the trivia question answer by clicking?here?or scanning the QR Code on the Puzzle and Trivia sheet image.

These Puzzle and Trivia sheets create?amazing?spikes?in traffic to our site. Now, you can provide something fun to your customers and increase traffic to your site, too, by licensing or sponsoring them.?PM?me for details.

This week's Puzzle and Trivia sheet is sponsored by my book,?101 Freaking brilliant Business Ideas: And Ten Ways YOU Can Create Your Own. Find it on Amazon?here.

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See you next week?

About?Bob Sager

The Founder of?SpearPoint Solutions, Bob’s professional background includes over three decades of experience in sales, leadership and training. Combined with creative thinking, he uses that experience to develop business strategies that help organizations increase sales and margins. Additionally, Bob facilitates training on methods of thinking more creatively that organizations can practically apply to all aspects of their business so they can thrive in the modern?economy.?

Among other accomplishments, Bob is the?inventor?of the creative thinking game,?What's the BIG Idea???and?author of the books,?Discovering Your Greatness?and?101 Freaking Brilliant Business Ideas.