No Time Like the Present
Creating and fostering viral momentum is wildly important even to the great goliaths of the advertising world. You can spend all you want to market your products, but when you find a truly authentic and organic way to connect with consumers, your brand can elevate itself into the rare air of real brand affinity. As we look back over 2020, brands who made great strides were the ones that seized the day with authentic in-the-moment conversations, messages and campaigns.
During the early stages of the pandemic, P&G found a way to connect and engage by leveraging a great insight – and with a very simple challenge. The inspiration: identifying with the fact that consumers were trying to figure out how to physically distance. The insight: knowing people love a good challenge, the pandemic was triggering strong FOMO and TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2019. The idea: partner with an influencer and ask consumers to record videos of themselves doing a #DistanceDance and post it on social media to be part of the challenge. The results: Over 16 billion views to-date and still growing.
Next, Coors Light grabbed the spotlight during the lockdown using a very different channel altogether. The inspiration: a single tweet and an image of an elderly woman holding a sign that read “I Need More Beer” while obviously holding a Coors Light. The insight: stressed consumers look to social media to stay connected and everyone loves free stuff… especially if it’s beer. The idea: retweet the original photo, engage with the quarantined public and create a unique hashtag (#CouldUseABeer) to bring everyone together by giving away beer to those who need it. The results: 500,000+ new customers and much needed and welcomed stress relief during a global pandemic.
As we look to the end of the year, several brands have launched holiday campaigns with social elements as a key focus. Starbucks created a countdown to reintroduce their holiday #redcups. REI continued their #OptOutside campaign, asking employees and members to practice physical distancing while spending time outdoors on Black Friday. And last but not least Zoom, (already a winner in the social space this year) with a plan to move beyond their #StayConnected virtual background contest. For Thanksgiving, Zoom shifted from work connections to family connections by lifting their 40-minute limit on Thanksgiving Day and added #ZoomTogether so families could stay connected during unprecedented times.
Regardless of how brands incorporated social media into their campaigns this year, they all have a few things in common. 1) Super simple – they have a single, focused message, making it easy for consumers to engage. 2) Very timely – they’ve listened to what is happening and found ways to respond and connect. 3) Relevant by design – they’ve created ways to resonate with consumers, while being true to and reflecting their brand values.
With 75% of the U.S. population on social media – and spending more and more and more time there – brands both big and small need to be able to react and think smartly, creatively and quickly with fresh ideas that land with consumers and can drive strong brand connections.