Despite the rumours you overheard of an Indian Summer in the UK over the next few weeks, those commuter trains are suddenly a bit more packed, the days are getting shorter and you find yourself reacquainting yourself with that jumper you shoved into some dark corner of your closet 3 months ago – September is here, and Summer is drawing to a close.
We’ve been busy bees and have enjoyed many things over the solstice season – Music festivals, wearing shorts, The World Cup and of course, throwing a bucket of ice over our heads for charity – things that were amplified by some exciting summer campaigns on the consumer front-line that is, social media.
Our Top 5 social media campaigns of 2014
We wanted to share some of our favourites with you, two of which were personal all-time favourites…
1. EUROSPORT 25 – WE LIVE FOR LIVE FOR YOU
For any true fans of live sport, this was a fantastic campaign. To celebrate 25 years as a company, Eurosport TV were offering a VIP trip to Paris to the winners of this competition. Eurosport created a microsite especially, hosting 9 different short excerpts from a previously live sporting event. Entrants had to record their commentary over the video of their choosing. The winners were chosen from a mixture of voting and a panel of independent judges.
We thought this was spectacular for many reasons. Whilst contests involving video are not brand new, they are usually inviting people to record their own UGC. Eurosport was the first brand we are aware of to actively encourage listeners to record their voices. Mix that in with their own excellent content and you have one highly engaging campaign. What was also brilliant, was the true Europeanness of the whole thing. Before recording your commentary, you could have a listen at entrants who had gone before you and the list of commentators were from almost every country on the continent. Poland, Hungary, France, Belgium, Germany Spain, Denmark Portugal, hearing all the different voices and style of commentating from one country to the next was in my mind, fantastic. What’s more, some of the commentaries were very entertaining.
Take a look at the campaign here
2. SPIES TRAVEL – DO IT FOR DENMARK!
Normal method of marketing: Commission studies into human behaviour, use research statistics to create something desirable, sell.
Normal method of creating babies: Commission studies into human behaviour, use research statistics to create something desirable, sell.
….Say what? If the second sentence proved slightly unnerving, don’t worry, it is. Yet this is exactly what Thomas Cook owned Danish travel company Spies Travel, have done in an attempt to sell more holidays and of course, reverse the trend in a decreasing Danish birth rate.
At BeeLiked HQ, we found this hilarious. Like most of the best campaigns that are seen on the net, this had more than a fair dose of humour around it. Fully integrated with a TV spot in Denmark imitating a public service announcement. Using the statistic that 46% of Danes have more sex when on holiday, the campaign urges you to book a city break through Spies (using their ovulation discount) and conceive a child. Once you have sent proof of conception, you will have won 3 years worth of baby supplies, and a child friendly holiday.
Normally, we are big advocates of having UGC showcased in some sort of gallery however I think that on this occasion…
Take a look at the campaign here
3. BEN & JERRY’S: #OMGFREEBENJERRYS
All of those lactose-intolerant people notwithstanding, who on this planet, does not like free ice cream?
If you didn’t raise your hand then you’re just a liar.
In a great example of keeping a campaign localised, Ben & Jerry’s took their ice cream delivery truck to Twitter and gave engaged fans the opportunity to receive a free ice cream delivery by tweeting the location of where they would like the truck to visit, along with the hashtag #OMGFreeBenJerrys.
Available to consumers in five cities throughout the U.S., the campaign inspired user-generated buzz about the newest Ben & Jerry’s ‘Greek Yoghurt’ flavor, such as a video created by a student at the Miami Ad School. It also garnered international attention (and envy no doubt) and with the sustained recognition for the popular Ben & Jerry’s ice cream trucks, proved a dynamic way of merging the physical with the digital, during the summertime.
3. South African Airways -Taste South Africa
South African Airways wanted to celebrate their diverse & rich heritage by asking fans of the airline to submit their videos, photos and recipes of what they felt represented the image of South Africa. What makes this an admirable campaign was the lack of a request for any kind of ‘selfie’, and that the focus was on culture, community. Going through the gallery of recipes for South African food, stories of South Africa, as well as photos and videos, it was apparent that this campaign had brought together a community, which is essentially the reason why any brand would want to run a social media campaign in the first place.
4. EUROSTAR – STORIES ARE WAITING
In a similar vein to SAA, Eurostar wanted stories over selfies. Everyone loves going away for a weekend. There is always so much to do and see, especially if your time is precious. Eurostar, being the facilitators of speedy inter-europe travel that they are, know this and have run (and are still running) a summer campaign whereby they wanted to hear and view stories gleaned from these brief sejours. Amplified by TV spots, videos from Eurostar and promotion from assorted vloggers, people were invited to showcase their experiences. Indeed it was a prevailing theme amongst destination brands in particular as brands tried to create communities, with the conversation revolving around the experience with the brand as the vessel, rather than trying to get people to talk about the brand itself.
Think I’ve missed the best Summer campaign of 2014? Let us know and we’ll feature your personal favourites on our blog!
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