With an operating budget of just under $10,000, Paramount Studios was not expecting tremendous numbers from the release of Paranormal Activity in theaters. To their surprise, however, the movie theaters across the country did not want anything to do with the low budget title; regardless of how good it was. Since there was absolutely no advertising budget available, a viral campaign on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter was the sole forms of advertising.
- Celebrity premiere parties were held around 13 college campuses to raise interest
- Horror fans were taped watching the film to show their reactions
- Promo clips and fan reactions were posted on many social networking sites
- The Twitter campaign released new info during Twitter’s slowest hours- 2-6 AM
By creating one of the biggest viral movie campaigns of all time, hundreds of thousands of fans literally demanded that the film be brought to their local theaters. In fact, over 150 fans were listed within the credits simply for making the most noise around the net, which is a big reason why a $10,000 film grossed over $107,000,000 at the box office and an additional $16,000,000 on DVD. More about this study can be found here.
Activia launched a Facebook campaign targeting women aged between 20 and 50 in April 2010. The main goal was to bring the brand closer to the consumers and develop brand awareness, focusing on the product Activia drink. This was possible by asking consumers to compete in five different challenges through different stages. The campaign was mostly online, while one final challenge extended to a small offline event. Promotions were supported by television and POS terminals and created a big buzz around.
Users posted pictures with Activia products and spread the word. The main winner went to an organized trekking trip to Indonesia climbing a volcano 3726 m high. She reported back by writing blog posts every few days, so others could follow and see the whole great experience. With the right engagement the brand become more searched, more sheared, developing a 52 % increase in branded search and a 620 % increase in referring page views, not to mention the mouth-to-mouth communication. The campaign was one of 20 of the most innovative Facebook campaigns.
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The Arizona Office of Tourism was spending a significant amount of money on traditional forms of advertising and they were seeking a cost-effective alternative to reaching interested parties. They decided to implement a marketing strategy on Facebook that would get visitors excited about the state of Arizona.
- Promotion utilized popular keyphrases to maximize exposure
- Drawings were held for free vacation getaways
- Keywords were based off Facebook users’ various interests
The Arizona Office of Tourism saw an average of eight times more clicks to their website than what traditional advertising campaigns delivered. Over one in four of those visitors requested additional information about vacationing in Arizona, which was a much higher conversion rate than they had ever experienced before. Since the promotion delivered such promising results, 89% of the advertising budget for the Arizona Office of Tourism is now spent through Facebook. To read the actual study, click here.
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Adidas approached the World Cup in 2010 as a genuine opportunity to create a strong public image in the minds of football fans around the world, so they decided to launch a Facebook campaign that would feature their F50 adiZero football boot before the matches actually started.
Although their overall goal was to establish themselves as the premiere sporting goods dealer for anything football relate, it was also very important to connect with South African fans on a personal level.
- Target audience was worldwide, but specifically South Africans
- Campaign raised funds for Nelson Mandela’s AIDS awareness program
- Served as a link to original World Cup videos and editorials
- Highlighted the product launch of the F50 adiZero football boot
- Several 24 hour blocks were used to reach Facebook members
Throughout the campaign, over 2.3 million unique viewers had visited Adidas’s Facebook page, with 863,000 connections occurring over the first month alone. The average daily visits reached a half a million viewers, indicating that their campaign created genuine interest for return visitors. Brand awareness rose between 8-23% in different regions of the world. To view the actual study, click here.
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Although Einstein Bros. Bagels had maintained a Facebook page throughout 2009, they saw that their number of new visitors had become stagnant with a total at a fan-base of around 5,000. Their campaign approach was designed to determine if direct marketing through Facebook could increase their overall sales, with a secondary goal of increasing feedback from consumers.
- Campaign contacted previous Facebook fans with exclusive free bagel offer
- Afterwards, a block ad was sent replicating offer to new fans
- Promotion lasted 24 hours and sent to all Facebook members
During the first week of the campaign in January of 2010, Einstein Bros. Bagels saw a 1000% increase in fans on their website. On January 25th of the same year, their fan membership jumped from 50,000 to 300,000 in a single day. Those 300,000 members were then used to create a profile of their typical fan. A second campaign was launched to reach those within their most prominent demographic and the fan base doubled again to 600,000. For the mere cost of a bagel, Einstein Bros. Bagels became the 54th most popular business on Facebook. To view the actual study, click here.
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When Levi’s decided to launch their “Ready to Work” campaign in 2010 that featured their new lineup of outdoor clothing, the company focused on the residents of Braddock, Pennsylvania since the area residents were trying to revive the local steel mills. They took these resident’s rugged image and featured it in several Facebook ads that were targeted at the 18-34 year old demographic. Levi’s also tested Facebook-only 40% off discounts during this campaign to have a measurable conversion rate among the viewers.
- Campaign designed to introduce new line of denim clothing
- Featured a rugged, All-American steel town
- Targeted the 18-34 demographic
Within 15 minutes of the campaign launch, Levi’s saw the traffic to their website double as consumers cashed in on the 40% off incentive. Traffic to the Levi’s Facebook page saw 1500% more interactions, with their total amount of fans increasing by 35% over the course of the campaign. A spokesperson for Levi’s stated that the Facebook campaign was a very cost effective way to drive in new business and they will definitely use similar approaches in the future. To view the actual study, click here.
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Tod Maffin, COO and Senior Strategist at