RED The Agency » Campaigns

Fun is a serious factor in successful social media campaign

Social media may be the latest marketing buzzword, but that doesn’t mean many companies are finding success in their efforts. In fact, most campaigns that seek to use sites like Facebook as their primary point of contact fail to employ its crucial element: fun.

In partnership with RED client, OK Tire, the Ultimate Road Trip scavenger hunt was launched on June 25, 2010. The popular contest, accessed through a specially designed website, asks participants to collect photos from a list of items and upload them on the site. After they’ve finished hunting down the (sometimes silly) items and submitting their photos, they can share their photo on Facebook for an extra entry.

While typical methods of online advertising were employed in the marketing of this contest – paid media like banner ads and Google ad words – it was RED’s ability to harness the power of Facebook that has proven the most fruitful. Over 65% of traffic to the contest site has come directly from the social networking site. But it’s not just the quantity of referrals that proved interesting. Users directed to the site from friend referrals spent over three times as long on the site.

The popularity of the contest and the high rate of site traffic is directly related to the success of this campaign. Our goal was to position the Pirelli P5 touring tire as a great option for summer driving this year. Users have equated the excitement – and success – they feel from participating in the scavenger hunt with the OK Tire brand in general and the Pirelli P5 specifically.

Social media is not just about finding the right audience and throwing your message into their space. Users want to engage with content. They want to create and control it. Rather than proclaiming to your customers that your brand is fun, social media encourages them to discover the fun for themselves and to participate in a community that they have a hand in building – and that your brand is a big part of.

Visit roadtrip.oktire.com and try out the Ultimate Road Trip scavenger hunt today.

And to see what the right social media strategy can do for you, contact RED.

“Thank you so much for the contest. My family and I are having a blast going through old photos and going out looking for new ones. Some of these pictures have not been looked at in years and it’s great researching together for new places to go. This contest made me dust off the old camera and revive an old hobby I used to absolutely love. It got put aside as life took over but now it’s back, look out.”

-Email from Contestant

Filed under: Campaigns, Ideas

Holiday Fire Safety Campaign

Residential fires spike over the holiday season. Candles, unattended cooking and poorly maintained smoke alarms – it all adds up to a dangerous mix. As part of a larger campaign, we partnered with Christmas tree lots to hang fire safety-themed decorations on trees throughout the lot. The decorations made people aware that ‘Holiday Season is Fire Season’, and gave them a free 9V batter to refresh their smoke alarms.

We also sent a traditional group of carolers into communities and malls around Edmonton and instead of singing the expected carols, we re-wrote a number of classics to reflect fire safety messaging. The carolers then presented surprised listeners with a postcard outlining simple holiday fire safety tips.

Filed under: Campaigns, Ideas

Changing attitudes by confronting sensitive topics head-on

To effectively change attitudes and raise awareness surrounding sensitive public issues, a direct, no nonsense approach is needed to cut through and affect hard-to-reach audiences in order to produce real, measureable results.

The need to change behaviours facing child support in Alberta requires an even more direct approach. The Maintenance Enforcement Program team at Alberta Justice was fully onside when RED came to the table with a campaign that works hard at putting an end to the lame excuses of delinquent and late payers. The public awareness campaign seen below launched in March.

Filed under: Campaigns, Ideas

Marketing Magazine: Alberta gives 3-minute fire warning

From Marketing Magazine: Alberta Municipal Affairs and provincial fire departments launched a campaign today to warn Albertans of the dangers of today’s high-intensity residential fires.

The hard-hitting TV and radio campaign from Edmonton’s RED punches home the idea that fires in modern homes are different from those of 30 years ago when people had an average of 17 minutes to safely escape a burning house. Research shows that with today’s faster burning, highly toxic materials, that time has been reduced to three minutes.

Radio and TV spots warn that it will take seven minutes or more for a fire truck to arrive, but “you have three minutes.”

The tag line directs the public to a new website, 3MinuteDrill.Alberta.ca, that offers prevention, detection and escape plans. The campaign is also supported by posters and informational material handed out at fire stations.

Global TV in Alberta has also produced supporting 30-second public service spots narrated by news anchors offering additional information.

Alana Williams of Red said the agency took an Alfred Hitchcock approach to the TV spots rather than graphically depicting fire and injuries.

“We wanted to approach people on a psychological level, where they are more affected by what they don’t see than what they do see.”

The 30-second TV spots will run province-wide, while the radio spots will run regionally, often after there has been a fire in the area.

Filed under: Campaigns, In The News