Social media campaigns are absolutely everywhere now. Seldom that original, and often poorly executed, the space is becoming so turgid with a mix of good, bad, ugly and downright embarrassing examples of campaigns that it’s becoming harder to stand out from the crowd.
But as with everything, there are a few shining stars in the ether, and one of those in the social media space is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Granted, they are incredibly vocal and they are never not doing something, but there are 3 campaigns in particular that stand out for me from KLM that deserve some recognition.
KLM Surprise
First up is the KLM Surprise campaign. KLM wanted to reach out to KLM passengers in the real world to reward them for flying with KLM. They monitored check-ins on Foursquare at KLM locations and did some social media monitoring to find the people that mentioned KLM in their check-in. When they had a picture of who the person was, their activities, interests and personalities, they hunted them down, bought them a small gift, and gave it to them as they waited for their flight.
This campaign really punched above its weight for a few reasons. The numbers paint the first picture: 1 million impressions on Twitter alone came from the few weeks of gifting. The shady area of impression analysis aside, that’s a pretty major number and one to shout about (which they do indeed do). The other side, and the real gem here, is their insight in taking the offline conversation back into the real world, albeit briefly, and managing to turn an average day in a few customers lives into a pretty awesome day that they felt the need to share. Brands these days are so hung up on the digital conversation that they often forget the power of the offline element too.
Tile & Inspire
The Tile & Inspire campaign is another great example of KLM both engaging their fans but also re-affirming their Dutch brand identity in one fell swoop. Using a Facebook app, fans could upload a photo of themselves that would be made up in the style of a delft tile and entered with a chance of being painted onto a real Boeing 777-200.
In doing this, KLM sent out a very clear message to their fans: we’re serious about you. We want to have our customers woven into the fabric of our brand, and we’re excited about a future where our customers shape how the world perceives us. It’s an important lesson – if a brand is not sincere in their involvement of their customers then they won’t reap the rewards that they are after.
Live Tweet
The Live Tweet campaign took a bunch of KLM employees (140 to be precise) and used them as a ‘live’ tweeting medium for a single day. Each person had a character, and they were used to spell out tweets as replies to the tweets that KLM were receiving.
Yes there will be those that are screaming that they are just re-hashing the work of W+K on the Old Spice campaign, and yes there is some cross over, but it was executed pretty well. The purpose of this campaign was to highlight their social media services – to let people know that there are people on the other end of Facebook and Twitter 24/7 waiting to help out. It’s just another example of how KLM is telling their customers that they are invested in being as accessible and helpful as they can be, and social media is one of the best ways that this can happen.
You can pretty much sum up KLM’s ideas on how important their social media audience is with this advert; drawing a parallel between football fans and the passion inherent in supporting a team with an airline is an unusual association to create, but with the hyperbole aside, it’s one they seem to believe in none the less.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Oct 14th, 2011. 
What do consumers think of Google+, the new “social layer” from Google that’s the company’s answer to Facebook?
Laura Lippay of How’s Your Pony? answers that question by using NetBase Insight Workbench to develop an in-depth case study of Google+. The case study features half a dozen infographics that communicate study results visually. As a teaser, here are a couple of them:
Check out the complete case study here: “Are People Loving Google+ or Hating It?”
Great job, Laura!
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 11th, 2011.
How in the world was Casey Anthony acquitted? Did the justice system fail? These are the questions that the public is still speculating about some 2 weeks after the verdict was announced. However, according to Juliet Huck, a persuasive communications expert that has worked on high profile cases such as the Scott Peterson and Kobe Bryant cases, the answer to these questions could be found in persuasive communications.
As she explained to us, communications involves informing someone of something, whereas persuasive communications is more about getting something from someone, like a verdict or vote. Although she believes the prosecution did well with what they had to work with, she told us that the defense did a very good job of persuading from both a visual and verbal standpoint.
“I think the prosecution did a pretty decent job, but I think that the defense even pulled it out further,” said Huck.
For you, which was more persuasive: the communication from the prosecution or the defense?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jul 19th, 2011.
Facebook is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. And sometimes, it’s not even sweet.
While most social media advisers are bullish on Facebook as a marketing channel — and certainly there are some amazing success stories — in my classes I teach a more holistic view of the opportunities and the PERILS of what you might get into.
I use the screen shot above as a way to illustrate the dark side of exposing your brand on the social web. Let’s take a look at what’s going on here.
The first wall comment is from a guy who is using a cute little girl as his avatar. I’m guessing this is simply a proud papa, but without careful observation, or taken out of context, you might make the conclusion that this is a perversion or that this cherubic girl is thanking Budweiser for participating in an alcohol-related promotion in Kansas City.
Curiously, the next avatar is also from a Bieber-like child who is clearly below the drinking age. This little boy is thanking Budweiser for supporting LGBT issues. This stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transsexual. While Anheuser-Busch may very well support this demographic, it certainly is not reflected in its advertising or core brand promise. Bud is known as the King of Beers, not the Queen of Beers.
In any event, a casual observer would be thinking, why are these two little kids posting on Budweiser’s Facebook page?
Finally, Joe Doyle thinks this photo is so funny he posted it TWICE. Remember the Southwest airline attendant who got fed up with his job and abandoned his flight? Yup that’s him. Joe goes on to suggest a Facebook site encouraging Bud to feature the wayward flight attendant in an advertisement.
From a traditional marketing standpoint, this is a mess. Everything you do, and everything you don’t do, communicates about your brand. What is being communicated by these community comments and how does this reflect on the most powerful beer brand in the world?
While social media represents a true opportunity for connection, listening and service, a wacky page like this seems to overwhelm those positive opportunities, doesn’t it?
I had the privilege of working with Anheuser-Busch senior execs for four years and I know the extreme pressure on brand managers. After viewing this page, if I were Bud’s marketing director, I might be thinking “WTF … Who talked me into being on Facebook?”
I’m not necessarily suggesting that they shouldn’t be on Facebook, but I’m making a point that in an era when many ”gurus” think every marketing problem can be solved with a Facebook page, you better be prepared for all possible consequences.
Marketing on Facebook is hard work … as we see by this example. Considering that a brand like Budweiser is probably going to consistently attract “diverse” and unusual comments like these, how do you weigh the benefit versus expense of a high-maintenance page like this?
Is this a case where a brand has to be there or be conspicuously absent? Is Facebook like your industry trade show – you just have to go or people will notice if you’re not?
Or, does Facebook represent an opportunity to legitimately inform, engage, and communicate in exciting new ways in a case like this, or is this a daily nightmare for an important brand?
Let’s get down to basics. Is a Facebook page going to help Budweiser sell more beer? How does it fit into an integrated strategy? What do you think?
Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, author and college educator who blogs at {grow}. You can also follow him on Twitter: @markwschaefer.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 22nd, 2011.
