Generating Buzz Through Content and Conversation

Matthew Bamford-Bowes MediaCom

The ChallengeDespite an innovative and competitive offering, T-Mobile had fallen behind it’s competitors.

People simply didn’t know what the brand stood for.

MediaCom needed to launch the new brand positioning: ‘Life’s for Sharing’ to a broad target audience, with a specific requirement to drive word-of-mouth, but with a fraction of the budget of our big competitors.

The IdeaStage a unique dance event at Liverpool Street Station that would provide content that embodies ‘Life’s for Sharing’, create such excitement that people would share it; and ultimately, make great advertising.

Additionally, build a community around this content, and make it easy to share using digital and social networks.

The 6 Month StrategyJa

n

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

MaintainLaunch MaintainLaunch

A typical event based approach wouldn’t work…

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Dead Space for Conversation and Content

We needed to provide momentum to each burst by continually seeding “unseen” content

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Liverpool Street Station delivered great web-ready content…

What is great web-ready content?

• Cult• Currency• Cool• Celebrity

All of the above have been proven to drive “viral” uptake of video…

Cult: By limiting people at the event had got people talking about what it was, was it real, was it faked?Currency: People wanted to pass it on and share it with their matesCool: The Dance grabbed people’s attention, made them smile, and want to share itCelebrity: Liverpool Street Station acted as the celebrity – a location everyone knew

In fact…when reviewed this is why people passed it on…

Limiting our Partners meant we could control content flow…

The main hub of Content and Conversation

Video Live at same time as TV spot (Friday 19th)

All traffic directed to YT for first two weeks of campaign

Seeding partner for all video content

Video Live 48 hours after TV spot

All traffic directed to YT, but bloggers encouraged to rip and share content

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Volume of Engagement

Partners

Content

Full 2

min

30+

Vid

eo

Content was planned ahead of time, but didn’t react to consumer wants and desires…

Content Timeline

Brand Led

Consumer Led

Mak

ing

of a

nd

Behi

nd th

e Sc

enes

Full

Vide

o of

Eve

nt

Actu

al E

vent

Consumer m

obile

and camera

images

Consumers

record, edit and

post footage of TV

ad onto blogs and

YouTube

Shellie launches

Facebook group

Laun

ch o

f sho

rter

ed

its +

How

to

Danc

e pt

.1

How

to D

ance

w

ith E

mm

a pt

.2

Pete

r Cro

uch

Edits

Kelly

Bro

ok

Edits

Consumers

seekingout edits

and new versions

Consumers

demanding m

ore

info and wanting

new events

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Full 2

min

30+

Vid

eo

Mak

ing o

f and

Beh

ind

the

Scen

es

Laun

ch o

f sho

rter e

dits

+

How to

Dan

ce p

t.1Al

tern

ative

Edits

Potentially reacting to consumer could have driven more interest

Volume of Engagement

Partners

Content

Can we deliver an “epic” marketing campaign….

20million+

viewsYes, we can….T-Mobile Dance remained in the top 5 Viral Video chart for the first 20 weeks of 2009, even beating Obama’s inauguration speech to the

top spot

And the business effect was “epic” as well…

• Handset sales went up 22% during launch week

• Store footfall in January was the highest ever for T-Mobile

• Retargeting people who’d seen the brand ad online with a sales message improved response by a factor of three

• Biggest ever UK Bluetooth downloads

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Full

2min

30+

Vid

eo

Mak

ing

of a

nd B

ehin

d th

e

Scen

es

Laun

ch o

f sho

rter

edi

ts +

How

to D

ance

pt.1

Alte

rnati

ve E

dits

Potentially reacting to consumer could have driven more interest

But what about the

next event?

Volume of Engagement

Partners

Content

There were three key user groups…

Facebook and YouTube were easy to identify.…

3,000 Subscribers via email 4,000 Subscribers via admin

Bloggers were more difficult to identify due to volume of conversation…

We used OpenAmplify and Unruly to identify a top 100…

Then contacted the list in preparation for more information about the event…

Week prior (w/c 20th April)

The Day(30th April)

Post-Event(48hours)

Create exclusive invite and content (potentially video) to ask top 10 influential bloggers from Dance campaign to come and blog about event

Give Bloggers T-Mobile goodie pack including T-Mobile Broadband dongle with week’s free accessGive them exclusive access to the filming and behind the scenes content. Encourage them to bring own camera and record via photo/video.

Identify top 100 bloggers from Dance campaign. Contact with exclusive content prior to TV ad launch, including video trailer.

Give them PR story and lead. (Zac – what else can we give them)

Saatchis - CatyFreuds - Zac

Saatchis - SallyFreuds - Zac

Freud - Zac

MediaCom - Matt MediaCom – MattT-Mobile – PR team

MediaCom - MattContact

Content

Action

Identifying Key Roles for Social Channels

Create Direct Discuss

Seed event post-event across key influential blogs through non and paid for placements

Signpost RSS on YouTube for video content

THE EVENT

Signpost Video, content and Photo updates through twitter

Allow comments on all create channels and RSS where possible

Actively discuss activity with followers on Twitter

Distribute event content to Flickr photo channel

Create Facebook group to house content and release some exclusive non-YT content

YouTube as the main content hub

Through social media & T-Mobile texting London customers 13,000+ people were driven to the event

But it didn’t stop at just getting people there to the event…

I blogged live from the event with the

T-Mobile Broadband stick

T-Mobile contacted me to

video at the event and post on my

YouTube channel

I got great access because T-Mobile found me on Flickr and asked me to

photograph the event

I recorded it all on my mobile, shared with friends and

added it to YouTube

I took photos and uploaded them to

T-Mobile Flickr group

An explosion of Consumer Created Content…

1,271 “Earned” Photos 312 “Earned” Consumer Video

17,319 “Earned” Blog posts

Jan

Feb

July

Mar

Apr

May

June

Volume of Engagement

Partners

Full

2min

30+

Vid

eo

Content

Mak

ing

of a

nd B

ehin

d th

e

Scen

es

Laun

ch o

f sho

rter

edi

ts +

How

to D

ance

pt.1

Alte

rnati

ve E

dits

Potentially reacting to consumer could have driven more interest

30” T

raile

r of E

vent

Live

Cons

umer

Cre

ated

Cont

ent

360d

egre

e Ye

llow

bird

Cont

ent

Alte

rnati

ve E

dits

Foot

age

from

Tour

Abi C

lanc

y Vi

deo

Mob

ile F

oota

ge

The Five Points to Take-Away

1. You can control the content, you can’t control the conversation

2. But.. Consumers are a great ally in producing free content.. use it well

3. Start early to create a groundswell

4. Don’t just pick one social platform, try them all for their different strengths

5. Let everyone you talk to think they are the most important wheel in the cog – Bloggers, Facebook admins, YouTube subscribers