How To Entice 150 Million people to “Pass the Mayo”



　

How do condiments manufacturers with a vast target market to reach not only get the biggest bang for their buck; but walk away with the “good guy “ award at the end of the day? It’s simple, -- they have everyone make their own sandwiches and pass them around to their friends.... “virtually speaking” that is. And for anyone who doubts that a business enterprise can not make money off of a social network. These condiment manufacturers just proved them all wrong.

Every once in a while there comes to the fore front an advertising campaign that makes any connoisseur stand up and cheer... but when it is done while steering a relatively new advertising vehicle at the same time, it seems all that more amazing. Yet Hellmans(R) teamed up with Best Foods(R) and pulled it off. Let’s look at their recent success in utilizing the most current advertising vehicle-- the home computer.


Hellmans(R) and Best Foods(R) have effectively co-ordinate the use of several online marketing tools with a staggering combined reach. Their primary vehicle Facebook(R) in it’s self boasts not only of an audience of 150 million; but the ability to allow any business to target their specific market by geographical region, age, gender... you name it! Facebook(R) is the 6th most-trafficked website in the world, and the 2nd most-trafficked social media site in the world. Already utilized by big name corporations like Ernst and Young, who find this as a valuable recruitment resource. No doubt it made sense to Hellmans(R) and Best Foods(R) to look towards this avenue with a big smile on their face; both having a wide consumer base to market to. One of the best selling features of Facebook(R) is it’s viral nature. If you have done your research and designed your campaign to effectively reach a different market, your message will blow across millions of potential customers in a matter of minutes, not unlike a spark in dry kindling. It does take looking at things from a very different angle though. Welcome to high speed advertising!

And how did they make their presence on Facebook(R) known to their market? By a Press Release and a well co-ordinate one at that with the services of PR Newswire. They teamed up with country musician and actor Billy Ray Cyrus...yes he’s the dad of teen pop star/singer Miley Cyrus, thus raising a curious eyebrow with the adolescent market as well as the country scene. They also aligned themselves with Feeding America(R), a not for profit charity that runs food banks across America; and when added all together a “down-right feel good,” public relations campaign emerged. The press release was designed to call out to all ages to celebrate a favorite child hood ritual of swapping lunch sandwiches. Because of the subject mater and the people who were involved, (both directly and indirectly,) this press release was picked up by a multitude of online magazines with very respectable reaches themselves, such as: Forbes, Finance, Connect with your teens, and Country Blips... just to name a few. Their reach streached to a wide audience who were no doubt also on Face book(R) and more than willing to participate; after all it suggested two positive payoffs: it was going to be fun, and it was all for charity.

Aside from the free promotional tools which Facebook(R) offers such as : the Facebook(R) page, groups, and funwall.; (just to name a few) they decided to step out of the box a bit and utilize the “applications” portion of Facebook(R). It offers a platform that allows 3rd parties to develop widgets and other applications that can be used by Facebook(R) patrons. If an application has great content and incentive, the patrons will come and they will spread the application to their friends, thus the viral nature of the process. The beautiful thing about utilizing applications is the feedback that it provides. The ability to track what happens with the application, and the overall effectiveness of the campaign. As well as impressions made and where they are coming from. With this information a company can not only identify their market strengths and weaknesses; but also will be in the position of seeing opportunities, and areas where slack may need to be picked up.


The application was named Sandwich Swap N Share. It’s appeal was for all interested Facebook(R) users of all ages to go to the application and make a sandwich. to share with up to with 7 of their Facebook(R) friends. With every sandwich made Hellmans(R) and Best Foods(R) would donate 7 lunches to Feeding America(R); up to 700,000 all total. In addition , the participants would automatically be entered in a sweepstakes for a $250.00 grocery store gift certificate. The application would switch from Sandwich Swap N Share to an entry form for this sweepstakes when the user exited. As long as the user was swapping sandwiches, their opportunity to win the sweepstakes awaited them, further promoting frequent use of the application.

They spent a few dollars on hiring a professional Applications Designer and it was a very good investment. The animated graphics were top notch, realistic, and stunningly mouth watering. It even made me feel like making a sandwich afterwards. The application read like a virtual reality game where the user selected from a key their preferred sandwich breads, meats, cheeses, and toppings. A variety were given, and when selected the user watched the sandwich come together. When it came to condiments, there it was! A showcase of Hellmans(R) and Best Foods(R) product line in all it’s glory, not only to choose from, but to get in the habit of using as well! Talk about impacting buyer behavior in a big way. Induced repetitive use to stimulate buying behavior through repetative "virtual" use of a product line... brilliant!

　


It was a feel good campaign for the user with plenty of generosity spread around. It enabled the users to rally together in a fun interactive way and then upped the experience with a chance to be rewarded every time they did good; it lead to a supercharged positive corporate “good guy” view of Hellamns(R) and Best Foods(R) But don’t be fooled... positive word of mouth publicity was only a small part that was gained by this viral experience for the corporations. That $250.00 sweepstakes had an entry form that provided a valuable client list, as well demographics to launch further marketing schemes from.. It was like a well disguised survey, that the participant were all to happy to do.




As the new age of advertising “virtually” evolves, I look forward to some refreshing and new strategies like this one. More and more businesses are seeking new and innovative means of getting their word out. With the computer age well upon us, and now scaled down in size to fit every pocket; this avenue is rapidly becoming the forefront in advertising dollar expenditure. A businesses can no longer look at an avenue like a social network and balk at it as being not viable for their needs. Instead it is prudent now for the executive to say, “how can I make this viable for our needs.” The technology is changing our world very quickly, but with every step of uncertainty lies opportunity for those brave enough to step out of the box.