Over the past couple of weeks my attention's been grabbed by two Facebook marketing virals - Bodyform and Thomas Cook. What's specifically got my attention is the similarity/timing and technique involved. This lead me to send a Tweet last week labelled 'social media bandwagoning' - a Tweet that gained some positive comments and support.
Both campaigns stem from a 'normal' Facebook user posting something amusing and provoking directly on the brands wall, in the case of Bodyform about their TV advertising and for Thomas Cook a man who has the same name. I use inverted commas when referring to a 'normal' Facebook user as the jury it still out as to whether these were set up by agencies who then pushed as a PR piece - the Bodyform video response was made by agency Rubber Republic.
Both virals came out within a short space of time and hinge on the idea of a public post and a brands response (call and response). Both have also proved their ROI by creating great PR and viral buzz.
However, does this also spotlight a lack of creative for Facebook marketing? And this brings me back to my opening point that both are similar and having happened within a short time frame come across as 'social media bandwagoning' - jumping on a good, effective and proven piece of marketing.
I am all for great PR/social media innovativeness and thought the Bodyform viral to be one of the best to date. But, has this now opened the gates for Joe Public to post on brands walls in the hope they can get something for nothing (e.g. Thomas Cook/Low Cost Holidays)? And has Bodyform created the viral response to end them all?
This post was originally posted on the Honey Digital blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment