So I was at my favorite bar in Tahoe last week, they make a great burger (and a better margarita). Scott served me the burger and fries and put down a bottle of Heinz 57 in front of me. Something on the back label caught my eye - something about a ketchup challenge.
So as I'm digging into the burger I read on, and think this is a great idea from an old-school marketer. It's easy - create a video commercial for Heinz 57, and if your video is selected as the winner you win $57,000 and get it aired during the Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox.
Simple and smart - Invite ordinary people to spend their own time - for free - creating videos that tell the world how much they like H57. So Heinz gets thousands of consumers engaged with their brand, and get a commercial made for them that will air on TV. All for $57K! Actually closer to $80,000 as 4 runners-up each get $5,700. Still the cheapest campaign Heinz 57 has ever run.
Almost 4,000 people have submitted 30-second spots, and most have been viewed 500-1000 times. And since they are on YouTube they will live on forever. Plus, even though these spots were motivated at least in part by the chance to win some dough and gain notoriety, these User Generated Media spots will prove more believable then ordinary CPG ads.
So, you don't have to do a major call for UGM, but you can always make it easy for your customers to show the love - add community areas to your website for instance where consumers can upload photos, stories and videos. Add customer comments to your website. Add 'email this web page to a friend' links. All easy ways to leverage the power of UGM, and you don't have to pay a dime!
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