With content marketing now being used by so many brands it’s no wonder the internet is well and truly saturated with content.
Just search ‘Christmas infographic’ via Google and you will see the problem. Cutting through the clutter is the biggest challenge for many content marketers right now. This is where real-time content marketing has proven its worth for those that are reactive and brave enough.
Brands have started to realise the potential of interacting with consumers in real time, creating advertising campaigns that can drive instant engagement.
Looking back at 2013 here we highlight our favourite 5 examples of real-time content marketing:
1. Oreo’s Superbowl tweet
When the Superbowl was plunged into darkness Oreo reacted with a very simple but relevant branded tweet, “You can still dunk in the dark”. The image was retweeted 16,000 times and in the next few days 8,000 new people started following them on twitter. Oreo had no pre knowledge of the black-out, but decided to use the Superbowl as the platform to launch a Twitter campaign. They had a team set up to respond to the incident instantly, and as a result built instant brand engagement and a whole heap of press.
2. Mini’s horsemeat campaign
As I am sure you are aware in 2013 traces of horsemeat were found in almost every shop that stocked processed meat after extensive testing. At the same time Mini were launching their new Mini JCW Roadster. The advert Beef, with a lot of horses hidden in it, received 4,500 likes and nearly 2,000 shares. The reason the ad worked so well, even though it was completely irrelevant to the news, was because it mocked the horsemeat scandal, and put their own twist on it.
3. Nando’s ‘Fergie-time’
When Sir Alex Ferguson retired from football, it sent shockwaves through the entire country. Finally Manchester United may be beatable? The restaurant Nando’s capitalized on this, tweeting that all of its Manchester restaurants would stay open an extra five minutes. The tweet is a reference to “Fergie-time” the extra time all referee’s seemed to add on for Manchester United when they were losing or drawing to opponents. The tweet was re-tweeted over 17,000 times and over 4,000 favourites.
4.Smart Cars bird crap Tweet
When creating a successful social media campaign you have to think outside the box. Smart Cars used a Twitter complaint to launch its unique and abnormal infographic.
The consumer Tweet claimed:
“Saw a bird had crapped on a Smart Car. Totaled it.,”
Smart Car USA Tweeted back:
“Couldn’t have been one bird, @adtothebone. Sounds more like 4.5 million. (Seriously, we did the math.)”.
On the back of this they created an infographic as below:
The Tweet earned them 500 retweets and 300 favourites simply by responding with a clever infographic that would appeal to anyone. The initial Tweet was not actually aimed at the @smartcarusa account, it was the brand marketers who picked it up and created the tweet.
5. Virgins support of same sex marriage
When gay marriage was legalised in the UK, within minutes Virgin holidays tweeted a picture saying “Same sex marriage Bill. Passed. Time for a honeymoon”. The image was posted across their social media channels, with the #equalmarriage.
Richard Branson has long been an outspoken gay marriage supporter and this piece of branded content looks authentic to Virgin customers and their followers.
The trend of real-time marketing is still in its infancy, and in 2014 we can definitely look forward to brands mastering the art of utilising news to generate awareness. Brands can plan ahead to make sure they are better prepared to react to events that happen. The Royal baby is one such example. It requires creative thinking, reactiveness and above all the right attitude to cleverly align your brand to the news. Many brands still have very rigid compliance that restricts them from implementing such campaigns. We are very much looking forward to seeing many more great examples in 2014!
Merry Christmas from everyone at WooContent!