PUMA's "King Diego" Facebook Campaign Celebrates Maradona's 50th Birthday

Advertising today is about creating something participatory that reinforces your brand attributes.   It’s about creating something fun, engaging, viral and personalized.  Better still is creating something users would engage irrelevant of the brand facilitating the experience.   It can definitely be a challenge, however, to ensure you’re positioning optimizing activities, try using our Campaign Scorecard. 

A great example of this new model is Droga5’s latest “King Diego” effort for Puma.  To celebrate soccer legend Maradona's 50th birthday, Droga5 and Puma have launched this online Kick-Ups competition. 

Players log onto the game on Facebook and have 30 minutes to pass a video of Maradona juggling a soccer ball to a buddy. The goal is to continue passing and keep him from dropping it. The longer you do, the more footage you'll see of the soccer star juggling over the years, including newly shot film of the icon keeping it up at the age of 50.

The player who keeps the ball up the longest will earn the Grand Prize, viewing a soccer match with King Diego himself—at a venue of his choosing—whether it's on his living room couch, in a pub or at the stadium.   Prizes will also go to Kick-Ups with most countries passed to, most players passed to and most passes completed.  Check out the PUMA Football Facebook Page.

RICKIE FOWLER (PGA) - BRAND STRATEGY

RICKIE YUTAKA FOWLER is an extremely likeable, handsome young guy who’s also laid-back, genuinely approachable, and largely unknown except in NCAA circles. This despite becoming the only golfer in history to be the NCAA's 'Player of the Year' as a freshman (at Oklahoma State) while also notably breaking all of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh’s and Phil Michelson’s NCAA records after only a few years of taking up the sport.  He’s also one of the fastest in the sport to have earned a PGA Tour card so if you haven’t heard of him yet, you certainly will.

As of this post, Rickie is currently sponsored by Puma Golf, Rolex, and Titleist (ProV/Scotty Cameron,) followed on social media channels by more than 90,000 (at the time of this post,) has represented the United States at the Walker Cup and the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup Team - and all before even turning twenty-two. Goodbuzz Inc. was extremely proud to be selected by Rickie's management team SFX Golf to develop a brand, social media, and activation strategy that would position him for success and reach out to a new generation of 'wired' golfers.

THE CHALLENGE

Professional Golf has changed a great deal over the years and never more so than with the advent of social media and a new 'wired' generation. As Andrew Giles, Senior Brand Strategist at Goodbuzz, explains, “Golf as a brand today feels antiquated, inaccessible, and corporate.  It’s a game that may be better accessorized by a defibrillator than Puma Gear – and that’s the primary problem.” Testing only confirmed this notion.

SFX Golf established an overarching goal to create a bulletproof brand that was bigger than the score Rickie posted at the end of a round.  Goodbuzz thereby determined that the brand needed to feel authentic, connected, accessible, and genuinely represent who he is and what he liked.   

STRATEGY
Our Golf 2.0 strategy ultimately requires a new 'connected' way of thinking: an always-on, real-time brand strategy.  Good marketing is good storytelling, and for a brand to be successful in this competitive era, it must have an engaging story. Fortunately, Rickie’s back-story was uniquely interesting, inspiring and entertaining.

As Andrew Giles explained, “Rickie Fowler is a true challenger brand.  If you are cheering for Rickie, you’re cheering for the underdog - the little guy fighting against the establishment. Twitter and social media give these followers a window seat. We ultimately needed to ensure that the Rickie Fowler brand shared little in common with the current PGA positioning.  It had to feel like a fresh, understated upstart challenging the status quo. This naturally led to our Golf 2.0 positioning and strategy.”

To the casual consumer, the power that some brands hold seems like a mystery or stroke of luck. But there's nothing unintentional about it.  To this end, Goodbuzz architected the brand strategy to be equal parts ‘hero’ and ‘rebel’ - a reluctant anti-establishment hero, who’s courageous, overcomes tremendous obstacles and persists in difficult times.  Add a dash of moxie and an extremely competitive position could be established in short order.

Rickie’s primarily “Millennial” constituents access the Internet continuously first and foremost for information and for entertainment and secondarily for connection. Our strategy needed to make Rickie Fowler both relevant and accessible to use social media to let fans come along for the ride.

ECOSYSTEM

The resulting digital infrastructure positioned Rickie Fowler as the next generation of Golf (or what we coined “Golf 2.0.”)  Therefore, whether tweeting, uploading pictures, videos or commentary, Rickie would be extremely approachable and accessible.  A website was developed and integrated with social media feeds and real-time PGA updates.

Rickie's promise to his constituents is nothing short of full transparency and unfettered access to his life (and we’re not talking about ghost-posting either.)  From the beginning, Rickie enthusiastically adopted social media (Facebook and Twitter specifically.)  For example, Rickie tweeted his frustration at hitting an errant fairway shot immediately after hitting a ball. This level of access was unprecedented in professional sports.  Ultimately, Rickie’s exemplary play on the course ensured he was always in the spotlight and driving the discussion. 

Our strategy was to make his followers active participants and stakeholders in Rickie’s success or failure and ensure an authentic emotional connection is made with his brand.  This unique and distinct positioning helps followers separate and isolate his brand from his seemingly antiquated competitors, as they are with him every step of the way.   

Managing and operating a successful sports brand is about winning, yes. But you can’t bet all your chips on doing well all the time, so you need to build a customer base that’s not reliant on winning. If that sounds like a contradiction, it’s not. You need to dig deeper into the relationships you have with fans, so that the satisfaction they get is not just from the score, but from their entire relationship with your brand. Goodbuzz has a passion for the business of sports, and a close connection to golf.

We look forward to walking this path with Rickie and watching him change the world of Golf as we know it. It’s a tall order certainly but he is definitely positioned to disrupt the establishment as we know it. Hold on for the ride.  Note: Rickie Fowler's Brand, Social and Activation Strategies were proudly developed and launched by Goodbuzz for SFX Golf.  What can we do for you? 

 

Top Social Media Blogs + Resources

Mashable 

One of the most prolific blogs on the World Wide Web for reviews of everything digital and the latest updates about what’s new. Mashable’s also an excellent social media resource with a number of guides.  Visit Mashable 

ReadWriteWeb

Insightful analysis of web trends and timely information about social media (with an enterprise /e-comm bent).  Visit ReadWriteWeb 

Goodbuzz

A Facebook Page showcasing the top social and participatory media from around the world.  Case studies and a veritable agency who’s who of Facebook followers.  Visit Goodbuzz 

Social Media Examiner

How to guides and a plethora of information on Social Media and best practices. Less agency, more general application bent.  Visit Social Media Examiner 

180/360/720

Marketing meets social media optimization. Less agency, more enterprise brand manager bent.  Visit 180/360/720 

PR 2.0

A wealth of social media info here with a Public Relations + Social Influence Marketing  bent. Visit PR 2.0. 

Digital Buzz

Featuring the latest digital ad campaigns, hot new websites, interactive marketing ideas, virals, industry news, social media, insights, and other great digital trends from all over the world.  Visit Digital Buzz Blog 

The simple genius of Facebook Deals

Yesterday, Facebook announced a bunch of upgrades to its mobile platform (200 million+ users and growing quickly), but most notably, they launched “Deals”.  There are five different types of “deals” businesses can offer customers through Facebook Places.

• Individual deals for a discount,
• free merchandise or other reward;
• friend deals where you and your friends claim an offer together;
• loyalty deals for being a frequent visitor to a place; and
• charity deals where businesses pledge to donate to a cause when you check in.

Deals are free for any business with a Facebook Place Page. Customers "check-in" to your location from their mobile phones to activate a deal, and then share it with their friends. Facebook will monetize this by offering businesses the opportunity to further advertise their deals once you create them. But creating deals and having them spread organicly through the Facebook ecosystem is free, and quite plausible for organizations of all sizes.

Because of Facebook's half a billion users worldwide and more then 200 million mobile users, Facebook's Deals bring instant scale and credibility to the geo-location check-in rewards business introduced by Foursquare, Gowalla and others. Whether this new platform will hurt or help Foursquare and its several clones or even Groupon and its dozens of clones, remains to be seen. But there is no doubt that Facebook Deals will be a major force to be reckoned with.

Bottom line:  Facebook Deals allows brands to create a compelling offer, and have it spread quickly through Facebook's powerful social graph via the virality of the News Feed. Facebook Deals allows you, for the first time ever, to acquire new customers quickly through social networks.

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [NOV-10-GB_V14.0]

The NHL's Boston Bruins Brand Building Campaign - Apparently, no one messes with the bear!- YouTube + Website -  Bruins site.

GOOGLE’s “Demo Slam” recruits the general public into showing off various Google technologies. And it works - http://demoslam.com/ 

FACEBOOK IS THE NEW TV – Goodbuzz 

Umbro ran a targeted Facebook Ad campaign the day of England’s final World Cup qualifying match - Case Study 

IKEA's iPhone App takes shopping to a whole new level   

Walmart's "Crowdsaver" Group-Purchasing Facebook App Takes A Page From Groupon – Ad Age 

Delta Air, JetBlue, and Southwest are improving their customer service and flight experiences by listening to their customers using Twitter and Facebook.  -  The Wall Street Journal 

Scholastic's new social "You Are What You Read" site is letting fans reflect on their favorite childhood books and create unique "bookprints" to share with friends.  -  You Are What You Read 

ABC Family is sending collectible stickers of characters from its new show, "Pretty Little Liars," to fans each time they check-in to the show using the social network for entertainment, GetGlue.  -  DMNews 

AstraZeneca is providing tools and resources on Facebook and Twitter for individuals struggling with depression as a part of their "Take on Depression" social media campaign.  -  Cape Gazette 

  

Jeep is using Foursquare to engage with fans and offer guidelines about National Parks. Users can check-in and receive facts about local monuments and tips about nearby off-roading trails.  -  Truck Trend 

Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods top Mashable's list of most engaged brands.  -  Mashable 

NASA is participating in social media from space with up-to-date tweets from Space Shuttle Discovery and real-time astronaut check-ins on Foursquare.  -  Information Week 

UCSF is launching a social media fundraising campaign for Benioff Children's Hospital. The "UCSF Challenge for the Children" encourages users to create teams on Twitter and Facebook and compete against each other for the most individual donations.  -  PR Newswire 

The Human Rights Campaign, discusses why social media was an integral part of their award winning campaign that worked to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.  -  Market Watch 

Soldiers are telling their personal, uncensored stories using blog and video posts on U.S. Army's Army Strong digital network.  -  Army Strong Stories 

H&M extends Augmented Reality (AR) virtual window-shopping using GoldRun 

Brand Marketing Trends - The Luxury of Ethics

SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [OCT-GB_V13.0]

In honour of National Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Avon Foundation is launching their first social media marketing campaign to create awareness and support the cause.  -  RICG 

Ford is awarded Ad Age's "Marketer of the Year 2010" award along with runners-up Southwest, Chick-fil-A, PepsiCo, and Domino's.  -  Ad Age 

AT&T partnered with Foursquare to help promote Conan O'Brien's return to late night television. Fans "checked-in" when they spotted the orange Conan blimp as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr tracked its progress.  -  Inventor Spot 

CLOROX's Green Works brand shares how they're using a Facebook application to collect "green footprints" from students in exchange for a $5,000 grant.  -  Brand Week 

Jack in the Box is donating one nickel for every fan who "likes" Jack on Facebook in their "Be a Rich Fan" campaign.  -  Ad Rants 

PepsiCo shares tips on how to create a successful social media campaign based on their recent "Pepsi Refresh Project."  -  Destination CRM 

Crown Imports is pushing to make Corona Light the "Most Liked Beer on Facebook" by rewarding each fan's "like" with a place for their photo on a 150-foot billboard in Times Square.  -  Drew's Marketing Minute 

SKITTLES submerged a fan in a tank of Skittles as a part of their live Facebook event -- the more fans that "liked" skittles, the deeper the challenger got buried.  -  Marketing Week 

The USDA Forest Service is encouraging young adults to be proactive about preventing wildfires by giving their Smokey Bear character a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace.  -  PR News Wire 

CME Group shares how their social media strategy has done a remarkable job of spreading the word.  -  Vimeo    

The Increasing Relevance of your Social Brand

We should be looking beyond superficial, static graphics and examining the social brand platform, instead.

Gap's recent failed attempt at a logo redesign is only the latest in what seems to be a monthly cycle these days. Looking back over the past couple of years, we see Tropicana, Pepsi, AOL, and even Apple being raked over the coals for similar missteps, and provoking considerable buzz from the design and brand industry.  Unfortunately, these pundits are almost all talking about the wrong thing, especially in the recent Gap debacle.

Whether the new logo was designed by a well-intentioned but misguided "logo committee," or an out-of-touch branding firm, the ongoing debate indicates, more than anything, the branding and corporate identity industry's myopia.  Simply put, no one really cares about the logo anymore. Today, people are more interested in what a brand can do for them. Great brands are discovering that logos or advertisements are losing relevance, and instead put their efforts into creating social brand platforms that invite participation and create value in authentic and relevant ways. The real reason the Gap logo failed was that it wasn't backed by any of this; the same goes for Tropicana and the rest.

Social brand platforms require a new way of thinking: a cross between advertising, branding and design. In contrast to static logos and corporate identities where the focus is on control and consistency, social brand platforms have five key characteristics: they’re useful, social, living, layered and curated.

Useful


Logos create value for brands, but social brand platforms create value for people. Nike+ helps people run and get healthy. Facebook keeps people in touch with friends and family. Etsy connects cottage industry craftsmen with buyers. Converse has just announced that it's building a recording studio in Brooklyn to help up-and-coming musicians.  Social brand platforms are not experiential marketing gimmicks. They do not exist to promote something else, but rather they are useful in and of themselves. A logo, by contrast, doesn't actually do anything.

Social


Logos are about control and consistency, but social brand platforms focus on defining the context -- there are no standards manuals. They invite people to interact with each other in a variety of ways including one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many.

Nike+ lets friends challenge friends, individuals compete with the crowd, and universities compete with other universities. Nike defines the context -- letting people track their mileage -- that lets people provide the social interaction.

Living


With rare exceptions (notably MTV and Google), logos are static. But social brand platforms are living experiences that take place over time and increase in value as more people participate. The Apple and Android app stores become more valuable as the crowd contributes to these platforms.

Layered


Not everyone wants to participate on the same level. Social brand platforms thrive by offering multiple levels of involvement. They recognize that not everyone is a creator. Specifically, they provide room for three types of involvement – creation, commenting and consuming.  YouTube is often heralded for its user-generated content, but only .1% of YouTube users are creators. The rest are making comments or simply consuming. All three types of involvement are necessary for a sustainable platform.

Curated


Finally, great social brand platforms provide enhanced functionality that helps aggregate and amplify user-generated content. Without curation, user-generated content is useless. Etsy provides shoppers with a number of ways to discover hand-made products including by color, location, time, and a 10x10 grid of editors’ picks to name a few. Threadless uses a combination of user evaluation and staff recommendation to push the best T-shirt designs to the front.

So, what if Gap didn’t redesign its logo? Instead of pouring countless dollars and hours into redesigning a logo (and dealing with the consequences), what if Gap used its resources to create a social brand platform? Like Converse, Gap is a pop culture icon. It was inspired by the idea of "the generation gap" and Don Fisher's difficulty finding a pair of jeans in the size he needed. The first Gap store, on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco, was going to be called "Pants and Discs" and according to the Gap's "reason for being" dated June 12, 1969, Don envisioned that it “would be loaded with Levi’s pants as well as records and tapes -- all part of an effort to appeal to the 12-to-25-year-old target customer.

Perhaps Gap could take a page from the company whose jeans once filled its shelves. Levi's spent this past summer running a print workshop in San Francisco – the first installment in an ongoing series of platforms called Levi's Workshops. Participants are invited to learn a creative skill, for free, with the best work produced going up on the workshop website. With one grand gesture, Levi's hit every aspect of a good social platform: the workshops teach a useful skill, provide context for socialization, offer an ever-changing and deeply layered experience, and Levi's curates the results for public view, to the benefit of their own brand.

What would Gap's take on a social platform look like? Don Fisher's original idea of serving the "generation gap" is still relevant today, and could serve as a powerful foundation. What if Gap partnered with Kickstarter to help struggling artists and musicians secure the funding they need to jumpstart their projects? Gap could include matching funds. Users could vote favorites up and down. Filters could be added to let people discover projects of interest. Through The Gap Foundation, Gap has generously given more than $100 million to various nonprofit organizations and causes. Using some of that money to create a social brand platform could be mutually beneficial to the brand and the people who love it.

We all agree that the redesigned logo was bad, and that the attempt to recover from that by announcing a crowdsourcing logo contest was arguably worse. Crowdsourcing your logo is not a social brand platform--it's more like asking a date what you should wear for dinner. But what was more discouraging was the amount of attention this debate and other logo fiascoes have received within the industry. Rather than chasing H&M or Zara, Gap has an opportunity to create an authentic social brand platform that no one else can offer. Gap reinvented how we shop for jeans. It's time Gap and other consumer companies think differently about branding.

How’s your brand looking?  Time to get more social? Give us a shout.