During the month of March an athlete is posting videos of himself on YouTube doing 30 different sports in 30 consecutive days in 30 cities across America. In addition, users are able to watch and interact with the athlete — who is promoting EAS performance nutrition products — on a Facebook app that already has more than 65,000 fans. Overseen by marketing agency McKinney, this campaign is a very innovative example of ways that companies can advertise and market their products to their digital users.
In order to better understand their rationale for deploying this massive campaign and using Facebook as the chosen platform, I spoke with Michelle L Zendah, Manager of External Communications for Abbott Nutrition. Read below to learn more about this campaign.
How did the idea for the Unstoppable Tour come about?
Abbott’s EAS® brand designed the ultimate sports challenge to show how proper sports nutrition can help make an athlete unstoppable. EAS is engaging consumers online where they are already searching for their health and fitness information – online.
The tour is being promoted through social media and in-gym advertising, online banner advertising, ESPN TV spots, and public relations efforts.
Why host it on Facebook? Were other social media channels considered?
Facebook was already a central hub where EAS connects with people who are passionate about the brand. We wanted to ensure our fans saw the content and shared with friends. In addition, we wanted to host the program in a place where we could talk to consumers and they could talk to each other, about the Tour, sports and sports nutrition.
Reinforcing our decision was the fact that Facebook saw a 71% growth in share of time spent online in 2010 (ComScore’s “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review”), underscoring the continued relevance of the platform. It was also a strong choice because of the video-based nature of the Tour. In August, Facebook had the second highest number of video views (33%), per ComScore’s August VideoMetrix. Our metrics-to-date support the strength of Facebook in encouraging video viewership and sharing; though hosted on YouTube, more than half of all video views have been embedded.
What are the goals for the site?
The main goal is to get people to engage with the Tour content, which includes the daily challenge videos, Sam’s nutrition plan and EAS product videos. We hope that the compelling nature of the content encourages fans to share it with others and conveys how EAS products can help them achieve personal fitness goals.
How did you select the athlete?
Last fall, the EAS brand worked with its athletic training partners across the country to identify potential participants for The Unstoppable Tour. Casting took place in LA, Chicago, and NYC, plus outreach through specialized sports groups. The professionals at Athlete’s Performance in AZ also helped us evaluate the candidates for fitness capability. Sam Tickle was chosen from a group of qualified participants for his athletic abilities, enthusiasm for fitness and for his commitment to the 30-day challenge.
When were the episodes shot?
Last fall, the EAS Unstoppable Tour traveled to 30 cities October 15 – November 13, on a cross-country tour to raise awareness for the impact of nutrition on fitness goals. The tour was documented and debuted on March 1 in daily videos posted on www.Facebook.com/EASbrand.
What stats are available at this time?
Over the first week of the EAS Unstoppable Tour, we’ve had more than 11,000 views of the tour trailer, 500,000 views of our Facebook posts and almost 1,000 comments on our FB wall.
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