Creative Content Marketing Strategy: Best Brand Examples
The explosion of communication channels has radically changed how companies have to build brand recognition. Traditional marketing departments have been forced to adopt new methodologies and channels, while still holding on to the proven values that make any marketing effective. The latest bandwagon being jumped on in this new world is being called “content marketing.” In other words content that is disseminated through social media. The key to being effective lies in the implementation of a creative content marketing strategy and delivering content is truly informative and/or entertaining, rather than a thinly veiled sales pitch.
Traditionally, the main campaign tactics were to reach out to media and find early adopters to build interest and buzz about a brand/new product. Content marketing takes the message to the masses in a more direct and targeted manner. In previous posts I have talked about some content marketing that, to my mind, didn’t work well. Now let’s take a look at a campaign that was, indeed, highly effective.
Nike’s FuelBand campaign is an excellent example of producing effective campaigns in today’s “social sales economy.”
Nike started with the fact that many consumers are connected 24/7/365 through a multitude of devices. Using this as a campaign platform, they created a product launch for their FuelBand personal activity monitor that took full advantage of social media marketing and content creation to build brand awareness.
FuelBand is a hardware/software APP product used to monitor personal activity levels and reward users with Nike fuel points based on their activity throughout the day. Nike used social media to launch and develop the product. The beginning stages were implemented using Twitter and Facebook to offer interesting “factoids” about the amount of energy expended in everyday activities, like walking to the bus on the way to work. This energy was converted to fuel points, with no explanation as to what that meant.
As the campaign raised interest, Nike slowly released relevant information on the upcoming product in an informative and entertaining manner through a series of blog and social media posts without using any sales language. The campaign culminated in a series of free concerts where FuelBands were distributed to concertgoers and were wirelessly linked to create a contest between men and women to see who could earn more fuel points by dancing to the music. Tickets were distributed via online contests on social media sites. Winners received free tickets and FuelBands.
The end result was that FuelBand was Nike’s most successful product launch in company history. Not that the campaign was free, but they accomplished it without a single paid print ad or TV spot. By offering useful content about exercise and activity and building interest through creative use of social media, Nike showed how a creative content marketing strategy can work to build a new brand effectively, using intelligent and creative content delivered (intelligently and creatively) via social media.
