Brand Dig: SodaStream, TNT and American Greetings involve the public to generate amazing content

This week, Pulsar marketer Kyle looks at how brands are developing content using the unsuspecting general public. SodaStream uses a bodybuilding Father Christmas in a current campaign to remind the public our planet needs saving, TNT entertains the locals with a bit of classic shock and awe, and American Greetings tugs at the heartstrings of stressed-out job seekers.

SodaStream aggressively informs local shoppers plastic is bad

We’re all tired of constantly being reminded what’s bad for the planet and how we need to change our ways and blah, blah, blah, which is exactly the problem. We don’t listen because we worry about personal issues first: it’s not our fault we’re born selfish according to a recent study. For some unlucky UK shoppers, SodaStream made sure that it was impossible to ignore environmental problems in the form of a 6 ft. 9-inch muscle mountain.

Their No Planet, No Christmas campaign uses the Candid Camera surprise approach in order to connect with customers that are buying harmful plastic bottles. Although SodaStream is no stranger to ambassador controversy (cue Scarlett Johansson), they seem to have put that behind them by creating a case study using the everyday man and woman.

The magic is the way they have used their recent influencer. Utilising him to engage with an unknown public, capturing the emotions of astonished shoppers as they are told that they can’t have what they want: making for fantastic unscripted content.

TNT disrupt a small Belgium town and then break the internet

If you’re going to cause chaos to promote your brand, make sure it’s entertaining and then use the correct mechanics to insure your content reaches the intended markets - in this case the global one.

TV network and trouble-makers TNT brilliantly placed a big red button in the middle of a nowhere town in Belgium with a banner overhead simply reading “push to add drama”. Obviously, that cannot be resisted and someone will eventually crack. All TNT had to do was make sure an ambulance, a bikini model on a motorbike, a group of police with guns, a group of thugs with guns, a bodybuilder equipped with ninja skills and a couple of American Football players were present: simple.

No one knew about this unusual entourage until they “pushed to add drama” and, in the space of a minute, town folk were exposed to heart-palpitating action. It was brilliant, they set up a scenario knowing very well that a person would initiate the scene, which is what we do with a touch of a button on any TV remote. What’s interesting is that we find ourselves being just as fascinated in people’s reactions. Capturing the public’s authenticity gives us a sense of experiencing the content with a certain amount of realism, and making it shareable, engaging and entertaining.

American Greetings gives us something to cry about

Cardstore by American Greetings posted a ‘job’ online: The World’s Toughest Job.
‘Job’, the mere mention of the word gives many of us a headache - so how could a card company turn this idea into a successful content campaign that made the internet break down in tears?

Using Skype to interview potential employees and compiling this into a video which formed their campaign, people were given the specs of the job which included standing up and exerting yourself all the time, 135 hours a week, 365 days a year and for no pay. Sounds horrible? The candidates’ shocked response to the criteria confirm that, yes, it is horrible.

But that’s exactly what made this campaign so special, as soon we find out it’s American Greetings advertising a mother’s job on behalf of moms across the world for Mother’s Day. The #worldstoughestjob received more than 24 million views, and increased American Greetings’ Cardstore orders by 20%, and it’s user base by 40%, which met sales goals for the entire year.

American Greetings clearly understood which sentiment worked with mothers and by creating a real time mechanic to initiate emotion, gives both us as viewers and the candidates themselves a genuine emotional reward.