As the New Year approaches, it’s a perfect time to reflect on everything you’ve accomplished for your agency and your clients in 2011. Don’t miss these two opportunities to get recognized for your best work with Facebook.

 

We created the Facebook Studio Award to recognize the agencies that are behind some of the best campaigns on Facebook. You’ll find all the information you need here, and can submit your work by clicking the “Submit Your Work” button on the top right-hand of Facebook Studio. All work published to Facebook Studio is automatically in the running. Enter by December 31, 2011 to claim your place among the industry's best.

 

Entries combine Facebook with one or more traditional mediums such as film, print, and out of home in a new and innovative way. Visit the CLIO website for full details including entry guidelines and the 2011 winners.

I always say to the client, don’t brief us for the ad, brief us on the challenge. Kiasma had a problem on its hands. There was a lot of negative buzz surrounding the museum at the time – the public didn’t necessarily see the museum’s value and people weren’t happy about recent exhibition cancellations. Instead of taking the conventional route and apologize for everything, we recommended that Kiasma go on the offensive a bit, but in a clever way.

When we look at contemporary art, we’re often inspired by certain pieces, but sometimes a bit puzzled by others. A common reaction can be summed up by the phrase “My preschooler could have made that.” So we thought, let’s call their bluff and invite these critics to make contemporary art themselves.

Yes, we wanted to engage people, invite them to have a dialog and challenge them to create something positive. Facebook provided a wide-reaching and useful platform that made the dialogue possible. The campaign’s web gallery used Facebook Connect to display all the submitted artwork, and then fans could vote for their favorites by using the Like button. Every piece of communication we put out was a call to action, a challenge to “make a better one yourself then.” We ran posters outdoors that leveraged real critiques from real people. Comments such as “Just like a two-year-old’s scribble,” dared the public to try their hand at creating contemporary art.

Before we launched the campaign, I thought 100 submissions would be a phenomenal response. When all was said and done, there were more than 600 pieces in the online gallery. It was truly astounding. 

To be honest, this type of campaign is always a bit of an unknown. You don’t know exactly what’s going to happen but you just have to be brave. When Kiasma first heard the idea, they fell in love with it. Now they had a solution that not only confronted the problem but also invited people to contribute something positive. We then focused on getting as much attention as possible, and creating ways participants could easily share their engagement with friends. We invited everyone, whether they loved us or hated us, and in the end, we changed people’s mind about Kiasma.

As far as the criticism goes, if people are saying negative things, it’s just their opinion. I think the consumer relationship can grow even deeper with criticism. We need to be bold and we need to give people fantastic content that enables a true dialogue. That’s what makes the campaign social. 

Most refer to the Mad Men era as the golden era of advertising. But for me, today is the golden age of creativity. The advertising industry has never been forced to be as creative as it has to be now. We have all these wonderful instruments - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, you name it – that allow us to deepen the relationship between the brand and the consumer. Audiences are willing to live in an ad if they are provided with the proper content. 

With all the possibilities that these new platforms give us, the advertising opportunities are truly enormous. Facebook is one of the most important tools for opening up real conversations. We just need to be clever and use it the right way. It is clearly the golden age of creativity and we’re having the time of our lives.

** We're delighted to announce the winners of the Facebook Studio Live Chicago hack challenge! Read on for the announcement of the winning team.**

Nearly 49 million Americans—more than 17 percent of American households— live with limited access to regular, quality meals due to a lack of money and other resources. As the largest network of food banks across the U.S., Feeding America’s mission is to end hunger nationwide, and help change perceptions about the issue.

At Facebook Studio Live in November, Chicago’s agency community was challenged to find creative ways for Feeding America to reach, engage and activate more people with its message. Mixed-agency teams competed during a two-hour hackathon to develop initiatives to implement in 2012. Together with members of Facebook, the teams worked to find solutions that use Facebook to inspire people to share Feeding America’s message with their friends, in addition to taking action themselves. Feeding America, the Ad Council and Facebook are delighted to announce that Team 17 won the challenge with its proposal for “Dinner and Dinner.” 

“Dinner and Dinner” centers on a partnership with an online restaurant reservation service. When people make a restaurant reservation they can also make a donation to Feeding America, and at the same time, share their donation with friends via Facebook and invite them to also donate. The partnership could extend to credit card and deals partners, enabling additional opportunities to make donations and encourage friends to do the same. Feeding America is actively looking into partnerships with some of the leading reservation websites to make this idea come to life.

From Stephanie Rath, Director of Marketing for Feeding America: “With one in six Americans at risk of hunger, hunger is an urgent issue in the U.S. today.  We were thrilled with the fresh ideas generated by everyone at the hack.  While we selected ‘Dinner and Dinner’ from Team 17 as the winner, there were many great insights that we hope to integrate into our efforts moving forward. We thank Facebook for their support in raising awareness of this critical issue.” 

Find Feeding America on Facebook to show your support and discover how you can get involved.

“Dinner and Dinner” / Team 17

Christiana Basso, Cramer-Krasselt

Kevin Flatt, Cramer-Krasselt

Katie Schnepf, Digitas

Ian Sohn, Ogilvy

Daniel Verakis, Cramer-Krasselt

TK- This campaign was completely different than previous marketing efforts. Typically a TV show advertises on TV, and that’s what the audience expects. We thought about how we could reach out to people in a new and unexpected way. On the Shortland Street Facebook page, some fans had written posts addressed to specific characters from the show as if they were real people. We decided this would be a really interesting phenomenon on which to build our campaign, as the audience was already present and genuinely engaged. While viewers are used to passively watching the show’s characters on television, they would never expect to get personal Facebook messages from them! With the use of the Facebook platform, the interaction feels personal. That’s why it worked so well for something like a “summer fling” – fans could actually have that two-way interaction for the first time.

RW- The brief challenged us to bridge the gap between the two seasons and keep Shortland Street in fans’ minds throughout the summer, so that when the new season started, anticipation would be at a fever pitch. What better way to accomplish that goal than allowing the viewers to have a brief summer fling? Once the fan decided which character they wanted to “hook up” with, we sent a short introduction video that we’d created for each character, all shot from the first person point of view. For example: one character chased after the viewer with sunglasses that had been left behind in a coffee shop, and another introduced herself in a bar. The campaign developed from that point. A week didn’t go by when fans weren’t in touch in some way with the characters from their favorite show. 

TK- The fans’ previous Facebook behavior led us to think that they’d get into the idea, so we took a chance. We used Facebook Reach Blocks to drive awareness and several 15-second television spots that directed people to the show’s Facebook page. Then, we did whatever we could to make the engagement as interesting and authentic as possible. We tied it very closely to the show’s storyline. People received messages on their walls, flirty emails and video greetings. 

RW- To be honest, we were surprised by how many people actually replied to our messages. We got hundreds of replies. Fans wrote extensive emails back to the characters. They shared the communications on their walls and they wrote on the Shortland Street Facebook wall. Fans talked amongst themselves about which particular messages they received. While each character had his or her own storylines, the fans didn’t receive all of the same posts. That worked really well because it got people talking and sharing. I was totally surprised by how much people got into it. I expected people to have a bit of a giggle and enjoy receiving the videos and the messages. I could never have imagined the massive response.

RW- With any campaign this is always something you want to plan for. With social campaigns in particular, you are giving people a voice, which is really exciting, but you also want to make sure you have a plan to handle different types of responses. For this campaign, we received several curiously detailed emails and a few inappropriate photographs… a couple of people even attempted to call the characters! One funny story – the wife of one of the guys at the agency got a bit upset actually. He was getting multiple wall posts and messages from a Shortland Street character. He forgot to tell his wife that it was a campaign. She asked “Who is this Nicole sending you messages on Facebook?” It was pretty funny to hear him defend himself: “Whoa, it’s an ad campaign, she’s not even real!” People really got into the experience.

TK- For this campaign, one of the key markers was the growth of activity and the interaction on the Shortland Street Facebook page. Interaction grew significantly, and remains higher than before the campaign. The number of new fans increased dramatically over the summer. That’s really unusual as the show wasn’t on the air at the time – a clear indication that the campaign was working. Just as importantly, heaps of people tuned in when the new season premiered. Fans in the UK got involved as well. We couldn’t have been more thrilled.

Today NeuroFocus, a world leader in the application of neuroscience to consumer insights, announced the results of a new study that takes a close look at consumer engagement on premium web sites including the Facebook homepage, the New York Times homepage and Yahoo's homepage. The research analyzes consumers' subconscious responses for attention, emotional engagement and memory retention across these sites. Using those same measures, NeuroFocus fielded a second study that examined people’s responses to the same advertisement but in different environments – on TV, on a corporate web site, and on a Facebook brand page.

The results underscore the importance of context for marketers and for optimizing their messages across different types of media. High-level findings include:

You can find the full study, please click here.

We’ve updated the Learning Lab with some new resources, including the new Facebook Best Practice Guide, guidelines on Social Media Crisis Response, and a guide on the new Deals product now piloting in five U.S. cities. 

 

Best Practice Guide & Social Media Crisis Response Guidelines

We’ve developed two new resources to help marketers best manage their presence on Facebook. The Best Practice Guide is designed to help you think about how to use Facebook's tools to achieve key client objectives like building awareness or driving sales. The Social Media Crisis Response Guidelines provide tips on how to respond when your client or brand is facing a messaging or PR crisis.

 

New Deals guide available

Our new Deals product can help your clients stand out from the crowd with experiences that people can enjoy with their friends. Deals can generate significant word of mouth for brands and can help you build loyalty, drive repeat business, and reach new customers for your clients. We are now piloting Deals in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, and Austin. For more information, check out the Deals product guide. To create a deal, please contact your Facebook representative.

 

Join us on Wednesday, November 30th at 11am PST (2pm EST, 7pm GMT), to hear one of the most awarded advertising executives in the world discuss how social is impacting the advertising industry. David Droga, Creative Chairman at Droga5, will discuss what makes a great social campaign and share some of his favorite examples.

Guest Speaker: David Droga, Creative Chairman at Droga5

Time: Wednesday, November 30th at 11am PST (2pm EST, 7pm GMT)

Location: Marketing Talks tab on the Facebook Studio page

After this discussion, we will be talking a live Q&A with questions from our online audience. Please share this event with your friends and colleagues and post questions in advance on the event wall.

The plan was to engage young people and show them that the Social Democrats are willing to take their issues into the political arena for them. The aim was to get people involved in politics and to make the campaign an extension of the public’s voice. Facebook was the perfect platform for us.

This campaign turned the political process upside down by making the people the initiators of ideas. Through a democratic voting system on the Facebook page, people could post their own ideas and watch them gain support. Then the candidates took up the most popular issues and made them part of their political platforms. This campaign actually listened to people rather than pushing a message to them. It’s a very simple idea actually, and a very positive one because of the direct engagement that it encourages.

It’s a feat we never could have accomplished through other types of media. This campaign would not have been possible without Facebook. Like the Facebook marketing platform itself, our campaign hinges on the community being a part of the campaign creation rather than just the consumption. We achieved this by having people post their original ideas; each subsequent comment or fan then gave those ideas more life and momentum. 

In Switzerland all the parties use posters prior to elections; posters can be quite effective in a country this small. But people don’t really respond to this kind of political advertising anymore; they’d rather delve into the issues. So we used this insight and instead of putting political candidates on the posters, we actually put real people with their ideas. The portraits were simply the Facebook profile pictures of people that had agreed to have their ideas and pictures featured in the campaign. People read the different ideas, had their own responses, and then went to Facebook to vote and comment. People would tell their friends that their faces were on a poster in Zurich. You know how it goes — that’s the way buzz spreads. We also had representatives in the streets, like the other parties did, but in our case they offered the public forms to submit their ideas for the city. It was all very positive. The press picked up on it quite early in the process, so that really built momentum as well.

I think simplicity is definitely a key element. We had to communicate the concept clearly and concisely, because people just aren’t patient enough to follow instructions or spend a lot of time figuring it out. In this case, the ease with which voters could engage in the discourse on Facebook aided in fundamentally changing the direction of the conversation. We can’t force a message on people anymore. Facebook offers the public a way to share, communicate and engage in a simple, fun and interesting way.

That it was a success! I look back and see that it actually changed things. That makes me really proud. If with one idea you can ignite hundreds of thousands of others and some of them can be put into practice, it’s really beautiful. It’s not often in advertising that one can actually see an end result that’s not only affecting the life of one person but of the entire city. In Switzerland, young people are frustrated; they feel like they don’t have a voice. We turned the process on its head by simply listening for a change.

We believe that media has evolved from old media to new media to “you media,” in which you—the consumer—help share the brand’s message. If we provide interesting content, exciting activities and good causes, you will become a voice of the brand. You will share it with your friends, you will like it, you will comment on it. You can share it and post it and bring your friends to the fan page. 

Our agency’s general Facebook strategy is based on an ongoing, continuous 52-week relationship. We target media and traffic to companies’ Facebook fan pages, which are always our engagement centers. If we do a good job on the engagement center in these 52 weeks, we will reach the “you media” point. 

Through the Facebook pages, we communicate with people throughout the year. Most of the time it’s through small things, such as a daily status update, and once a month we’ll have a larger activity to engage the fans. Every four to six months, we will run a big campaign with media, such as the ones we’ve done for Coca-Cola that are highlighted on Facebook Studio (which has been great for building buzz around our own brand). The paid media all drives traffic to the Facebook pages and helps grow the user bases.

The ongoing relationship between a brand and a consumer doesn’t exist only on Facebook. What we are trying to do in a lot of our campaigns is to extend the relationship offline. So when you are out day to day, and you meet us in the street or in an amusement park or at a concert, we want to connect you to the brand and help you share that connection. If you’re at Coca-Cola’s summer village having a great time at the pool, you will walk by a “Like point,” tap it with your RFID bracelet, and share that great time with your friends on Facebook. When you experience our activities in this way, your affinity for the brand multiplies.

We seek out new technologies all the time. Israel has a really innovative digital media industry. We established the Publicis Incubator, a big bank of technologies that we may use in our campaigns. We often partner with other companies to enhance our campaigns. For example, for the Coca-Cola Summer Love campaigns, we worked with Face.com to use the company’s facial recognition technology. But, our team develops the ideas. If we don’t have the technology for a campaign, we will develop it.

The heart of it is sharing. We are trying to find what will get you involved, what will amaze you and what will motivate you to share something. It might be through content, a new technology or a meaningful purpose, such as donating to a charity. We think about the psychological side of marketing and how consumers feel about brands and how they fit into people’s lives. The psychological and social side must fit in with the technology. You cannot disconnect them.

We have a very nice rooftop in our building. We gather together on the rooftop once a week to brainstorm. Most of the time Johnny Walker comes with us, and sometimes he brings his friend Jack Daniels! In all seriousness, it’s just part of our company culture. We never say that it can’t be done; it might take more work but there’s nothing that can’t be done. This is how we think. All you need is a good idea, and when you start a campaign, there is a point when you start to see the viral effect working. It’s an amazing moment.