Walker’s Crisps Prove The Joy Of A Simple Social Media Idea, Well Executed


In the spirit of fairness after yesterday’s blog, today’s post is a congratulatory one to Walker’s Crisps’ social media campaign.

Earlier this summer, the crisp brand launched 15 World Cup flavours (in stereotypical country meets food flavours, ie, England = Roast Beef, Germany = Bratwurst etc.), which featured a competition on the side of the packet encouraging so-called Superfans to make photographs and/or 30 second videos proving their love for one of the flavours. They were then directed to the Walker’s website where they could upload their efforts.

OK, it’s not a mind-blowing idea, but what it does do is capitalise on the original marketing idea of having 15 World Cup flavours really well. By featuring flavours from countries around the world, the video/photo idea works brilliantly because it gives a wide scope for entrants to use creativity and humour in their submissions. The flavours, being typical dishes associated with the country, encourage a certain level of stereotyping, which many of the winning videos play upon, to great effect. The proof really is in the pudding.

Also, a quick look at their Facebook page reveals how well they’ve been using Facebook to promote the campaign and talk to their fans. It features constant mentions of the promotion and almost every wall post is responded to by Walker’s Facebook guy, Sam. Good work, all round!

Here’s one of our favourite clips, by a local Hackney-based duo:

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, an organiser of Scrabble Sunday and blogs about stuff that he does here.


Paul Barnett, Social Media Case Study


An Overview Of Video Sharing Websites


Within the field of social networking, one area which cannot be ignored by PRs is video sharing. A good piece of video can spread a message to a huge amount of people incredibly quickly, which has led to advertisers creating specific pieces for the internet as well as seeing work originally produced for TV gain massive audience through video sharing websites. A good example of this is Cadbury’s 2007 ‘Gorilla’ ad campaign. The ad, which featured a man in a gorilla suit drumming to a Phil Collins song, was first aired during late summer ’07 with the brand reportedly paying £700K for one advertising spot during the Rugby World Cup. Compare this to the 500,000 views that the video received in its first week after being uploaded to Youtube for the cost of precisely nothing and you’ve got yourself a no-brainer. It pays to engage in this area. But search for video sharing websites and you’ll be met with a bafflingly huge amount of sites. Here are five of the best:

Youtube
You can’t talk about video sharing without talking about Youtube. The biggest of the bunch by a long, long way, Youtube’s top video (Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain’s Got Talent) received upwards of 120 million viewers globally in 2009. Youtube takes the lion’s share of the market because of its ease of use and its wide ranging approach to subject nature, featuring anything from kids messing about filmed on their phones to recordings of gigs to commercial tie-ins and link-ups with established TV channels. Having such a large amount of users, the community aspect of Youtube is also huge, with many videos attracting large amounts of comments and discussion. The site also allows you to embed clips into your existing blog.

Vimeo
Allowing a higher quality picture, Vimeo is aimed at the more advanced video-maker. The site does not allow any commercial videos or videos not made by the user. This means that the site feels more mature, is targeted at a creative use of the medium and encourages a friendly, rather than bitchy, community, as is the case with some other sites. Sign-up is free but there is also a paid-for version which allows more uploads, greater quality and several other features.

Google Video
In 2007, Google bought Youtube, almost immediately converting their previous video service into a search engine (much like Google or Google Images) that scours other video sites for content. The site no longer allows for users to upload video content but if you’re looking for a good place to find a coveted clip, with Google Video, you’ve a good chance of finding it.

Metacafe
Aiming itself squarely at the audience who are looking for a quick hit of entertainment, a break away from work or a diversion from studies, Metacafe’s average video length is 90 seconds. So, no news, no personal vlogs, nothing serious at all in fact. The other difference with Metacafe is that not every video uploaded to this site is automatically featured. Instead, the Metacafe community vet each clip before rating it and deeming it suitable (or not) for the site.

Metacafe

Metacafe

Veoh

Veoh has established partners with the bigger names in TV and film production, which means that it’s perfect for access to hit series’, music videos and film trailers. The yin to Metacafe’s yang, Veoh allows you to watch entire episodes and films, so it’s a place to spend a little time at.

About the Author

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett

Paul Barnett is a Social Media Analyst for Social Media Library, responsible for developing the content within Social Media Library. Paul lives in a world of blogs, blogs and more blogs, scouring the web and plucking out the juiciest information he finds. Previous to this, he worked as a Music Press Officer. He is also a freelance writer, writing for TV and editing a music title, SWN Magazine.

Paul blogs extremely infrequently about stuff that he does and once blogged about cheese, maybe he will do again some day. Follow him on Twitter @paulbarnett1.


Paul Barnett