Here’s what they needed
Sony wanted a way to launch its free streaming entertainment platform, Crackle, raising the brand’s profile and positioning it in a way that would differentiate it from competitors like Hulu and Netflix.
Here’s what we did
Our strategy was simple: acknowledge the fact that Crackle was an unknown, untapped and “too good to be true” destination for full-length movies. To do this, we declared Crackle “the best thing you never heard of,” and leveraged the tongue-in-cheek wordplay by hashtagging the line in an effort to get people talking and sharing. Unlike the brand’s competitors, Crackle was not afraid to poke fun of itself in the name of sharing – well, the best thing people had never heard of. In fact, one of the main components of the campaign was an interactive OOH execution in NY and LA. Passersby were encouraged to sign in to Twitter and tweet a message that included a pre-populated #bestthingyouneverheardof. In exchange for spreading the word, Tweeters were rewarded with boxes of movie candy. In addition to the interactive OOH, we also topped taxies, produced wallscapes, plastered billboards and created flash banner takeovers for sites like IMDb.com and IGN.com
And here’s what happened
The campaign met or exceeded all goals across the board. Unaided awareness increased by 200% and aided awareness doubled in just five months. Traffic spiked at the campaign launch, garnering 4.5MM+ direct visits, and continued through October. The interactive OOH installations generated 10,000+ interactions and contributed to 80,000+ “#BestThingYouNeverHeardOf” mentions in just three weeks; Crackle’s Facebook and twitter followers increased, +21% and +157%, respectively, without a paid Facebook presence. “#BestThingYouNeverHeardOf” and a promoted tweet garnered a 5.07% engagement rate, 2% higher than twitter’s benchmark. Finally, we succeeded ranking as the #2 mobile app on iTunes charts.