What a year in social! There have been highs, lows and an overload of end-of-year rundowns. So for the final Soup of 2011 we’ve decided to focus on the strictly festive with a collection of our favourite campaigns this holiday season.
Oh Heineken...
Social media savvy Heineken realised that a normal Christmas tree just wouldn’t cut it in this day and age of internets and Facebooks. Accordingly they decided to take things to the next logical level by creating an 11 metre tall, 48-screened, interactive social media ‘tree’ based in Singapore. Yup, it’s as crazy as it sounds. Using their Facebook app users can create and share messages that will displayed on the tree throughout its stay.
The season of goodwill to MEN.
In terms of effective social media marketing, few can dismiss the raging success that was the ‘Old Spice’ viral campaign of 2010. Here he is again, this time giving out presents to all 7 billion people in the world through his MANta Claus viral videos on YouTube. Gifts so far include separating Australia from Pangaea and gifting 'Dove-chucks' to the people of Switzerland. Once again, Old Spice has created a campaign that’s managed to keep a relatively well-known character fresh, exciting and incredibly sharable. Good on them!
Dads don’t go to Littlewoods
Littlewoods re-telling of a Christmas school-play (complete with gate-crashing rappers) proved to be particularly divisive this year after it seemed to imply that Mums were the mysterious force behind Christmas – not Santa – and that the way to gain a child’s love is to do so through expensive electronics purchased on credit. Unsurprisingly this hasn’t worked out too well for their social credibility with the campaign receiving some pretty terrible write-ups; compounded all the more by the very un-festive manner in which they handled things. Bah humbug!
#o2santa
Good ol’ St Nick took some time out of his busy prep work to help mobile phone provider o2 launch a particularly sweet festive campaign entitled 'the o2 Santa'. Users could tweet Santa using the hashtag #o2santa and he would then read out their message for the whole world to see on his YouTube channel. So far Santa has uploaded a whopping 991 videos for the users that managed to find themselves on the right side of his naughty & nice list; proving that even at his busiest time of the year Santa still understands the value of good social media.
Ever seen the John Lewis ad?
Obviously that question is entirely rhetorical: the advert itself has topped almost every list for 'ad of the year' and has been responsible for mass hysterics, renewed festive spirit and a slew of parodies, so it would be churlish to turn a blind eye to this year’s seasonal viral hit. Aside from bringing the nation to tears, the video has managed to amass an impressive 3.7m views on YouTube as well as propelling the ad’s songstress, Slow Moving Millie, to #31 in the UK singles chart.
And finally...
How does he do it?
Perhaps the reason Santa has the time to record 991 YouTube videos these days is down to his new and improved sidekick ‘Siri’ – or at least that’s what Apple’s suggesting with their newest campaign. This year they managed to obtain exclusive footage of Mr Claus using his brand spanking new iPhone 4S and its inbuilt digital assistant to aid him with his annual rounds. It may be atrociously cheesy but it leaves a warm, tingly feeling in our hearts, and we can’t be alone as the video has racked up a whopping 2.8m views so far. Viva la Santa!
That’s all folks, have a great time this Christmas and we’ll see you all, bleary eyed, in January!
By Account Manager Sam MacLeod @cooltweetbro #YomegoSocial