Synopsis
XXXX is a well-established Queensland icon. It’s the #1 beer in the state and the #2 beer nationally. But the last decade saw innumerable competitor brands entering the Australian market, forcing the big brands to change their marketing strategies.
XXXX’s past digital activities had consisted of several small flash campaign sites with associated online media. This scattered activity limited XXXX’s ability to have a dialogue with its adorers, create synergies between sponsorships, rank highly in search results and feature prominently on social media sites.
The campaign objectives were to:
- Connect XXXX’s sponsorships with eachother
- Establish the brand on all major social media sites
- Dominate the search results for “XXXX”
- Increase the fan database (2008: 20,000 email addresses and 3,000 facebook contacts)
XXXX’s audience are typical proud “Aussie blokes” aged 18 - 45. They love a good bit of banter, the odd practical joke and plenty of laughs with their mates.
As a result of this ongoing campaign they’re expected to actively engage with XXXX by subscribing, befriending, commenting, posting content and promoting the brand among their friends.
Solution
Strategy
xxxx.com.au was rebuilt to serve as a “hub” for all XXXX’s online activity. This allowed fans to view campaigns, sponsorship content, promotions and product launches from one central point.
Branded facebook pages, flickr profiles, twitter accounts, tumblr blogs, Ning networks and a YouTube channel mean that consumers don’t have to go to XXXX for the latest news – the brand comes to them.
Media Execution
Limited budget went to conventional online media in order to promote the V8 races and the XXXXGold Ambassador Drivers. But to reach more consumers with a stream of content, XXXX spent the majority of the media budget on recruiting a full-time content manager as the voice of XXXX online, bringing Mr Fourex to life and building a long-term relationship with fans.
Working across numerous sites, the Community Manager has built a network of fans that actively engage with XXXX.
The brand is continuously identifying the most engaged fans and invites them into a closed social network of brand ambassadors called the XXXX Gold TopBlokes.
In addition to this, the XXXX Community Manager has developed relationships with an array of contributors and collaborators, including Channel 7, V8X Magazine, Queensland NRL clubs, several V8 Supercars teams and drivers and Surfing Queensland. This gives him more access to interesting content and speeds up the production process.
90% of the interactive budget went towards building a dynamic publishing structure and production of content.
Creative Execution
The XXXX online experience is genuinely Australian, inclusive, down-to-earth, full of banter and defined by content around sports, the outdoors and a relaxed summer-oriented lifestyle. The brand ambassadors XXXX Angels connect the main brands XXXX Bitter, XXXX Gold and XXXX Summer Bright Lager and appear in all sponsorships from surfing, cricket and racing to rugby league.
Moreover, all consumer-generated content depicting XXXX and its values can be collected and shown on the site by using descriptive tags and an admin-approval system. Being built in dynamic HTML, the site ensures easy access for all search engines and a growing online footprint for the brand.
In early 2010, XXXX launched The XXXX Local. Cleverly positioned as a virtual pub space, the Local allows members to customise content according to their taste and have it delivered to their inbox. The Regulars at The Local receive early access to promotions and branded content and act as peer-to-peer distributors as well as a test-bed for new initiatives.
Results
The new approach is already proving successful by showing great increases in viewership, fans, earned search media and loyalty program sign ups.
XXXX is currently in its second year of a 3-year digital marketing plan. Already, the brand has successfully transitioned to consider online in all its other channels. XXXX television commercials were an Australian first to use a search term (“xxxxgoldboatbuilding”) rather than a URL on their final screen. Events and on- and off-pack activities all work together to funnel consumers to the most suitable part of XXXX’s online world.
In 2009 alone:
- xxxx.com.au received nearly 1,000,000 visits
- There were almost 500,000 views on the YouTube Channel making it the 2nd most subscribed sponsored sports channel.
- XXXX’s images were viewed over 250,000 times on flickr
- 27,000 Regulars signed up to The XXXX Local where emails achieve an open- and click-through-rate of up to 71% and 37% respectively.
- There are close to 17,000 XXXX fans on facebook
- And another 2,650 follow the brand on twitter
There is no doubt XXXX’s new approach is making the brand as much a part of Queenslanders’ identity online as it is offline.
