Ikea’s Facebook showroom

During the autumn of 2009 Ikea used Facebook’s picture tagging tool to run a competition designed to promote its new store in Malmo.

Armed with very little budget, ad agency Forsman and Bodenfors created a Facebook account for the store manager, Gordon Gustavsson, and uploaded 12 pictures of the store’s showrooms over a two week period.

Users could win the products on show by being the first person to tag their name on it. This obviously meant that thousands of other people were exposed to the campaign when it cropped up in their timelines and newsfeeds.

This makes it appear far more appealing than a usual sponsored story, as the user has willingly associated themselves with the promotion.

This is a good example of an innovative social media campaign on a low budget. There is no associated build cost, since all of the features already exist on Facebook. This makes it easy for users since they are already familiar with Facebook tagging.

However, a downside of this campaign was that it did not strictly comply with Facebook terms of services, which limits the potential for campaigns like this in the future.

Nedap’s Tweet Mirror

Retail specialist Nedap set up this tweet mirror that allows customers to take photos of themselves as they try on new clothes, the share them with friends via social media, email or text.

The idea is that it clothing brands can gain exposure by tapping into the social element of shopping. Retailers can even add a personal message or promote their latest collections.

Jimmy Choo trainer hunt

When Jimmy Choo needed to promote the launch of a new shoe collection in 2010 it decided to turn to location-based social network Foursquare.

Pairs of trainers were hidden around London, which people could win by locating them using clues from Foursquare.

Other social media channels, including Facebook and Twitter were also used to engage customers. One of the objectives of the campaign was to increase conversations about the brand and the trainers.

A member of the Fresh Networks agency team checked-in the trainers at fashionable hangouts around the city using Foursquare and sent out real-time updates about their whereabouts on Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter profiles. 

Whoever reached the venue in time to catch the trainers would win a pair of trainers in their size.

The hunt lasted for almost three weeks until a lucky winner in Covent Garden finally caught the trainers. With only one winner, Fresh Networks advised Jimmy Choo to host an in-store event for the rest of their followers to further deepen the bond they have formed with the brand.

Innocent Drinks’ Tweet And Eat Cheap

Innocent and Holler Digital came up with a ‘Tweet & Eat Cheap’ campaign to promote the food brand’s vegetable pots.

The promotion offered discounts on its vegetable pots, with the size of the discount depending on the number of people who tweeted the hashtag #tweetandeat.

As a minimum, customers got 50p off a veg pot, while the ultimate prize was to get the product for free – although there were limits on the number of free products available. Customers without a Twitter account could participate via Innocent’s Facebook page.

The campaign was effective as it used group-buying power to offer customers a high discount, thus offering a twist on traditional money-off coupons.

It also meant that thousands of people will potentially have been exposed to the Innocent brand through organic (though incentivised) means rather than a sponsored post.

La Senza Nudist Beach Facebook Campaign

Social agency Karmarama came up with this excellent campaign to promote La Senza’s new bikini range. It created an interactive video showcasing the collection, which was seeded on the brand’s Facebook page.

As six models emerged from the sea the viewer could click on them to get the price of the bikini and click through to buy. The whole transaction happened directly on Facebook.

It was claimed to be the first time that click-to-buy tags were used within Facebook. Naming it a ‘Nudist Beach Campaign’ is slightly misleading, but probably gained it some extra clicks.