Adweek - 06.04.2020

ADWEEK 7

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| APRIL 6, 2020

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BUILDING BRAND CONNECTION WITH

A VIRTUAL PAJAMA PARTY

Belle Bar Organic, a DTC hair and beauty brand

for women of color, virtually engaged with its

customer base as all parties involved were

in self-isolation. On March 23, the founders—

sisters Tianna and Solange Bell and their mom,

Annette—hosted an interactive livestream from

their home for a group of fans that RSVPed

through electronic invites.

The beauty brand partnered with agency TH

Experiential and The Call List, an interactive video

platform for ecommerce brands, to produce the

digital event to connect with fans at home. The

founders used the virtual meet and greet to share

stories about their family life and offered self-care

and beauty tips using their products. Viewers

could participate in a live two-way Q&A with the

founders and answer pop-up survey questions

focused on product feedback.

Nicole Falco, director of creative strategy

for TH Experiential, said the event was meant to

foster brand love rather than directly promote

products to purchase.

“We wanted to tie this to the joy and goodwill a

brand [and the] audience can share together,” Falco

said. “When everyone is shut-in, the founders are

making themselves available to them. This was for a

segment of their community, but the idea is this will

build on itself as they receive consumer insights.”

TH Experiential reported 25% of attendees

engaged in live questions during the stream

while 80% stayed on for the full duration.

EXPERIENTIAL

IAN ZELAYA IS AN EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING

REPORTER FOR ADWEEK WHERE HE COVERS

BRAND ACTIVATIONS AND EXPERIENTIAL

TRENDS. @IANDAVIDZELAYA

THE PIVOT

TO IN-HOME

POP-UPS

MARKETERS ENGAGE

QUARANTINED CONSUMERS

WITH DIGITAL ACTIVATIONS

AND STUNTS. BY IAN ZELAYA

Activision (above) teamed up with

Fooji to send Call of Duty-branded

pizza boxes to quarantined gamers.

COVID-19 has forced brands to postpone or cancel in-person events for the foreseeable future, so marketers are

adapting their experiential strategy to connect with people in self-isolation.

“Pivoting” is the buzzword experts have pushed the past few weeks, and brands are beginning to show what that means

with stunts and digital experiences that don’t require consumers to leave home. In fact, they encourage staying home.

Deb Gabor, CEO of brand strategy consultancy Sol Marketing, said brands can be successful right now if they focus on

connecting with established fans in interesting ways rather than trying to acquire new customers through selling products.

Sensitivity to what their fans might be going through—and the state of the world in general—should also be top of mind, she said.

“Brands absolutely must show regard for humanity and acknowledge what is going on right now,” she said. “But they

don’t have to do it with a doom and gloom mindset.”

TAKING A WELL-KNOWN CONCERT SERIES DIGITAL

Bud Light has continued to evolve its Dive

Bar Tour since launching the concert series in

2016, bringing the activation to festivals like

Governors Ball, SXSW and Firefly. To draw

attention to the importance of social distancing

and raise funds for the American Red Cross,

the Anheuser-Busch label took the activation

virtual for the first time.

The brand kicked off the Bud Light Dive Bar

Tour: Home Edition on March 20 with country

singer Jake Owen, who performed on Instagram

Live. The following night, the brand tapped pop-

rock band OneRepublic to perform live on its

Facebook and Instagram Live channels. Fans that

tuned in could make special requests and donate

to the American Red Cross.

“The Dive Bar Tour was created to bring

people together over Bud Lights, and our

new Home Edition will do that virtually while

supporting causes that are so important to us and

our talent partners,” said Shana Barry, director of

experiential for Bud Light, in a statement.

Bud Light worked with agency 3PM, Weber

Shandwick and Synergy Productions to produce

the virtual programs, with more performances

planned in the future. According to the brand,

Owen’s show attracted around 8,000 viewers on

Instagram and OneRepublic’s concert drew over

330,000 on Instagram and Facebook.

As an extra incentive to stay home, Bud Light

has also partnered with alcohol delivery app

Drizly to offer $5 off to first-time purchasers.

ENTICING ESPORTS FANS WITH PIZZA

Esports is one of the few industries that could boom as a

result of COVID-19 (minus in-person league competition

tours). Call of Duty: Warzone, which Activision debuted on

March 11, drew 6 million players in the first 24 hours of

its release, breaking the franchise’s previous record of 2.

million users in 24 hours.

Knowing fans would most likely be secluded and

playing the game in the following weeks, Activision

teamed up with Fooji, an experiential tech company that

offers on-demand delivery services for brand campaigns,

to send pizzas in branded Call of Duty boxes.

On March 20, Call of Duty encouraged fans to tweet

#FreeCallOfDuty, the pizza emoji and #CODPromo for a

chance to win free deliveries. The promotion delivered 1,

pizzas to fans in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New

York and San Francisco. Activision partnered with local

pizzerias to supply the products, including Paul’s in New York

and Bongiorno’s in Chicago. For those not in key markets, the

brand also awarded 1,500 DoorDash gift cards.

“As brands pivot their strategies, we believe there is

still a significant need for experiential activations and fan

engagement,” said Erik Zamudio, co-founder and chief

brand officer of Fooji. “We’re uniquely positioned to offer

experiential promotions without requiring brands to have a

physical presence at an event.”

Zamudio said the daylong promotion drew more than

50,000 tweets.