Welcome back to the Fusion blog for 2019!
If anyone thought this year would be any different in the world of social media, three words quickly teamed up to prove otherwise. We’ll give you a hint. The first is ‘vegan’. And the third is ‘rolls’.
Read on for baked goods and more in our brand new round-up of the most buzzworthy social activations of the last month.
Huddersfield Town announces surprising new manager
Back in December, Huddersfield Town football club parted ways with their manager, David Wagner.
The club had been linked heavily with German coach Jan Siewert, when a keenly-eyed Sky Sports news team thought they spotted him in the crowd when Huddersfield played Manchester City. Unfortunately for the reporter, he quickly discovered that it wasn’t Jan Siewert; it was City fan ‘Martin from Wakefield’ instead!
A lot was made of the encounter on social media, which cameras caught in full. And Huddersfield got in on the act when announcing Siewert’s appointment, involving Wakefield’s finest in the content creation and beginning their video with Martin sat at Siewert’s desk in the manager’s office.
The Huddersfield Town coat labelled ‘MFW’ – Martin from Wakefield – is a nice touch too!
https://twitter.com/htafcdotcom/status/1087379049230594049
Greggs cooks up a storm for #veganuary
Greggs’ reputation for social media antics doesn’t need much introduction.
They made headlines in 2017 with their controversial nativity scene, exchanging the baby Jesus for Gregg’s sausage roll. But that furore pales in comparison to their latest media frenzy – which, ironically, results from something far less controversial.
At first, all Greggs did was announce the launch of their very own vegan sausage roll, coinciding with the start of Veganuary.
https://twitter.com/GreggsOfficial/status/1080403000722710528
Like a finely-grilled panini, things really heated up once the Internet began engaging. And Greggs handled the naysayers masterfully, despatching a barrage of fiery tweets that caused a good chuckle from the social crowd:
Oh hello Piers, we've been expecting you
— Greggs (@GreggsOfficial) January 2, 2019
The campaign marked a masterclass in social media marketing, from the standards of creative, to community management.
Netflix brings Bandersnatch to social
January was a superb month for streaming giants Netflix, with a range of titles receiving massive pop culture interest and acclaim, from Roma, to FYRE, to Sex Education.
Another title that captured the Internet’s imagination was Bandersnatch, the interactive choose-your-own-adventure style film from the creators of Black Mirror.
Not just content with enormous success on-screen, the Netflix digital team also brought the Bandersnatch concept to life on Twitter via Twitter Polls, giving their online audience the chance for an adventure of their own.
OK! I got jealous of all the Bandersnatch memes, so I wrote my own campy horror story (it’s already a cult classic in 3 small countries) where YOU control what the main character does using twitter polls. You’ll also help crack the case at the end.
— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) January 15, 2019
Let’s set the scene. Alex is on his way back to Seven Oaks Drama Camp, this time not as a camper but as a counselor after a failed acting career and getting kicked out of his parents' house. While at camp, an “incident” occurs that will leave one person dead and several suspects.
— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) January 15, 2019
First up, help us with casting. Alex is our protagonist. He’s 28, still doesn’t have his shit together, the type of guy who never fulfills your Venmo request but has a good heart. Should he be played by…
— Netflix Film (@NetflixFilm) January 15, 2019
And it continues! Head to Twitter to see how the whole story unfolded. It’s a neat way of bringing your fans an engaging experience – and utilising Twitter’s functionality in an unconventional yet stimulating way.
And the winner of the Super Bowl is… MoonPie!
We’ve written before (and at length) about US confectionary brand MoonPie’s seemingly-subversive-but-actually-hyper-intelligent use of social media. And in recent weeks, they’ve served up fresh headlines in the ad industry following a series of activations on the night of this year’s Super Bowl (and we’re aware that it wasn’t technically in January, but we’re going to cash in on our artistic license and talk about it anyway).
Last year, MoonPie didn’t run any ads in the Super Bowl per se. Instead, they posted images on social media containing scripts that would have been in their ads. And these were all about as usual and conformist as you’d expect:
I wanted to run commercials but we've been too busy making MoonPies so I will be posting several scripts during breaks tonight that I have written for very good and important MoonPie spots that you can enjoy right here on Twitter instead #TheBigThing
— MoonPie (@MoonPie) February 4, 2018
Another MoonPie commercial this one is called "The Family" #TheBigThing pic.twitter.com/J62TEwPEWV
— MoonPie (@MoonPie) February 5, 2018
This year, MoonPie took their subversive Super Bowl ads approach a step further, by turning their scripts of the year before into full one-minute video ads. You can enjoy them below:
This commercial is called “The Study Sesh” you can ignore the owl #TheBigThing pic.twitter.com/cbmu0rvDYj
— MoonPie (@MoonPie) February 4, 2019
Here is the commercial called “Space” please buy a MoonPie as soon as you can #TheBigThing pic.twitter.com/1Xx7EbmqtL
— MoonPie (@MoonPie) February 4, 2019
This received acclaim from leading industry press, including a spot in AdWeek, and enormous engagements from avid Twitter users from across the galaxy.
Come back next month for more social media stories and highlights!
by Helen Hargreave