Fanta: Lost In Timeline

Credits & Description:

Category: Best use or integration of digital media
Advertiser: COCA-COLA
Product/Service: FANTA
Agency: OGILVY NEW YORK
Creative Director: Abe Baginsky (Ogilvy New York)
Copywriter: Nick Panayotopoulos (Ogilvy New York)
Art Director: Roberto Salas (Ogilvy New York)
Art Director: Laura Goodman (Ogilvy New York)
Media placement: Digital - Facebook - February 29, 2012

Campaign Description
Facebook has redesigned its profile pages to a layout called ‘Timeline’ which is a much more impactful design and revolutionises the way content is displayed. Facebook approached just 33 brands globally to pilot and launch the Timeline in February 2012, and Fanta was one of them.

We wanted to thoughtfully take advantage of the opportunity to play with Facebook’s new format. The challenge was that Timeline had a new layout and functionality that was being still being adjusted and defined by Facebook. As such, we had no visibility into what functionality was rolling out when. There were also strict creative constraints, and no precedent for how Timeline would affect engagement and sharing.

Fanta had established a presence on Facebook and attracted fans through periodic creative experiences and media spend. Our goal was to get everyday fans engaged enough to spread their love for Fanta without the gimmicks of a contest or promotion.

We saw the new Timeline format as an opportunity to engage our customers and fans with playful content they authentically want to pass along in a sustained way.

Effectiveness
At a time when they’re being told to grow up and be serious, teens admire those who can subvert the expected into something playful.

Fanta has a playful ethos: 'More Fanta. Less Serious.' encapsulated in an integrated campaign running in 190 markets. On Facebook however, Fanta had 2.5m fans with an average of 286 interactions per post. Our engagement was okay but not great. We needed teens to tell other teens about Fanta and engage them with something they authentically wanted to share.

Invited to launch Facebook Timeline, Fanta saw an opportunity - rather than showcase our brand heritage, we played a game.
Challenges:
• No recipe for how Timeline would affect sharing
• No media support
• A new Facebook format that was being defined daily

On February 29th  2012, we launched 'Lost in Time', a game that flung 4 Fanta characters out of the cover photo and back into past years in the Timeline.

We challenged fans to find and ‘like’ them back to the future. They had to solve clues to deduce which year they were lost in, find their photo in Timeline and ‘like’ it. Once the number of ‘likes’ matched the year they were hidden in – WHAM – they were restored to the cover photo.
This was pure Timeline functionality; no media or incentives. This led to praise from Facebook and won us no.1 Best Use of Facebook Timeline from Mashable.
As for our fans, engagement rose by 114% and we received over 45m organic + viral impressions – purely because the world played.

Implementation
To earn teens’ attention and their continued engagement, we gamified Facebook Timeline.

We drew them in with a bold new cover image and challenged them to crack visual clues, as images drive higher engagement rates, to find our beloved characters. Fans responded by coming together and recruited their friends to join the effort.

By combining game play and story arcs that extended across many wall posts, we earned ongoing involvement and user-sharing.

Outcome
We wanted to earn higher levels of engagement and the personal advocacy of fans pushing out content and activity via their own Facebook accounts. Our goal was a 25% increase.

• We drove post level engagement up by 114% within 2 months featuring our Timeline design and content (over previous period), far exceeding our goals
• We generated over 45m organic + viral page impressions in 2 months featuring our Timeline design and content (Viral = someone interacts with your Page and that interaction is published via their feed for their followers to see it. Organic = posting something and your fans/subscribers see it)
• We grew our fan base by more than 11% or an additional 287,000 fans in just 2 months

We cracked the code on designing content that would earn the advocacy of 2.8m fans sharing that content with over 280m of their friends (ie. ‘friends of fans”).
No media, promotions or incentives. This was purely Timeline functionality. This led to praise from Facebook and the title of no.1 Best Use of Facebook Timeline from Mashable.