Kraft Promo, Case study MIO by Ss+k New York

Category: Best Use of Social Media

Advertiser: KRAFT

Product/Service: SOCIAL MEDIA

Agency: SS+K

Chief Creative Officer: Kash Sree (SS+K)

Copywriter: Nathan Phillips (SS+K)

Copywriter: Laura Blackburn

Art Director: Mira Alibek

Art Director: Alvaro Rivera (SS+K)

Art Director: Kristoffer Brady

Director Of Production: John Swartz (SS+K)

Senior Digital Strategist: Max Steinman (SS+K)

Agency Producer: Maurice Murdock

Agency Editor: Tamara Treu

Production Company: Storefront/Bench

Director: George Lekovic

Editor: Julian Gorski

Interactive Production Company: Rokkan

Media placement: Social, TV, Digital, Grassroots - Tosh.20, Food Channel, Monsters, & Critics - 21 February 2011

Summary of the Campaign

Challenge

Launch MiO, Kraft’s first new brand in decades, to a Millennial target famously sceptical of brands invading their social world.

Solution

Use social media to bring to life the 'Make it Yours' brand positioning. Create the places and spaces to invite experimentation and craft a uniquely non-corporate voice that is as playful and democratic as MiO itself.

Results

MiO became the hit Kraft was looking for:

• 100,000 Facebook 'likes' in the first 30 days, 465,000 to date

• Engagement reaching 25%

• Over 2m video views

• Surpassed year one sales goals within 6 months, reaching $135m by year end

The Situation

MiO, Kraft’s first new brand in decades, was out to redefine the beverage category and reach millennials, a new target for Kraft and one that is notoriously sceptical. The water enhancer is squirted into water in the desired amount to create a drink that’s all your own. MiO charged millennials, to 'Make it Yours', hoping to become part of their arsenal of personalised products and experiences.

The Goal

The brand had aggressive goals in year one including 10% penetration and $85m in sales. MiO sought to become the beverage for the DIY generation and to win the hearts of millennials before competitors came into the fold. To do so we needed a new way to communicate, we needed to give them permission to play and engage and we needed to create the places and spaces to do so.

The Strategy

We set out to use social media in ways that truly championed our 'Make it Yours' brand positioning. This meant shedding the normal corporate veneer of talking to our consumers and instead joining them. If MiO was a remote control of fruit flavour, our social properties became were each a remote control for consumers, giving them the ability to direct what we did with MiO; where to take it, how to make it. And rather than build complex digital experiences, we focused on crafting a unique voice that was as democratic and playful as the product itself.

Execution

To get the product into tastemakers' hands and invite them into make the product their own, we distributed 100,000 samples from our Facebook page prior to the product hitting shelves. By creating a sense of exclusivity we created an army of Millennial advocates to do the heavy-lifting of getting the word out. Following the sampling program our Facebook page became the hub for these advocates to showcase how they were using the product and a destination to bring others to the party. To amplify this, we created a Facebook application where users could submit the unique ways they were using MiO, from the traditional to the outrageous. Lastly, we met millennials on their own turf, intersecting them on college campuses during the book buying rush. We helped bring MiO even further into the social scene by distributing customisable speakers in exchange for a sample of MiO.

Documented Results

MiO became the blockbuster Kraft was looking for, and social media was the life-force of the brand.

In its first 48 hours MiO achieved 40,000 likes with no paid media, and has reached 465,000 Likes to date. Engagement reached 25%, that’s 25 times the engagement on Coke’s page today. Our YouTube channel garnered more than 2m video views. It was even rated the #1 Beverage Trend for 2011 by the Food Channel.

This engagement laddered up to reaching year one product awareness and sales goals of $85m within 6 months and $135m in sales by year end.