¡Social Media Fiesta!

Generation Y (13- to 29-year-olds) are a pretty influential group.  This may seem surprising considering not all of Gen Y can even legally drive, but more than half of all household vehicle purchases are influenced by Gen Y, according to a 2006 Resource Interactive report.

Ford appears to be aware of this statistic.  The 2010 American launch of the new Ford Fiesta targets Gen Yers with a hip-yet-goofy online campaign called the "Fiesta Movement."   The Fiesta Movement integrates a ton of different forms of social media and really lets customers get involved with the car.  Ford selected 100 young, cool "agents" to drive a Fiesta (for free!) for 6 months, complete a series of "missions" (one each month) with their Fiesta, and chronicle their experiences on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and any other social network or sharing site you could think of.

How many people do YOU think can fit in a Fiesta? Find out on the Fiesta Flickr page

Why am I suddenly noticing this now?  The "agents" were set to work back in April, and the Fiesta Movement is almost finished!  Answer: CollegeHumor.  One of Ford's "agents" got Jake and Amir, two relatively famous online personalities from CollegeHumor, to take her Fiesta for a road trip this week. They are Tweeting (@jakeandamir) about where they are in the country and the first fans who find them get a free dinner.  They have also been posting videos of their Fiesta adventures and their fans have been very responsive so far.

Without any traditional media ads placements, this Fiesta Movement campaign and partnership with CollegeHumor demonstrates an emerging trend of marketing to 13- to 29-year-olds using just online buzz.  (Just look at how unexpectedly popular Snakes on a Plane was thanks to online buzz!) It also demonstrates companies' growing interest in Generation Y as a profitable and influential market segment.

Starbucks VIA™ Creates Community Online

The Starbucks® experience is not cheap, and because of the recent economic downturn, the brand has been facing some trouble.  Starbucks® gained initial success by marketing itself as a comfortable, reliable "third place," a place away from work and home where customers can enjoy a coffee, friendly service, and a sense of community.  Now, Starbucks® is launching the new Starbucks VIA™ ready brew, and I have to wonder how these portable coffee packets fit with the brand's "third place" promise.

The coffee-maker's social media strategy may shed some light on how they are creating community and a "third place" even with Starbucks VIA™.  These instant coffee packets allow Starbucks® drinkers to enjoy their coffee anywhere and anytime.  The tag line for Starbucks VIA™ is "never be without great coffee," but that seems to contradict the brand's core values of community and the "Starbucks® experience."  Unlike any other Starbucks® product in the past, the customer community of Starbucks VIA™ is not in Starbucks® stores, it is mostly online.

Starbucks® created a Web site where customers can post their experiences with Starbucks VIA™ using text, pictures, or video, and they can rate other customers' posts.  They can also share their favorite recipes that use Starbucks VIA™.  One customer posted step-by-step instructions on how to enjoy Starbucks VIA™ in the shower.

Another customer suggested that putting Starbucks VIA™ in your shampoo would help boost your hair's color (if you're a brunette, that is), but most people just raved about how delicious it is.

This online community seems rather successful considering the hundreds of posts and ratings, but the amount of involvement could be because Starbucks® offers everyone who posts a chance to win prizes.  I also noticed that some people from Starbucks® posted recipes, but not experiences.

The other day, one of my friends went to Starbucks® and the barista asked her if she would like to buy a pack of Starbucks VIA™ to donate to the troops overseas.  My friend said yes, and included a hand-written note to the soldiers.  She even thinks she got her drink for free!  This service might be another way Starbucks VIA™ is creating community among drinkers near and far, even when they are not in an actual Starbucks® cafe.

UPDATE

I went to T.G.I. Friday's® last night with my roommates and my roommate's three-year-old niece to redeem our free burger coupons.  My roommates report that they thoroughly enjoyed their Jack Daniels® chicken sandwiches, especially the crunchy onions on top.  

Because I am a vegetarian, I was just going to order something else, only to find that T.G.I. Friday's® has almost no menu items without meat or fish in them.  After I mentioned this to the waiter, however, he was very courteous and offered several dishes that he could make special.  I ended up with an angel hair pasta with fresh margarita sauce and steamed broccoli. Delicious! 

I will also note that my roommate's niece ordered a kid's meal which ended up being free!  Apparently, kids eat free Sunday through Thursday.  That was a pleasant surprise, and I suspect it is a rather new policy due to the economy.

My roommate's niece also gave her kid's meal two thumbs (or fingers...) up!

Free (Burgers) For All!

It is October 1st and, as promised, T.G.I. Friday’s® has emailed me a free burger coupon.  This would be more exciting if I weren’t a vegetarian, but I’m still pretty thrilled.

This free burger journey began when I was watching TV with my roommates and a commercial for T.G.I. Friday’s® came on.  Three young men sat at a table and told us about T.G.I. Friday's® new Jack Daniels® Burger.  Then, the middle guy, Woody, told us that we could all receive a free burger if 500,000 people became “fans” of his page on Facebook.  We were all on our laptops at the time, so I suggested that we all become fans of Woody right then and there.  A few weeks later, we all have free burgers coupons, and Woody has over 977,000 fans.  Oh, and did I mention that T.G.I. Friday’s® now has hundreds of thousands of fans’ Facebook information and email addresses?

This is a prime example of a social media marketing campaign.  T.G.I. Friday’s® integrated TV commercials, a Facebook fan page, YouTube videos of Woody, and “Meet Woody” events at T.G.I. Friday's® Restaurants all over the country, all to deliver the same message.  This campaign was well tailored to everything I’ve heard about Generation Y and experienced as a member of it.  We love multitasking (according to a 2008 Nielsen study, teenagers are the most likely group to use both TV and the Internet together), we love feeling involved with our brands (through the fan page, we felt like we got to know Woody and T.G.I. Friday’s® better), and we love free stuff!

It is too soon to tell whether or not this was a successful campaign monetarily speaking, but there are some factors we can evaluate.  This was a successful campaign because Woody was aiming for 500,000 fans by September 30th and reached that goal several days ahead of time so he upped the ante to one million.  It also appeared to be successful based on the amount of fan involvement on Woody’s fan page.  Facebook users were leaving comments and posting photos, and a lot of them were very positive.  Like these:

“just wanted to say thanks again for the free burgers we found our coupons in our spam boxes and went to fridays for dinner tonite, which was great! because i was having a not so good day and this always helps :) so again thanks”

“ROCK ON WOODY!!!!!!!!!”

“I Got My Coupon!!! Thank You For The FREE BURGER!”

Unfortunately, as with any piece of technology, there are some flaws, and many fans were posting angrily about coupon printing mishaps or missing emails.  So far, Woody has been handling those situations with the grace and good customer service.  T.G.I. Friday’s® has extended the deadline to submit email addresses, increased the number of free burger coupons to one million instead of 500,000, and instructed everyone with printing problems  to request to have their coupons mailed.  

You know what they say, "A satisfied customer tells 3 friends, but a dissatisfied customer tells 300."  These technological glitches and upset customers may end up negating any positive effects of this campaign if T.G.I. Friday’s® is not careful.

Another problem T.G.I. Friday’s® is facing is that many restaurants have closed since the economic downturn, and many fans are left with nowhere to redeem their coupons.  Also, like many online forums, people have posted crazy things like viruses, chain letters, profanity, adult content, plugs to other sites, and other things on Woody’s Facebook fan page.

We shall see in the weeks to come whether this campaign increases brand loyalty, revenue, or customer base.  If nothing else, T.G.I. Friday’s® has gained a lot of information about their Generation Y customers.