The art of integration
By Simon Fuller. With a resume which includes getting political via social media for Mexican restaurant chain Qdoba and sending drinks fans off canvassing votes for Mountain Dew, hybrid agency Motive knows all about getting the job done in campaigns which run the gamut when it comes to media platforms.
“The dynamics of any hybrid marketing program are highly dependent on the brand and the target, but at Motive we adhere to a series of considerations when planning, developing, and executing hybrid campaigns,” says Matt Statman, Motive’s founder. “Our experience has taught us that a programme must be integrated across multiple engagement channels, no matter how small. And the consumer experience – a relationship that includes a dialogue and a series of engaging activities – must be seamless across all of these channels.”
One thing Motive is big on is that the experience should be personal to each individual. Also, consumers should be able to make their own, individual contributions to the brand. So in the case of the campaign for Qdoba, Taste Bud Politics, users on the Net were able to discover their ‘Qdentity’ – in other words, a type of personality profile based on Mexican food psychology. Then things went multi-channel, with Motive turning up at the Democratic National Convention in 2008 to offer consumers a chance to share their Qdentity with the world – and get Qdoba coupons in return.
And more recently, Motive’s DEWmocracy: The Flavour campaign for Mountain Dew has featured both an experiential element – with hardcore Dew fans promoting their favourite brand flavour around the US – and gone digital too, with fans at home making suggestions as to where those on the go should head next.
“With something as interactive as DEWmocracy: The Flavour Campaign, it was critical that fans could interact with the program as much – or as little – as they desired, across a variety of media,” says Statman. “Online, they were asked to weigh in on the teams’ next moves. Once those were decided, they were encouraged to join the teams at street level to help them complete campaign activities, taking any photos or videos from these events back to the online arena. The programme created a continuous cycle of involvement and opportunities for consumer content generation that amplified its emotional value for fans.”
With all of this behind them, Motive has isolated a few pointers which it believes go into creating a top hybrid campaign.
“Key elements that helped make this a successful hybrid campaign included dynamic content, exciting and intriguing activities, creative fun personalities, a compelling story, and passionate fans who got involved,” says Statman of DEWmocracy. “We witnessed fan campaigning throughout the [DEWmocracy] tour, from putting up posters in their hometowns and helping create and attend our events to voting every day online. Some fans even took their campaigning to another level, promoting The Flavour Campaign on their local news stations.”
