Last April, Carlsberg Canada asked consumers to demonstrate how they were “probably the best mate in the world” through a national competition aimed at males, 24 to 30, and they responded.
The promotion, developed by GJP Advertising marked the company’s first foray into social media, and a shift from soccer to lifestyle focused marketing, said Becky Kwiatkowski, brands marketing manager, Carlsberg Canada Inc.
“It was the right venue to reach a demographic we haven’t been able to communicate with before… and it made a little bit of noise,” she said.
Consumers first entered the competition at BestMate.ca (MeilleurChum.ca in French Canada) by completing a quiz and uploading a picture.
Carlsberg and GJP selected 30 finalists from across the country, and gave them a new Sony Ericsson W705 to record events and interactions that best demonstrated their “best mate” skills.
Over the last four weeks, more than 7,500 fans followed the 30 competitors on their respective Facebook fanpages, which were set up by the agency. Carlsberg tracked how many times it was mentioned/visible in posts, photos and videos. For instance, out of 1,406 posts, Carlsberg was mentioned 653 times. The brand was mentioned in 84 of 122 videos, and seen in 1,028 of 2,021 photos.
Though Carlsberg hasn’t determined the direct impact on sales, it gauges the success of the campaign on the numbers above, and the fact consumers are hearing about it from a trusted source: their friends.
“We felt it was a better avenue to take in terms of really getting people to try our product,” she said.
The promotion has however translated into new vendors. A top three finalist from Montreal hosted parties at bars in the downtown core where Carlsberg wasn’t previously sold, said Kwiatkowski.
“Now we have listings out of that,” she said. “That is also a success because now we’re going to be selling top clubs in Montreal that we weren’t in before.”
Entrants went above and beyond the call of duty with a billboard in Toronto’s club district, webisodes, skydiving with Carlsberg merchandise in-hand, and promoting themselves and the contest on local radio stations.
“You can’t plan or buy this type of exposure,” said Joanne Fulford, media director at GJP. “But we certainly helped to ensure we reached the right people to enter.”
In the end, more than 1,800 individuals entered the contest. Kwiatkowski said Carlsberg was only expecting anywhere from 250 to 500 entrants.
Wesley Watt was declared “Probably the Best Mate in the World” in a half time show during a Toronto FC game last week, and awarded with a VIP trip for four to Las Vegas.
This was GJP’s first effort for Carlsberg Canada since it won the account last January. Carlsberg had been adapting international campaigns from Saatchi & Saatchi in London since the brewer parted ways with its Canadian creative agency Young & Rubicam in 2005.
