‘Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ Explores Space With Facebook Messenger

BY

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was announced in a big way earlier this year, particularly when a spaceship appeared over in the popular Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer map, Nuk3town and a character from the upcoming game—Lieutenant Reyes—appeared on the map’s TV screens to invite players to get on Facebook Messenger. On Messenger, fans could interact with a chatbot posing as Reyes and could unlock a special Easter egg from the interaction: a look at the upcoming Infinite Warfare trailer before the rest of the world.

The chatbot went on to create over 6 million exchanges within 24 hours. With Infinite Warfare set to launch on November 4, Activision is out to re-engage the 24 million Call of Duty Facebook fans with an all-new Messenger experience: Terminal Tours. The experience, which launched yesterday, features a guide named Alana, who takes players on a tour of the solar system, highlighting different locations related to Infinite Warfare, such as the moon, an asteroid, Europa and Titan. She’ll present users with choices along the way, like whether to push a button, and some will lead to hilarious GIF-generating results.

codiw-terminal-tours-alana

Terminal Tours features actress and musician, Kate Micucci (Scrubs; Garfunkel and Oates), who gives a face to Alana as users embark on a comical Choose Your Own Adventure-style experience.

Activision’s SVP of consumer engagement, digital marketing and PR, Monte Lutz, spoke to [a]listdaily about using Facebook Messenger to engage with fans in a personalized way.

What inspired the creation of the original Facebook Messenger bot featuring Lt. Reyes?

For our hardcore fans, Call of Duty isn’t a passive experience that you jump into for a few days and leave behind; they are still playing for hours on end, six, nine or even 12 months after the game launches. So, when we thought about how we wanted to introduce the new game, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, to our most loyal fans, we knew that there was no better place than within the game they were still playing. So, we updated Call of Duty: Black Ops III and placed Easter eggs in the game that drove fans to Messenger so that they could interact with the lead character for the next game. Messenger was the only platform that had the tools in place (bots) and community at scale (24 million Call of Duty Facebook fans) to create a one-to-one experience for fans but on a massive scale, giving them a totally unique Call of Duty experience.

How does the new Messenger experience differ from the original one?

The original experience started in-game, as the enemies of the newest Call of Duty game, Infinite Warfare, invaded the current Call of Duty game at the time, Black Ops III. That experience, dubbed Hostile Takeover, took place at reveal and was designed to engage core players and give them a chance to be the first people to hear about the new game.

Terminal Tours, on the other hand, is coming out on the eve of launch, so we are both talking to current players and re-engaging fans who are getting ready for Infinite Warfare to launch on November 4. The Messenger experience is coupled with our new live-action spot, “Screw It, Let’s Go to Space,” which both takes an irreverent approach to showing players all the fun they can have in space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_87zvl0LcEg

What does using Facebook’s sponsored messages allow you to do that you couldn’t before?

The sponsored messages helped us to reach the people who participated in the first Messenger experience and invite them to check out Terminal Tours. This is an audience that both loves our games and had fun engaging with the Lt. Reyes Messenger bot we created earlier this year, so they are the most likely group to dive into the new experience. Sponsored messages provided a direct line to re-engage them. Getting this core group excited, in turn, led them to share and invite their friends to get involved, bringing more people into the Messenger experience and the Call of Duty universe.

What are some of the things you can talk to Alana about?

Alana plays the part of your trusted tour guide, showing you the locations you will play the new game in, while divulging bits of the in-game story. But she also has the bad habit of steering you toward making terribly dangerous decisions in each of the game’s locations she takes you to. You’re responsible for pushing the buttons that result in your various “accidents” but she happily shines a light on them, in highly GIF-able ways. Alana is more Dolores than the Man in Black (characters from Westworld), but you still end up with a lot of “oops, that looks painful” [reactions].

In this vein, Alana’s also able to recognize natural language prompts about you (“who am I?”), the game (“who is Setdef?”) and questions about recent pop culture events, ranging from the World Series to Westworld and Pokémon GO.

Are Messenger bots and narratives changing the way games like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare engages with their fans?

We see Messenger as an important part of our ongoing digital channel strategy and our approach to mass personalization. Messenger bots allow us to reach people in a very personal way through the accessible and interactive format of text chat, combined with GIFs, images and characters in an automated way at scale that wasn’t previously possible. We have millions of fans—tens of millions. Through Messenger, we can create unique experiences for each of them that teach players about the games while answering questions they have and having a little fun in the process.

What’s your favorite place to visit with Terminal Tours?

The asteroid. Gets me every time.

Brands Are Connecting With Mobile Millennials In Snaps

BY

Snaps is a mobile messaging platform that connects top Fortune 1000 companies to cell phone obsessed consumers through Facebook chatbots, Apple iMessage apps, branded keyboard emoji and stickers. Christian Brucculeri, CEO of Snaps, told [a]listdaily that Snaps has evolved greatly over time, but at its core, Snaps allows consumers to engage with their favorite brands in a completely native way.

“Our language is increasingly visual, and Snaps saw a great opportunity presented by the possibility of encouraging visual communications in a new and exciting way,” Brucculeri said. “Snaps was the first and is the leading platform for branded emoji keyboards and stickers. We work with the major Fortune 1000s—Pepsi, Starbucks, Burger King, Coach, McDonald’s, Sephora, Dove and over 100 more. We launched a dozen clients on iMessage alongside Apple. We also are a leader in chatbots. We’re constantly looking at what’s next and honing in on it.”

Brucculeri said that with 257 billion conversations taking place on mobile every day, brands need to be on the cusp of the latest trends rather than passively waiting for consumers to come to them. “Millennials seek brands with personalities. They want to identify with brands,” Brucculeri said. “For example, are you an Apple or a PC? Snaps’ branded emoji and chatbots give brands a voice and an image.”

Brucculeri said people are emoting via image, and they can do so instantly. A text message takes seconds, and a chatbot answers faster than humans can, and can work 24/7. “iMessage specifically has opened up the doors for branded keyboard emoji and stickers,” Brucculeri said. “Brands are able to present images with little to no friction for the user. Furthermore, these new iMessage apps allow for higher engagement than ever before. Users can collaborate, create and even order via iMessage.”

Coach, Marriott Rewards, Burger King, L’Oréal USA, Toyota, Dove, Dunkin’ Donuts, Nickelodeon’s The Splat, Sephora, and ‘Iris Meets I.N.C.’ by I.N.C. International Concepts for Macy’s are working with Snaps to connect with millennials through iMessage.

The company worked with actor Kevin Hart’s production team HartBeat Digital to launch KEVMOJI, which includes a keyboard with emoji, stickers, GIFs, and sound paired with an iMessage sticker pack. The KEVMOJI iMessage app allows fans to drag-and-drop static and animated stickers over the top of messages and photos right within the iMessage experience to add some comedy to the conversation.

In addition to sticker packs, Snaps has rolled out a never-before-seen collaborative feature for Coach’s Coachmoji application. The iMessage app allows users to curate a completely personalized look, which includes dresses, purses and accessories. The user can then share and collaborate on the looks with friends all within iMessage, and save the looks for future sharing.

Snaps worked with Marriott Rewards and L’Oreal USA and other client partners to design and launch sticker pack experiences for these digitally focused brands. These sticker packs allow users to dress up their text for life’s biggest moments, whether it’s getting dressed up to go out with friends or preparing for your next trip, these sticker packs make it easy to share that sentiment in iMessage.

“We’re still collecting those numbers (iMessage launched September 13) but, as a hint, within 10 days our clients who launched with iMessage had already totaled 10 million impressions,” Brucculeri said.

Dove’s #LoveYourCurls emoji campaign showed incredible results in the first 60 days—with 10.1 million impressions, 2.76 million shares and a 278 percent increase in purchases. This campaign was prior to the launch of iMessage apps, which Brucculeri said would have increased engagement even more.

Apple has created an iMessage store that is specifically for emoji and stickers,” Brucculeri said. “Facebook chatbots are launching left and right. We are seeing rapid growth in engagement on all of these platforms and are so excited about what’s to come.”

Messenger has over 900 million monthly active users who can experience GIFs, videos, sound, and files that can be distributed within a brand chat. Brucculeri said chatbots make the perfect distribution method for sharing your latest content with your audience in a personalized, conversational setting.

Bud Light recently launched the #MyTeamCan Beer Delivery Bot with Snaps on Facebook Messenger, which allows fans to have beer delivered to their home within an hour. Hollywood studios have also been eager to be where younger audiences are connecting with friends.

“We have worked with Fox, Warner Bros. and Nickelodeon to bring fun, native, and sharable content to their tech-savvy fan base,” Brucculeri said. “Fans of these franchises are passionate and actively seeking ways to insert their favorite shows into their vernacular. It makes the perfect recipe and we had really successful branded keyboards with all of them.”

Inside ‘Never Settle,’ Facebook’s First Livestream Talk Show

BY

Al Roker is known best as the weather anchorman on NBC’s Today, but at the 2016 Livefronts he will be known as founder of the first livestreaming network. Roker Media will be introducing brands to a number of opportunities, including the Never Settle Show—an audience-driven, Facebook Live program hosted by Emmy-award-winning talk show host Mario Armstrong.

Animated and passionate, Armstrong, the show creator and host, wants Never Settle to be all about helping people find their passions and setting them on the path to make their dreams a reality. The show, airing on Facebook Live Wednesday nights, will offer entertainment, guidance, interviews and even homework to build a community that achieves their goals.

Ahead of the show’s presentation at Livefronts, Armstrong gave [a]listdaily some background on the project, as well as what it takes to build an authentic, audience-first experience.

Filling A Need

al-roker-and-mario-armstrong
Al Roker with Never Settle executive producer and host, Mario Armstrong. Never Settle will be presented as part of Roker Media’s slate of new live-streamed shows at The Live Fronts on October 25, 2016 in New York.

“Most programming is done to make money,” Armstrong said. “We’re doing programming to make an impact.” Never Settle was inspired by the fact that so many Americans are still trying to find their place in a post-recession world.

“People are still recovering and struggling,” he said, noting that he, himself was laid off in 2007 and a year later, his wife was, too. Armstrong described a shift in the American workplace in which more people are becoming freelancers and entrepreneurs.

At first, it might have started as a necessity, but now it comes from a desire to do what you love and to make a difference in the world. “People just don’t want to give up,” he said. “They don’t want to settle and they desperately need solutions and community. Those are the real reasons we felt that it was time for a show.”

Millennial Mojo

Being a live show on Facebook, Never Settle isn’t targeted only to millennials, Armstrong explained, but it certainly won’t exclude them. In fact, the show’s premise fits nicely into the lifestyle trends of this allusive and sought-after demographic.

“When you look at the millennial generation, they’re mostly focused on not making a ton of money but actually making more impact,” Armstrong noted. “They’re more willing to sacrifice actual finances over making a really big contribution or being happy where they’re working or who they’re working for. All this culminates around the fact that it’s not just cut and dry like it used to be, where you were either an entrepreneur or you worked for someone. Now you’re starting to see 40 or so percent of people becoming freelancers, meaning they aren’t working for one particular company.”

The Never Settle Show sets itself apart not only by being broadcast live each week on Facebook, but being powered by its “members”—what Armstrong calls the community he hopes to create. All guests and programming will be chosen by those who watch the show—not its producers—driving content to be as relevant as possible.

“From a content perspective, the first thing that millennials will appreciate is that it’s crowd-produced—I think that’s a significant difference,” Armstrong explained. “We are willing to let go of control [so] that this show becomes everyone’s show. This isn’t top-down programming, this is bottom-up content. They know that their input is being heard and being put into the show and then we build it. It should be the most relevant show possible for the most people that have decided to participate in that part of the content building. On the tech side, we’re opening the show up in so many ways for that interaction to happen live—we think that’s a fundamentally missing piece of talk programming, specifically. A talk show is meant to be two-way and too often today (and traditionally) talk shows have been one-way. So we’re now in a time where we have so many pieces of technology available to us were we people can place their comments, voice their opinions, shoot video, take pictures and be integrated into the show in real time.”

When members interact with the show via Twitter, Busker, Instagram and Periscope just to name a few, they will be made to feel like honored guests. “We’ll have a live, interactive video wall on the set so people will be able to see themselves actually on the show which I think is really different—really compelling.” Armstrong revealed, excitedly. “The authenticity, the transparency . . . these are things that connect to Millennials as well as content that can actually make an impact.”

https://youtu.be/othqLq3OUeU

Branding That Fits

Mario Armstrong Media is “honing in” on two-to-three tech company partners and also developing its own products that will be featured on the show. Never Settle is described as a mid-week party complete with a guest DJ and even a bartender to serve drinks to the live audience. As the audience arrives to a lively event atmosphere, they will be encouraged to share photos using a branded Snapchat geofilter.

Since members will be choosing who and what they see on Never Settle, this poses a bit of a challenge when it comes to choosing a brand partner. Armstrong confided that a number of guests have already expressed interest—and he hopes he doesn’t hurt any egos—but it’s ultimately up to the audience to decide.

“We need to keep the lights on, we need to pay the bills and we don’t want to have a crappy-looking production,” he remarked. “But that doesn’t mean that advertising drives the conversation. [This new format] gives you an empowering effect to stay honest and not going to those areas that may seem tempting because you need to pay the bills.”

When it comes to courting brands at Livefronts on October 25, not everyone will make the cut. “It has to be intelligent. The minute we do any advertising or brand integration that is not true to the core of the show, the show fails,” Armstrong stressed. “And people will know, too, if things are forced—they’ll feel it. What we’re looking to do with brands is [to] educate them on the power of live streaming and what it can do for [a] brand in terms of reach of real-time interactivity and in terms of video on demand—what happens after the show when people want to replay it and be able to see your brand associated with it. And there’s the bigger piece, which is the content. ‘How does your brand help my viewers?'”

Facebook’s New Features Turn Recommendations Into Revenue

BY

Facebook has introduced some new features that make the social hub a one-stop destination for discussing and finalizing plans. A recent partnership with Fandango made it possible to purchase movie tickets directly from a feed, and now users can do the same with other events like museum exhibits and concerts.

The implementation of eCommerce into the platform is great news for brands, especially since a whopping 84 percent of social shares are done privately via chat or email. Friends and family are talking about these brands anyway, so why not make it easier to convert those conversations into sales?

facebook-recommendations

The first new feature is called “recommendations.” Now when a user posts a status update looking for advice on where to eat, get their hair cut, where to buy an evil clown costume, etc. an optional “recommendations” tool allows friends and family to post comments about where you should go. These locations are then mapped out and stored in a special tab for later access.

For US Facebook users, the Events bookmark will receive some significant updates over the next few weeks. Users will soon be able to see what events their friends have been up to, or get notified of activities they might be interested in based on past connections. This is especially good news for influencers and brands alike, since the platform will automatically remind or recommend events if that user has participated in the past.

Businesses should start seeing some additional revenue from their Facebook pages thanks to new features that allow customers to order food, request a quote, make an appointment or purchase tickets directly from the site. These features are rolling out first in the US. If they’re successful, they could be rolling out to other areas in the near future. The best part is that businesses don’t have to pay for this option—call to action elements are being added thanks to partnerships with HomeAdvisor, Ticketmaster, Delivery.com and more.

Facebook wants to be your hub for everyday life and the place to be for brands to reach their audience. In light of its recent metrics miscalculations, the social media giant is making huge strides to establish confidence in its partners and, of course, the 1.71 billion monthly active users.

By tapping into the purchasing power of influencers—whether that be a celebrity or your mother—Facebook is making it even harder to tear away from the site and even easier for brands to measure revenue from social media.

Red Bull Gives Social Media Wings With Speedy GIF Creator

BY

The Red Bull brand is all about living fast, so it’s not totally surprising that it would develop a way to post social updates at the speed of memes. Users will soon be able to share posts through Red Bull’s website in the form of a fast-paced animated GIF. Accompanied by images, these messages are then rendered into an animated speed reading GIF where each word appears in rapid sequential order. Although the words fly by at a dizzying pace, they are still comprehensible to the human eye. Red Bull then gives users the option to customize the post and edit it before sharing online.

red-bull-shoutout

The service, deemed Shout/out, provides each post with a unique standout, which the company said has been designed to help users stand out in a sea of posts and get noticed by fans and peers. Shout/out launched to the public in October at GLA x LDN in Glasgow, which is part of Red Bull’s Music Academy UK Tour. Athletes and artists will also be able to share their experiences using this speed-reading method at future events.

Citing marketing bias in social media algorithms, Red Bull hopes to take back the impact of organic content through these new tools. The campaign is meant as a means for fans to express themselves and be heard. Animated GIFs are an effective way to express ideas, emotions or messages through social media without having to worry about 140-character limitations. Last year, Twitter users shared over 100 million GIFs—so to make it easier, the service introduced a GIF search tool in February.

By giving fans a unique way to share ideas and experiences, Red Bull is reaching them on an emotional level and offering an easy way to share Red Bull events they are attending. The new Shout/out tool will no doubt be a great way for influencers to share quick updates, as well. Time will tell whether these fast-paced GIFs will become the norm, but the in the meantime, using pictures and emoji to express ideas aren’t going away anytime soon.

Snapchat Brings Mid-Roll Ads To The Fore In Stories Update

BY

Last week, Snapchat began rolling out some big changes to its Stories format by giving users control over whose updates they view. Previously, Auto Advance would play them all back-to-back with Snap ads in between. Now, Snapchat users can manually select which Stories they wish to view and the updates will be played in that order. If users watch more than one, ads will appear mid-roll, or at the end when viewing just one at a time. In this way, Snap, Inc. hopes to set itself apart from Instagram Stories, which (copying Snapchat) advances automatically through all updates.

In addition, friends’ Stories will now appear above Discovery channels, focusing more on personal experiences rather than marketing ones—similar to Facebook’s recent move to prioritize friends over publishers within its feed. For brands, this means a stronger need to create compelling messages on the popular social platform. In a survey conducted earlier this year, roughly 44 percent of Snapchat users between the ages of 13-24 who said they had used Live Stories and/or Discover reported doing so on at least a daily basis. Moving friend updates above Discover channels is a strategy to show Snapchat users that personal stories still matter in a big way.

Going Hollywood

Now that Snapchat is Snap, Inc., a camera company, the social media giant wants to be “in the pictures.” Enlisting Hollywood talent agencies like CAA and WME, Snapchat is now included in the same “coverage update” that Hollywood agencies regularly send to clients about “who’s buying and what they’re buying,” sources told Digiday. “Snapchat’s now on that list, which is interesting because it’s usually [TV networks like] NBC or History Channel,” said an executive at a studio that’s pitched Snapchat. Snap, Inc. wants short-form shows between 2 and 6 minutes an episode, but are open to all genres from reality TV to comedy and everything in between, according to a coverage report sent to WME.

The brand formerly known as Snapchat is out to prove itself to investors, preparing the paperwork for an IPO and hoping for a value of $25 billion or more. Should the company receive this valuation goal, it would be the biggest company to go public on the US Exchange since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. debuted at a $168 billion valuation in 2014. Snap, Inc. plans to offer shares beginning in March 2017. By creating strong relationships with Hollywood and reinforcing brand loyalty among users by making them feel more important than advertisers, Snap, Inc. aims to prove its worth to the world.

Why Nescafé Created A 24-Hour Global Facebook Livestream

BY

Nescafé combined caffeine and content and celebrated International Coffee Day on October 1 by inviting its legion of java enthusiasts around the globe to upload a video of themselves enjoying their morning joe.

The “Good Morning World” campaign invited people to post selfie-style shots of themselves enjoying their morning brew while Nescafé’s social managers compiled the best content in a celebratory coffee “mug chain.” And for every video that was uploaded, the Nestlé-owned food industry giant distributed a coffee plantlet to a farmer around the world.

screen-shot-2016-10-10-at-11-45-09-am

“Nescafé is all about creating real connections—connections that matter,” Michael Chrisment, Nescafé global head of integrated marketing, told [a]listdaily shortly after the livestream concluded. “We wanted to celebrate International Coffee Day by helping coffee lovers around the world connect over a morning cup of coffee. Livestreaming was the perfect way to bring people together in an innovative, and very real way. When you wake up, you grab your phone and a coffee. Nescafé and social media go hand-in-hand, which is why Facebook livestream was a great way to reach our fans.”

Chrisment says the livestream—which was also live on YouTube and Periscope—was a perfect fit for Nescafé’s on-going mobile-first REDvolution, which is a unified global look and feel across all their products in 180 markets worldwide.

“It’s also about continuously looking for new and exciting ways to help mobile-loving young fans to start new connections,” he says.

The world’s first instant coffee and the fifth most valuable food and drink brand is keen on connecting youth with their caffeine in the name of content creation. It’s how people communicate, Chrisment says, and as a brand, they want to be relevant to the world that young people live in.

With over 35 million fans on Facebook, Chrisment said that the platform is naturally a major part of their multi-channel digital strategy—further evidenced by 360-degree video—and they are allocating their marketing budgets accordingly.

nescafe-dolce-gusto-will-i-am-1

Earlier this month, Nescafé Dolce Gusto also launched the “Creativity Reinvents The Classics” campaign with Grammy Award winning musician will.i.am, where the artist took over the Facebook page for 48 hours.

Another way Nescafé is reinventing the coffee category is through their Tumblr-powered website, a portal where people who love their coffee can upload and share their own content. Nescafé was the first global brand to move their entire website to Tumblr last year.

It’s all part of a strategy that shuns direct marketing for a social-first approach. The rebranding exercise was also complemented by a logo redesign, too.

“Our ambition is to shape the new world of coffee,” says Chrisment. “We believe some of the key trends driving the coffee category today are authenticity, personalization, new experiences and digital. We want to remain the world’s favorite coffee today and tomorrow, so digital and social are key ways for us to connect with people around the world.” 

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onDr5DV07SI

Why Under Armour’s Cam Newton Snapchat Game Is A Big Hit

BY

It’s all about the footwork in Under Armour’s It Comes From Below ad campaign. In the latest spot, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton—wearing Under Armour’s C1N cleats—uses nimble footwork to navigate a dark forest, but not before trucking a few trees into sawdust. The dark visuals are accompanied by a female voiceover, who turns out to be Newton’s mother Jackie. She narrates a section of the novel, Watership Down by Richard Adams, a 1972 classic about a group of rabbits on the run. The struggle of the rabbits as they relentlessly push through dangerous situations is a fitting metaphor for her son’s recent struggles as last season’s MVP is off to a dismal 1-3 start. In the ad, Jackie describes Cam as a “prince with 1,000 enemies.” Although the ad is powerful on its own, the campaign doesn’t stop here.

under-armour-sc-game-hed-2016

Under Armour is challenging Snapchat users to navigate Newton through his forest of obstacles (and wolves) in a game adaptation. The It Comes From Below game is available to Snapchat users in the US and Canada (60 million daily users), who can swipe up to play via advertisements or on Snapchat Discover. Users are encouraged to beat their previous score, as well as share the game with friends. In the first day running ads for the game, 20 percent of Snapchat users swiped up to play. Those who did spent an average of 78 seconds playing the game and 19 percent of users who played shared the game with one or more friends, per Snapchat. It Comes From Below will be available through October.

Under Armour’s latest creative efforts follows a successful ad campaign for Olympic sensation Michael Phelps, shot with a similarly dark cinematic style and message of determination. Newton’s Under Armour campaign is powerful, but in our experience, he believes every word.

“[Training to be a great quarterback is] just like you train to be great in anything else, you have to put your mind to it,” Newton told [a]listdaily in an exclusive interview in February just days before the Panthers lost in the Super Bowl 50. “First off, you’ve got to enjoy doing it and contrary to popular belief, you have to be enthused about doing it. If you’ve got those ingredients, you’ll be alright.”

Following Gatorade’s Serena Williams’ Match Point for Snapchat in August, games are proving to be a successful connection to sports fans. Gatorade’s title was the first multi-level Snapchat game ad and celebrated Williams’ career leading up to the U.S. Open.

Athletic brands are keen to attract the 14-to-22-year-old demographic, a target audience that spends a lot of time on Snapchat.

Now that the social media mogul has re-branded as a camera company, perhaps specially-designed body cams for athletes are in order.

How UGG Is Using Snapchat And Tom Brady To Score Big Brand Points

BY

The autumn wind is a pirate, blustering in from sea . . .

The title of one of the greatest sports-themed poems ever written also doubles as somewhat of a signal for when an army of men and women across the world start warming up their feet by slipping into some soft fur. You don’t choose the UGG life . . . the UGG life chooses you.

To celebrate the first day of fall and #UGGseason, the luxury-comfort brand launched a custom, fall-themed 24-hour Snapchat lens in North America on September 22 featuring leaves, earmuffs and mini UGG boots that appeared once a user opened their mouth. The frame was accompanied with the line “Finally UGG season.”

The filter was integrated with the second installment of the brand’s digital campaign with English model, actress and UGG brand ambassador Rosie Alice Huntington-Whiteley.

f16-m-selwood-rdwd-hero

It’s been a big month of September for UGG, who also celebrated their men’s line by plugging New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with teammate Julian Edelman and actor Jeff Bridges for their “Do Nothing” campaign.

The five-part digital series celebrates the “art of doing nothing” with Brady, an UGG brand ambassador for the last six years who’s helped the men’s business grow by over 150 percent.

“The idea of ‘Do Nothing’ started last fall when I had a rare Sunday to watch football since we opened the season on a Thursday night. I relaxed on the couch by wearing my favorite UGG slippers. I posted a photo on Facebook and it was history from there,” said the four-time Super Bowl-winning Patriots quarterback. “As an athlete I know firsthand the importance of sometimes taking time out to do nothing—it helps me recharge and perform when I’m on the field.”

Still serving a four-game suspension to start the season, Brady sure has some extra “do nothing” time on his hands, and the tone and timing of the campaign, which features Bridges startling a sleeping Brady by softly singing “Buffalo Gals,” could not be more fitting.

Jim Davis, vice president of consumer engagement for Deckers Outdoor Corporation, the parent company of UGG, joined [a]listdaily to discuss the brand’s latest campaigns and how they plan on winning big this season. 

Why was Snapchat the best social channel to launch your fall campaign? What does the platform offer that others don’t?

Snapchat is a focus for us because it’s a part of our fans’ everyday lives. If you look at Instagram as a visual lens into a person’s own brand, Twitter becomes their microphone—Snapchat occupies a unique space where the unpolished and goofy can be celebrated. Everyone wants authentic content—Snapchat is still one of the few platforms that offers that reality. Snapchat also offers the opportunity to reach GenZ and younger millennials in very authentic ways to help build brand heat with the next generation.

How will you measure the success of the National Lens? And what was the most surprising revelation?  

We don’t have any numbers to share quite yet, but we will look at quantity and demo of the users of the lens, the network effects and related impression reach, and a brand lift study that Snapchat will conduct.

What is the foremost thing brands should know before diving deep into a Snapchat campaign?

You have to really think about it from a user’s perspective. People love lenses because they are ridiculous—for better or worse. Success comes when you take that seed of a fun idea and combine it with a culturally relevant time. The better your brand fits the moment, the more apt people are to brush the clear branding aside and let loose. It’s also important to consider the entire Snapchat ecosystem. You want to have a strong organic brand presence in place already. You also want to consider other paid media companion opportunities in places like Discover to maximize exposure and reach.

Since partnering with Tom Brady, the men’s business for UGG has grown immensely. How do you keep reinventing yourself to use his star power in order to market to men?

I think the key has been to present Tom as Tom. They know the football player, the Super Bowl MVP, they see him at galas with his wife Gisele Bündchen at his arm. They don’t see all the other elements that make him, him. Morning rituals with his family, the struggle to make it in the NFL, golf with his father—all of our campaigns present Tom off the field.

Your tongue-in-cheek approach to elevating downtime was clear in the “Do Nothing” campaign with Jeff Bridges. Has Brady’s suspension and turmoil with the NFL over Deflategate actually been great for you as a sponsor and partner?

Believe us, it was completely unintentional. Tom posted an image with his slipper’d feet up watching a football game last season and the idea was born. #DoNothing isn’t about nothing, it’s about owning your downtime—which could be a multitude of things.

the_new_classic_dps01

How will you be promoting the five-part digital video series with “Do Nothing” and “Rosie’s Everyday Survival” moving forward this fall? What is your social media strategy as the season changes, and the holidays approach?

All of the obvious places. We only have one standalone men’s social channel, Instagram, so cross-channel promotion across our core channels will be crucial from an organic standpoint. We are also pushing the content out through a host of paid digital channels where we can reach targeted audiences like YouTube Truview and HULU as well as targeted endemics like Highsnobiety and ESPN. Given the nature of our business, come holiday timeframe our content shifts to be more focused on weather, and of course, gifting.

Brady is in a league of his own as far as pitchmen go. But where do online influencers and influencer marketing fit into your marketing strategy?

It’s a core tenet of our strategy. We work with influencers consistently, but for us it’s about finding the right influencers. For men, it’s not as simple as just identifying a few bloggers with large followings. Men seem to crave the aspirational and as such we’ve had a lot of success with influential photographers, in addition to our work with Tom and Jeff Bridges.

What other experiential marketing activations can consumers expect in the coming months?

We got to have some secrets . . .

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan

Why Emojis Are The Space To Be In For Stars, Brands, And Beyond

BY

You’re not anybody until somebody emojis you, at least according to Moji president and CEO Oliver Camilo. Emojis have taken off as popular new content for major brands. Those expressive faces have taken on some of the most famous celebrities not limited to Kim Kardashian. The reason is simple, Camilo says: it’s the type of content that people can easily relate to. And it’s also the space that brands absolutely have to be in.

“Before, it was you had to have an Instagram, or Facebook. Now you need to have your own emojis,” Camilo says.

Moji recently released a brand new emoji collection for Denver Broncos defensive stalwart and Super Bowl MVP Von Miller for the start of football season. Whether he’s riding the iconic bucking bronco or tending to his flock of chickens, fans can choose from dozens of Miller expressions. Miller is a magnetic pitchman for such brands as Old Spice and a Dancing With The Stars veteran. No stranger to the celebrity circuit, his star power naturally lends itself to the communicative platform. Camilo said the new collection has done phenomenally well.

“For Von, I think it was particularly easy because he’s just so animated and charismatic and fashion-forward,” Camilo said. “Von was very instrumental in creating the content himself. It made our jobs a lot easier.”

But Moji isn’t the only player in the NFL emoji game, Camilo said. The NFL Players Association released a collection that includes a strong set of All-Pro players, and Twitter released custom emoji hashtags for every team this season—fans can even purchase jerseys using emojis. Then there are transcendent talents like Odell Beckham Jr., who like Miller, have their own keyboards altogether.

For Moji and Miller—who spent part of offseason researching extinct animals—capturing the pass-rusher for his most relatable traits is what keeps the new release relevant and engaging.

“Fans think it really captures his personality off the field,” says Camilo. “With someone that’s as charismatic and animated across the board as Von is, we really wanted to capture that. It’s not just Von as the Denver Broncos player, but it’s Von Miller who is a chicken farmer.”

Sports emojis are nothing new for Camilo and company. The start-up released an emoji collection for NBA MVP Stephen Curry in June, and at the start of the 2016 Olympics later in the summer, released collections for Michael Phelps and Simone Biles.

“We definitely see our product do better and become more relevant if there are games currently going on,” Camilo says.

a39

The emoji craze is, of course, not limited to sports. One of the most well-known emoji collections comes from Kim Kardashian, while other smaller brands are in the expressive ring, too. Meanwhile major brands like Pepsi and Volvo have featured emojis in recent ad campaigns as well.

Advertisers may be wondering if all this “emotion” is sustainable?

Recent research from the firm Appboy said the audience is split, and not surprisingly, that split is generational. But in general, the survey found that people respond well to emoji-based marketing.

Just ask Camilo—the space isn’t going anywhere.

“This emoji and sticker space is so popular right now,” continues Camilo. “Everyone wants to get into it but they don’t necessarily put too much thought into it. They just ship a product that doesn’t have much relevance. We come strong with the content we create. It really goes back to creating content that generates revenue and increases brand awareness or to provide another touch point for consumers.”