March Madness ‘ Digital ad spending has increased from USD 479 million in 2005 to more than a billion in 2014. Ads are streamed to 9.9 million viewers with ad-supported video casts. Capitalizing on the trend is Acura that has launched “March Memeness” campaign where there are over 103 Meme’s that are featured on the brands site with a digital blitz planned on ESPN, social media sites to create an organic buzz for the brand.
Acura rep Jessica Fini said the company would engage in real-time marketing efforts on March 26, and “depending on how that goes,” potentially also on March 28 and 29.
According to MediaPost, Part of the automaker’s association with the NCAA, it extends the “Catch if you Can” theme for the car via alignment with the NCAA Tournament Challenge, of which Acura has been a sponsor for three years.
The campaign, “March Memeness,” features the kind of short video content people like to share with headlines that serve as double entendres for basketball plays, faux pas and achievements.
According to research Native advertising is known to bring in results:
- Native ads are 25 percent more viewable than standard ads (IPG Media Lab and Sharethrough)
- 52 percent of native clicks have higher purchase rate (IPG Media Lab and Sharethrough)
- Native ads generate 82 percent increase in brand lift (Nielsen)
Acura has created “MemeQuarters” on ESPN, where Acura’s “Meme Team” has been creating the memes aligning with live-action events on court during the NCAA College Basketball Tournament. The campaign has been designed to enliven the key moments that are likely to resonate with the viewers in a themed context Acura has created video montages of such moments as a little bird watching a rhinoceros chew grass. Over that is superimposed text that reads “Two points!,” a reference to the rhino’s two horns. Others include a dancing couple doing the tango with a “taking the lead” headline, and a duck submerged headfirst in the water (“Dunk”).
Acura,has backed the advertising with a sponsorship of ESPN Tourney Challenge Sweepstakes, where participants can vie for a chance to win USD 50,000 with a trip to the 2015 NCAA Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis; and a trip to Bristol, CT to attend a tour of the ESPN Campus, with USD 2,000 in cash on a gift card.
Creating the Brand Experience with a theme, Acura has used Social Media channels to spotlight the key features of the product, while promoting the memes on a branded site as seen the Video.
In a similar effort to create Brand Experience Skittles has used Digital Streaming with content that goes to build on the theme of “Experience the Rainbow”. The Digital experience is further corroborated on Social Media where Skittles uses creative and posts with different color candies to bring to life the campaign idea of experiencing the rainbow with bite-sized shareable content.
Key Takeaways for Brands
Create Bite sized shareable content that is likely to resonate with your target audience. Choose the theme and campaign idea accordingly.
Use relevant hashtags. If you are looking at creating a brand experience and entertainment is your core proposition – to create buzz, isolating content that is pure entertainment and showcasing it on a brand site and not your product or company site, is likely to generate better engagement.
Create a stream of content that audiences feel enthusiastic enough to share to be able to create a buzz for the same.
Look for the right media partner or publisher for Native advertising. Native advertising on a platform that creates the right context for your advertising while amplifying the message can be identified either through programmatic buying or direct sponsorship deal with a publisher.
Identify the right advertising units for your campaign.
Solomozone 