NAB Banking Campaign: This is not a Social Media campaign

Cool campaign right? Cannes Festival of Creativity thought so where it won the top award, the Grand Prix in the Public Relations Division.

It’s big buzz on Twitter this week (well, on this side of the world) but people are mistakenly calling it a ‘Social Media Campaign’ thanks to the fact that it all started with a tweet.

This is not a Social Media Campaign

There’s no denying the campaign effectively used Social channels to both drive and support the stunt but this is not a Social Media campaign. This is a 360 degree campaign.

What often happens after a success like this is that brands attempt to imitate. They take a small budget, try and send out a tweet, and drive ‘viral buzz’ – with many left scratching their heads saying “How’d they do that?”

Did you watch the video? There’s helicopters! There’s a man sat outside a building playing a grand piano! There’s a full page ad in the newspaper!

All of these things cost money. Don’t be fooled in to thinking that some of the greatest ‘Social Media successes’ are media campaigns with HUGE budgets.

Yes the initial tweet got some serious attention (was it luck or the fact the account probably already had 1000s of followers?) but the well constructed media around the campaign is what gave it context and got the message across.

What makes a great Social Media campaign?

The best Social Media campaigns understand Paid, Owned & Earned Media but the best Marketing campaigns understand ALL the channels available and the true cost to activate them.

99% of the time big campaigns require big budgets. But there’s no denying, this was a marketing campaign everybody loved.