The Apartment That Pinterest Built: CB2 Redesigns Social Engagement

In May, 873 Broadway in New York City became the epicenter of a truly innovative social media campaign from home decor chain CB2, as an empty apartment was furnished from start to finish in five days, with designers transforming the blank canvases of five separate rooms into livable spaces – all based on the preferences of Pinterest users. So how did this campaign work, exactly? CB2 selected five popular designers, stylists and lifestyle bloggers, each of whom was assigned to one of the rooms. Each of these five pinned many potential pieces for their rooms, and the items that received the most likes from other Pinterest users ultimately found a place in the room’s final layout – resulting in a decorating style CB2 calls “modern together.” As if this concept wasn’t intriguing enough, CB2 added another element of engagement by posting cameras and video crews in the apartment, documenting the events as they unfolded in real-time so that users could watch the rooms take shape around their selections via time-lapse photos. The Apt CB2 campaign was CB2's first venture into big brand advertising, and they entered the arena with a vengeance. By leveraging their own fan base combined with the followings of five popular designers, they created a powerful foundation of motivated participants, whose efforts and engagement in the campaign were rewarded through a unique real-time connection between the online world and the real world. The campaign is, in fact, a veritable showcase of savvy modern marketing strategies, and it offers some great takeaways for other brands looking to follow suit. Let’s examine the anatomy of the Apt CB2 campaign and uncover the secrets to its success:

Customer driven decision-making

In the era when traditional advertising reigned supreme, push marketing was the norm. But in today’s marketplace, word-of-mouth recommendations, reviews and in-store interactions now carry far more weight with consumers. As a result, contemporary marketing gives greater focus to the "pull." CB2 showed a masterful grasp of pull marketing in the Apt CB2 promotion, which gave users a vehicle by which they could make choices and have their voices heard in a way that was both tangible and immediate.

Real-time engagement

The ability for brands to interact directly with their customers is one of the hallmarks of the digital marketing era. And according to research presented at SXSW 2012, when that interaction occurs in real time, brand marketing gets a huge boost. So what kind of boost are we talking about here? The research noted a whole laundry list of benefits, including:

• More positive perceptions of brands
• Greater willingness to try a new product
• Greater willingness to recommend a product to friends and family
• Better performance of related marketing campaigns

The social celebrity factor

CB2 didn’t rely solely on the appeal of real-time interaction alone to drive the success of its campaign. After all, if a pouf lands in the living room of an apartment and nobody is watching, did it really land there at all? That’s why they cleverly added prominent design celebrities to the mix, guaranteeing that they’d get an immediate fusion of new eyes and new fingers eager to click their favorite selections. Just how much interest can a celebrity add to a marketing campaign? A lot, actually. Each of the five designers selected for the Apt CB2 campaign came to the promotion with a sizable fan base. Let’s take a look at the numbers based on their Pinterest following alone:

• Los Angeles design pro Ross Cassidy (dining room): 4.5 million
• San Francisco's Caitlin Flemming (office): 4 million
• New York interior designer Athena Calderone (bedroom): 5,200 (plus all the readers who follow Eye Swoon, her popular food and design website)
• Nashville brand manager Daniel Bear Hunley (living room): 1.6 million
• Los Angeles lifestyle and design blogger Justina Blakeney (rooftop): 1.2 million

Of course, not all of their followers would participate in Apt CB2, but even a small percentage of numbers like these is nothing to sneeze at.

There's a contest, too

This super-sized promotion isn't done yet, though. For those Pinterest fans who weren’t moved by the menu of celebrities or the fascination of real-time "vote and view" apartment decorating, Apt CB2 offered yet another draw – the chance to win a room furnished by CB2 valued at $5,000.

News coverage and PR

Needless to say, Apt CB2 has garnered a lot of interest in the news media. And that interest is accompanied by some extremely high-quality free publicity. We at Fame Foundry aren’t the only ones who’ve taken notice of this innovative campaign. News about Apt CB2 was picked up almost immediately by major outlets including Fast Company, the New York Times and International Business Times as well as a raft of lifestyle and home decor websites and blogs. CB2 has also supplemented their free exposure by placing paid advertising on relevant websites, notably Apartment Therapy.

Social integration

The real genius of the campaign, however, is the synergy that it creates between all of these different features. The whole, in this case, really is much greater than the sum of its parts. Without question, social media is a valuable way for brands to reach their intended audience, providing great opportunities for brand building, messaging and conversation marketing. Even the best luxury brands know the power of social media. Take, for example, the innovative ways in which Burberry has incorporated social media into their marketing efforts. And while the Apt CB2 campaign is a bit reminiscent of Burberry's best efforts, it takes social integration several steps further. The result is a brilliant combination of social media, marketing strategy, public relations and targeted advertising – all rolled up into one highly engaging package.

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Two-Faced: The Promise and Pitfalls of Facebook

With 250 million members and growing, Facebook is a siren’s song for marketers and business owners. Its allure lies in its promise of instantaneous access to legions of followers, but therein also lies the danger. With all the hype surrounding social media, misconceptions about Facebook’s capabilities as a marketing tool are rampant. It’s easy to latch on to the seemingly obvious benefits while overlooking the hidden perils. Before you steer your brand on a course to social media suicide, let’s take a closer look at some of the nefarious half-truths that permeate the buzz about Facebook and sort out perception from possibility.

Facebook is free advertising.

This much is true: It doesn’t cost one dime to create an account or set up a fan page on Facebook. But that’s where the free ride ends. In fact, Facebook is neither free nor advertising. Advertising in the most traditional sense of the word implies one-way communication. It represents a carefully polished, thoroughly sanitized version of a company’s image that is presented to a statistically favorable audience through structured media outlets. Social media by definition demands interaction. As a result, using any social media platform as a tool to grow your business requires a significant investment of time and effort – precious resources of which many companies today have little to spare – to nurture relationships and cultivate a following. You can’t approach Facebook as you would an advertising campaign with tidy short-term objectives and a finite lifespan. Instead, you must be willing to make a long-term commitment and have the patience to let the return on your investment develop over time. Furthermore, unlike traditional advertising, Facebook is not simply a vehicle for self-promotion. Creating a Facebook page is like standing on a soapbox. You can gather a crowd and take the stage, but if you do nothing but talk endlessly about yourself, your products and your achievements, everyone will quickly leave and go elsewhere.

Facebook is an easy way to connect with your customers.

Yes, your 10-year-old son and your 85-year old grandmother can set up a Facebook page. The developers behind Facebook invested untold hours and resources in a simple, user-friendly interface in order to ensure just that. Facebook is not the ends; it's the means. However, the act of creating a page is not the point. It’s not the same as putting up a billboard on the side of the road where the end goal is to gain attention by the simple fact of existing in the space. You must do more than establish a presence; you must commit yourself to being fully present on the site. The gift that Facebook and other social media sites have given to marketers and business owners is removing the middlemen of print and broadcast media that were once your only lines of communication with your customers. However, having the ability to communicate directly does no good if you do not use it to your advantage by actively engaging your followers. How do you do this? Offer them something of value, start a conversation, provide a forum for meaningful interaction, post diverse kinds of content. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about what you would respond to. Think about what all of your fans might have in common and build your following around that. Your Facebook page might not even focus on your business or industry at all. That’s fine, as long as what’s there is entertaining or thought provoking or relatable – something that people can latch onto and encourage others to do the same. In short, Facebook is not the ends; it's the means.

There’s no harm in trying Facebook.

You’ve heard all the chatter about Facebook, and you’ve decided to take the plunge, thinking you’ll figure it out as you go. Stop right there. The problem with taking a trial-and-error approach is that there are no take-backs in the world of social media. Your mistakes are on display for all to see and can be unearthed again and again. Post content that is poorly conceived or badly executed, and you take a chance at being the Internet’s next viral sensation (and not in a good way). Of course, that’s the worst-case scenario. But the indisputable truth of the matter is that your efforts can backfire if you don’t come out of the gate with a strong, clearly defined strategy and commit to sustaining your efforts over time. There are no take-backs in the world of social media. As a marketer or business owner, you can’t afford to enter into Facebook lightly. Lackluster communication will damage your brand. Just as easily as you can update your status, your fans can hide you from their feed. The more eagerly you flood your followers with content that’s not relevant or lacks creativity, the more you risk alienating your once loyal customers. Take a step back and think about how your activity on Facebook reflects on you and what it reveals to your customers about your motives. For example, focusing on self-promotion sends a clear message to your fans that you have no interest in them or desire to forge a meaningful connection. Remember, everything that you broadcast over Facebook becomes part of your brand legacy.

The more fans, the better.

As is the case in most areas of business, there is strength in numbers on Facebook. Or is there? Without question, Facebook has the numbers. Over 50 million new users joined in the past three months alone, leaving marketers who cling to the traditional media metrics of reach and demographics salivating. However, Facebook’s true strength is not in the exposure it offers to this vast sea of humanity. It’s in the platform’s strength as a channel of unobstructed communication between you and your customers as well as between your customers and their network of friends. The number of fans you have on Facebook is meaningless in and of itself. Just as it takes next to no effort on your part to create your page, it requires nothing but the click of a mouse for someone to “fan” you. But if that is the last interaction you have with them, then it does nothing to improve your bottom line. What you really need are loyal fans who are passionate about you and who are actively spreading the word about what you have to offer. You need to develop a following of people who are personally invested in your success. It’s not about quantity; it’s about quality.Wired magazine founder Kevin Kelly describes on his blog the importance of what he calls “True Fans,” defined as “someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce.” Once you have committed yourself to Facebook, it is imperative that you seek out these types of fans and feed them meaningful content that they can spread like wildfire throughout their various networks of family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. When it comes to fans and Facebook, it’s not about quantity; it’s about quality. All of this is not to say that you shouldn’t view Facebook as a powerful grassroots marketing tool or that the challenges outweigh the benefits. However, it is to say that you shouldn’t blindly follow the masses to Facebook because you think it’s cheap, easy and free of risk. Instead, be realistic about the investment of time and effort required, cultivate a loyal group of real fans and communicate with them in a way that is really engaging. As always, if you’re not sure where to start and need help making sense of it all, please feel free to call us. We can help you separate Facebook fact from fiction and put you on the right track to using social media as a tool for building meaningful customer relationships.

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