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.

Four Smart Marketing Strategies to Steal From #ShareACoke

After watching sales steadily decline for nearly 11 consecutive years in the face of consumer concerns over obesity and artificial sweeteners, Coca-Cola experienced a stark reversal of fortunes this past summer as their “Share a Coke” campaign achieved phenomenal success.

Just how successful was it? The campaign – which centered around personalized cans and bottles branded with names like Chris, Jess and Alex and friendly terms like “BFF” and “Wingman” – is credited for increasing sales for Coke products in the U.S. by 2.5 percent for the 12 weeks through the end of August compared to the same period a year ago, while sales for the same timeframe remained negative for rivals PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

But don’t let the seeming simplicity of this marketing stunt fool you. Behind “Share a Coke” are four smart strategies that clearly resonated with Coke’s customers – and that you can steal to give your own marketing efforts a jolt of new life:

1. Forget marketing to the masses. Make it personal.

We humans are a narcissistic lot. We love nothing more than seeing our names in lights. As a result, marketing campaigns that offer a personal touch will always win out over those that feel like they’re indiscriminately pandering to the masses. And by blurring the lines between brand identity and personal identity, you can gain a powerful emotional foothold in the lives of your customers.

“Share a Coke” sparked a nationwide scavenger hunt as customers sought out soda containers branded with their own names. Wisely, Coke not only used commonplace names like Mike and Sarah but also more unusual names such as Jamal and Jasmine, adding fuel to the fire for searchers.

Taking the concept one step further, Coke also sent an army of roving kiosks across the country that let people print their own personalized “Share a Coke” container. In addition, Coke added a feature on their website allowing users to create virtual Coke bottles to share with friends – which they did more than 6 million times over.

In the words of Lucie Austin, one of the brand executives that launched the original iteration of the campaign in Australia, ”At the end of the day, our name is the most personal thing we have. It's our fingerprint…our identity…in one word.” By emblazoning that one most personal thing on its bottles and cans, Coke let its customers feel a sense of ownership over one of the world’s most iconic brands.

2. Shine a spotlight on your customers.

By nature, we love anything that gives us a chance to bask in the spotlight, and the Share a Coke campaign did just that. There’s a certain thrill to finding your name on a Coke bottle – one that is multiplied by sharing that experience with friends via social media. After all, in our selfie-obsessed culture, it didn’t happen if you don’t post a picture to prove it, right?

Coke’s customers certainly seemed to think so, as more than 550,000 Instagram posts and 344,000 tweets with the hashtag #shareacoke kept the campaign front-and-center in our social media feeds this summer.

3. Build a bandwagon.

Popularity is a self-perpetuating phenomenon. We want to be part of something that is popular, and the more of us that jump on the bandwagon, the more people want to be on that bandwagon with us. Why? It all comes down to inclusion. We like to feel a sense of commonality with others, and we are inherently drawn to things that give us the feeling of being part of the in-crowd.

The “Share a Coke” campaign was built upon and fueled by the momentum of perceived popularity. The more people who snapped and shared their personalized bottle finds, the more their friends were driven to do the same in order to be part of the conversation.

4. Create avenues for self-expression.

Sure, we like being part of anything that’s popular and trending. But we like it even better when we can take that thing that’s popular and trending and claim ownership over it by putting our own spin on it.

If you look at the #shareacoke Instagram posts and tweets, you’ll see much more than a collage of people proudly displaying their namesake Coke bottles next to their smiling faces. You’ll also discover many images where particularly clever fans used the Coke bottle as a blank slate to add their own unique voice to the “Share a Coke” conversation, whether it was in protest of not finding their own name, to commemorate a major life milestone or to tie into another wildly popular pop culture phenomenon.

It’s hard to say whether Coke anticipated these types of responses when they designed their campaign, but they certainly reaped the benefits of having a cavalcade of creative customers who voluntarily participated in and perpetuated the popularity of their marketing campaign.