#thisissummer in a Can!

RedBull recently ran an Instagram campaign to boost awareness and sales of their tropical flavored “Summer Edition” energy drink for the Australian market. Their goal was to drive awareness of the extension of the brand.

With a firm focus on simplicity and brand building, Red Bull paved the way for their actual campaign with a promotional teaser just before the summer hit. To get audiences focused on the new look of the cans, they incorporated yellow filters across a range of images and videos portraying typical summer days. The brand was twice as likely to be associated with the #thissummer hashtag trend as any of its nearest competitors.

Consumers have been “given wings” for well over 28 years by Red Bull, and they ranked #56 on the Forbes Most Powerful Brand List in 2016. Their original energy drink can be found in over 170 countries, so it comes as no surprise that the company has sold over 60 billion cans of their famous drink. Since their humble beginnings back in 1987, the brand has since released 4 new flavors of energy drinks to cater to individual tastes and preferences.

The #thisissummer campaign created a 10-point lift in top-of-mind awareness, 9-point lift in favorability, 7-point drop in the unconvinced market and reached over 1.2 million consumers worldwide.

Red Bull's campaign goes to show there is a massive market for campaigns launched on social media sites, and the power Instagram can have in driving engaged users is notable. In order to leverage the full power of a social media campaign on Instagram, you need to understand how consumers use social paths so that you can use them too. 

One Small Step for Man...

Although most of us probably won’t step foot on Mars, one Facebook campaign utilised the red planet and the social network to get kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math. 



Through Raytheon Company’s Mission to Mars, students were able to explore the planet virtually and interact with Facebook to earn grants. The campaign included a Clear 4 Takeoff Facebook game, where users could put themselves in the driver’s seat of a rover launching on a mission to Mars. Students had to navigate the final frontier, clearing “space junk,” before landing on the red planet. The game aimed to teach kids about the threat of space debris and how it affects space systems.

The campaign was a major success with Raytheon awarding the winner a 'Mars Hero' grant of $5,000. It was also great for the company's exposure as it invited parents and friends to share their child's 60-second video in order to compete. Exposure was also generated as the videos were also shared on the MathMovesU Facebook page, where users could vote for their favorite which generated another level of engagement.