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“31 Days of the Dragon” Word-of-Mouth Marketing Program Buzz Corps - Company Background
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Buzz Corps - Company Background Buzz Corps was started in May of 2007 by partners Chris Aarons and Geoff Nelson. While working together at AMD on a joint launch of Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system they began working with core Microsoft bloggers and influencers. The influencers liked the strategy of “For, With and By the Community” to such a degree that they suggested the founders help influencers and corporations build mutually beneficial relationships. We took their advice…
WOM is all we do • Teach WOM and marketing at University of Texas • Members of the Governing Board of WOMMA • Geoff Nelson - Instructor at WOMMA University • Recognized by bloggers – Google “Chris Aarons” or “Nick White” and see what the bloggers say • Nick White of our Seattle Office ran the Microsoft Vista Blog with over 6 million unique visitors a month
31 Days Model • Campaign Aspects • WOM • Contest • Product • Community • Conversation • Search • CGM • Time • Global • Consumer Control • Sales • Viral
31 Days Model – The Amplifier Campaign Aspects HP
HP’s flagship notebook –fully loaded 20.1” 1080P Hi-def screen Intel Extreme Edition processor Blu Ray Player Prize package valued over $5,500 including: Microsoft Office Corel PaintShop Pro X2 Corel Painter Essentials Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus 11.5 Symantec Norton Internet Security Viva Piñata game Microsoft Flight Sim Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack Gears of War game Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest- Blu Ray Pirates of the Caribbean - At World’s End - Blu Ray Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl - Blu Ray What Is The HP HDX Dragon?
HP’s 31 Days of the Dragon Why 31 Days Of The Dragon was created HP wanted to deepen its commitment to the blogosphere and its support of the new media initiatives that build strong relationships in this unique community of writers, reviewers, fans and enthusiasts of every kind. Program Overview To accomplish this, HP provided 31 HDX “Dragon” systems to 31 selected influencers/bloggers to give away to lucky readers on their sites over 31 days (one per blogger) any way they wanted. Why community influencers/bloggers? HP’s mission was to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with bloggers and site owners and to support them in their endeavors. HP believes these people represent an exceptional and dedicated segment of the communications and media landscape and that their influence is on the rise. Also, HP wanted to say “thanks” to the influencers for all their great work, as well as to their readers for their participation and support of blogs and forums.
31 Days of the Dragon - Results • Business advances, sales gains, increased product awareness and competitive advantage • Results from HPshopping.com (month over month data) • 84% increase in sales on the HDX Dragon system • 14% increase in overall traffic • 10% increase in overall consumer PC sales • Sales figures for the month of the program set several records • This is usually a softer month and does not include channel sales • The sales gains are continuing even 2 months after the program Costs • Total cost for systems, shipping, software and paying to offset taxes for the winners: $250K (costs shared by HP and partners) • $0 media spend/we did not pay bloggers
HP HDX Dragon Sales Results Giveaways End HP HDX Dragon had been shipping for 9 months Giveaways Begin Data from HPshopping.com
31 Days of the Dragon - What’s Amazing • During the promotion, the 31 top bloggers promoted the contest, HP, the HDX Dragon and each other – an unprecedented occurrence thatshowed the collective power of a community banding together • Each blogger was able to create their own unique contest , specifically tailored to their audiences and goals • The promotion garnered over 31 days of positive discussion on HP and the HDX and was accompanied by third-party endorsements that quickly resulted in a significant sales increase • Bloggers also created and shared custom marketing materials, including dedicated site, graphics, logos, videos, RSS feeds and then cross-promoted these items with each other • We could not have bought the results achieved with traditional media
Website Done By The Bloggers • This site was created by the bloggers to concentrate traffic, Digg results and improve the viral nature of the giveaway • They also shared traffic stats and links with us and each other
Google Results The giveaway allowed HP to have 100% glowing results with third-party praise for the HDX on the first five pages of Google when searching for the product as well as significant coverage on important keywords
Content Generated For The Giveaway • Readers created videos to enter the several of the giveaways • In one contest, they even created their own commercials for the product and HP • They also created videos to thank HP, as well as review, and to show off the product after the giveaways • Together, all of the videos for the giveaways were watched by well over 10 million consumers
Content Generated For The Giveaway Showing the power of consumer generated content, word-of-mouth marketing and social media all at once, influencer Chris Pirillo’s numerous videos were watched by over millions of consumers and included viewers praising the HDX and HP in his scrolling comment window.
What The Influencers Got • Traffic: 150 to 5000% increase • New readers stuck – Average 50% increase holding • Deeper relationship with HP
Comments From HP “Buzz Corps consistently delivers results. Through their keen understanding of how to harness the power of Google search and strong ties with the blogging community, Buzz Corps delivered record HP Home and Home Office Store traffic, conversion and sales for the HDX series during the 31 Days of the Dragon promotional period AND into the following months. Nearly double the performance of traditional paid Web ads and at a fraction of their cost: BRILLIANT marketing!” Scott Ballantyne, HP Vice President & GM Consumer Computing “By recognizing the influence of our partners in the blogosphere and tapping into the creative thinking of Buzz Corps, the 31 Days of the Dragon program achieved outstanding unit sales and great exposure for our first HP HDX series notebook.” Bruce Greenwood, HP Vice President North America Channel Development & Marketing
Comments From HP “The amazing thing about 31 Days of the Dragon was that Buzz Corps’ program took a shipping product with average sales and turned it into a halo product with phenomenal sales. This gave the HDX Dragon series the shot of adrenaline and exposure it needed via in-depth influencer reviews, community feedback, super-creative contest entries and overall lift in Google search results that worked when nothing else did!” Dana Harrold, HP Product Marketing Manager “Unleashing the blogging community’s creativity by giving them the freedom to promote and merchandise the HP HDX series has yielded fantastic results! The community did not stray from the product’s key selling points and drove exposure well beyond our expectations.” Michele Kennedy, HP Advertising Manager "Designing a program that drives awareness and demand for our products by collaborating WITH the bloggers rather than one FOR them was very new and exciting to me. The enthusiasm, creativity and buzz generated by the 31 Days of the Dragon program exceeded my expectations ten fold.“ Tom Augenthaler, HP Worldwide PR Manager
Select Comments From Readers (unedited) • “This is one of the best contests I've ever heard of or participated in, before the 31 Days of the Dragon I didn't even know about this machine. HP really knocked it out of the park I think, plus it's fun watching all of the contests that people come up with. :)” • “I LOVE HP now … even I don’t win all 31 of these, I’ll probably buy a tx2000 from them.” • “in light of that, this might be one of the best directed audience advertising campaigns ever…” • “This is so good for all parties involved. Props to HP for doing this thing. It really makes me like that company more so than I already did. All the big computer companies should be doing the same thing. Even if I don’t win, I’ve still gotten something out of all this - it has introduced me to a bunch of cool sites I’ll be visiting from now on.” • “This is a great promotion from HP and to get the word out on this product. Hopefully other companies can follow suit with this strategy.”
Select Comments From Readers (unedited) • “Wow. Benefits for all! You guys get heavy traffic, plus better interlinking between blogs, and hence better Google rank, The HP Guys get free publicity, and is cheaper for them than actual advertising. 31 blog readers, one of them, probably me :), very satisfied! :)” • “Cheers to EXCELLENT marketing!” • “This is sheer genius! I wish I would have thought of this. Kudos to all involved. I now think far more of HP.” • “Wow this is an amazing opportunity. HP’s are amazing machines. Currently I am writing this on an HP computer bought last November and it is probably one of the best computers I have ever owned.” • “Hey That Hp is Great It Looks So Wicked also the style of it is class and with someone getting a chance to Win it thats even better who gets that is going to be over the moon I think it class it sounds Fast good Memory :) Hp Should Get a Medal For giving this away thanks Hp.”
Key Takeaways • The community can work in ways traditional media can’t or won’t • Influencers drive sales • A holistic program such as “31 Days of the Dragon” forces competitors to become reactive to your marketing
Thank you for your time!Questions?chris@buzzcorps.com | 512.573.3222geoff@buzzcorps.com | 512.560.0196