Campaigns Worth Noting: Land Rover's #IAMDRIVEN Campaign

Personalization is the honey of the comb that is social media marketing. People buzz and remain around a brand that allows them to be and share who they are.

Land Rover understood that when they joined up with Men's Journal, ESPN and Outside magazine to create the #IAMDRIVEN contest to highlight the launch of the all-new Range Rover Sport.

The contest asks for fans and owners of Land Rover to share on Instagram and Twitter their storyboard/video about how they are "driven to another level." 

The recorded feats will then be evaluated, according to Luxury Daily, by a panel based on creativity, nature of challenge and visual fulfillment of overall theme (aka brand compatibility and usefulness). 

Land Rover will then choose six winners to profile and the overall winner will be treated to a two-night stay at the The Land Rover Experience Driving School at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, CA. The previously listed media partners will then be highlighting a series of videos about daring outdoorsy individuals such as paragliding photographer George Steinmetz and underwater explorer David Lang.

This campaign epitomizes brand contests happening on social media that unify both the consumer and brand's interests. The brand provides the arena for customers to tell their personal stories and have a bit of fun, while the brand profits off the publicity and the excitement of its fans. And then when it comes to recognize a winner, the brand gives a special arena that all participants feel they have a stake in and outsiders can be drawn into, all of which feel rewarded by the success of a single participant.

It's clever, cost-effective, and most importantly engaging. The #IAMDRIVEN campaign has all the makings for great outreach and customer engagement, I just hope selected winner will drive the Range Rover Sport 2014 equally as wild.

Doing One Thing and Doing It Right: How EyeEm Is The New Instagram

If there is one takeaway from the insatiable growth of Instagram, SnapChat and Pinterest, it is that there is a lot of potential in photo-sharing. Along with photo-filter options, it's a short yet effective way to communicate a message.

Since Zuckerberg decided to add video to Instagram there is a lot of debate about whether adding more services onto a platform is indeed adding more value. It should be no surprise that the owner of Facebook has taken this route, after his platform has adopted more widgets than Angelina Jolie has foreign family members, but what could he have done to improve Instagram instead of expand it's services? Better filters? Different interface? It's no secret that Instagram is a huge point of contention within the Facebook decisionmakers as since the purchase of Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, they have done very little to change it or make a profit off of it. It's almost as if they don't understand it. So what do they do? Attempt to appease users while making a stake against Apple's Vine by adding the rising popular service of video.

The issue with this is that Instagram users are not inherently Vine/video users. Video has sound, takes a bit more time to put together and doesn't make our selfies look beautiful in sepia tone. But there is one app that DOES get it.

Behold, EyeEm.

EyeEm not only has better, new and improved filter options but it has improved the user experience so changes in filters and frames are in the inherent swipe of your finger across the image. EyeEm also crops in shapes other than box and puts images together in unique montages across individual's profiles.

The truly revolutionary facet however, is the tagging. Upon posting you are giving an action and a place that uses geo-targeting. The application then guesses upon your location as to what you are doing.

An example is that I was in Edinbergh this weekend taking pictures outside of a cathedral. It then tagged the cathedral I didn't even know the name of yet along with that I was praying. While that wasn't correct, the accuracy of not just predicting the location correctly but a closely corresponding action was impressive. Another example was later that weekend I was in Newcastle taking pictures whilst drinking with friends. I didn't have time to post so I just did them all the next morning on EyeEm. The app used the iPhone's geo-location to remember where they were taken and did the same predictive tags of "Out for drinks," "Dancing," or "Dinner" with each corresponding bar or restaurant by name.

It gets better. Upon using each tag a drop-down function also lets you know which tags are trending and how many pictures are tagged under those categories - a function that could be insanely beneficial for all users across all platforms. And praise Jesus, there is no need for hash signs! EyeEm uses keywords and even spaces for tags so we can do away with the obnoxious in-text, one word translating business of #omgImsosickofthis.

While EyeEm, like Instagram, still hasn't figured out how to pick up a decent profit off its services - it has done loads to improve a service many have left alone, assumably with the UX perfected (or at least 'good enough'). Thankfully, that was not the case for EyeEm and time will tell if it's the case for 100 million Instagrammers.

Instagram: Better Tags and Better Brands

Instagram may be profitable yet.

According to AdWeek, the photo-friendly Facebook arm released last week "Photos of You", a better way to accurately tag users in photos (other users including brands).

So how does this look? Just like Facebook, if you tag someone they get notified and can approve or disapprove of the tagging. Once the user approves, that image is put into that user's photo-feed.

Again in +Adweek, they use the timely example of the +H&M partnership with Beyoncé. If H&M tagged Beyoncé in a photo during their campaign, she could approve it and share it with all of her fans. But perhaps even more powerful, the tagging could be done vice versa.

An example of this, say that could be used by +Urban Outfitters, is a consumer could tag themselves in a trendy shot wearing their latest lion t-shirt. If they tagged the retail business in their post, Urban could then more easily share and promote their customers and products.

What about Instragram ads? According to Zuckerberg, they're still thinking on them; but in the meantime this is definitely something brands can easily and freely sink their teeth into.

How Urban Outfitters’ #UOonyou Campaign Is Nailing Interactive

Many brands have opted onto the Instagram bandwagon, but few have given the reins to their audience and seen a return on effort like Urban Outfitters in their #UOonyou campaign. Here are two concepts that have helped enable their success.

Let the audience have an active role in the brand

The most obvious part of the #UOonyou campaign, is the YOU. Immediately engaging what all social network users care about (themselves), Urban has recognized and piggybacked on the exact purpose Instagram is successful.

And it’s an open invite. Urban hasn’t ruled who participates and what is posted with an iron fist—they are inviting consumers in. Users hashtag #UOonyou in their posts and if Urban likes what they see, they post it on their website. Is it risky? Maybe a little, but the payoff is huge. Your consumers are your brand. They want to interact for the same reason they buy your product—they want the culture/personality. So let them play with it. Taking risks with your customers results in trust for a continuing relationship. Because they want to show off their cut-off Cheetah t-shirt and you want free advertising. #winwin

Sell a culture not a product

A redonkulous number of Instagram-adopting brands have used Instagram (and Pinterest) with the same approach they would traditional ad space. Each post contains an image of their product with a link to purchase, and sometimes even an annoying price tag in the corner of the shot. Guess what? We’re all here for free, and in an opt-in culture that is just not interesting enough. What’s the story? Where’s the human factor?

Shots should be organic and reach at why consumers are purchasing your product. No business wants to be dependent on the success of one item, invest your customers with your brand. Something they won’t do unless they feel like they have a stake.

And to do this you need engagement. By allowing audience members to have an active role in the brand, a culture further develops that automatically evolves with the interests of your consumers. Users have emotional stake in the services you have to offer. Your identities are tied in a relationship that continues to strengthen as long as you both listen and adapt.

Know of other brands doing similar campaigns? Would love to hear it!