Lacoste| Crocodile Inside

Agency: Iconoclast Paris / BETC Paris

Client: Lacoste

Country: France

In Crocodile Inside we feel the tension of a couple tearing each other apart, as the tough love they share is pushed to the edge of rupture. Symbolising the rift that’s created between the two lovers, their apartment cracks at every word too many. Ultimately, they realise they have gone too far and, in a pure moment of cinema, decide to come back to one another.

Instagram Giveaway| Sunny Co Clothing

Clothing retail startup “Sunny Co Clothing,” founded by two college seniors at the University of Arizona, figured creating a swimsuit giveaway would be the best way to get the word out there about their new brand. 

By reposting their photo with a specific hashtag, social media users would be entitled to a “free” swimsuit in exchange for their post — in addition to the company donating $1 to the Alzheimer’s Foundation for each one.

Overnight, their Instagram following jumped from 7,000 to 784,000. More than 346,000 people took up their offer, forcing them to cap the promotion at 50,000 units.

Let’s do the math: 50,000 units x $12 = $600,000.

No, that’s not a typo. The campaign grossed over $600,000 in 24 hours.

It was so unexpectedly popular they had to issue almost $73,000 in refunds because they couldn’t meet demand.

This spawned a slew of articles calling the campaign a failure. One writer even thought that it belonged in the same category as the infamous Fyre Festival.

But if these publications had just paused to think, they might’ve realized they were missing the big picture.

Inventory issues aside, the real story was that two college students generated more revenue in one day than many businesses do in a year. And they did it with effectively $0 in ad spend.








They’re not losing any money — they’re making it

Of the thousands of people posting all over the internet about this matter — the majority of them failed to give the site a visit and realize you still had to pay handling charges, although the item itself is technically “free.” While this is certainly a gray area of marketing ethics, it’s nothing new.

The folks over at Loretti Watches have been running their entire business on this model for over a year. Pay a small shipping and handling fee, and get the product for “free.” In fact, many of the top clients we produce scroll-stopping creative and strategy for at VAXA Digital follow this same business model.

What most consumers don’t realize is that these products are manufactured so cheap they can be produced and shipped for less than the shipping “cost” they’re charged. This is especially true in the clothing industry, where items (such as bathing suits) can be easily manufactured overseas for nothing more than a few dollars. This absurdly high margin is then used to cover advertising, overhead, and wasted product at the end of a season/trend.

In this specific example, Sunny Co Clothing charged their customers a $13 shipping fee after applying their promo code to reduce their $70 bathing suit down to $0. From a marketing psychology perspective, the consumer feels as if they’ve gotten such a discount that this nominal charge is normal and worth it.

From that amount, subtract $5 to manufacturer and fulfill the item, $6 to actually ship it, $1 for the Alzheimer’s donation, and they’re left with $1–2 of net profit for every suit sold — which brings me to my next point: how many did they actually sell?








Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_24HOdjfzM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Truth is, there’s a lot to learn from their campaign, so let’s mine some nuggets of wisdom.

In this article, I’m going to break down key lessons you can apply to your own marketing strategies. Then, I’ll provide a template you can use to recreate their success.

Nothing Sunny Co did was revolutionary — it was simply well executed. And if you follow the principles they used, you too can become an overnight sensation.

How Much Was Profit?

First, let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

Unless you manufacture your own goods, the only way you can promise a swimsuit for $12 is by buying in bulk to keep costs low.

In light of this, it’s likely Sunny Co sourced their product from an overseas supplier.

I did a quick search on Alibaba and found a similar swimsuit that costs $6.10/unit (when ordering over 100).

Let’s assume they were able to negotiate down to $3/unit, given they ordered 50,000 pieces.

In 2017, you could ship a seven-ounce package across the U.S. for about $3 via USPS First Class.

Factor in $0.50 for packaging/branding and $0.70 for payment processing fees and that brings total costs to $7.20.

Estimated profit = $12 - $7.20 = $4.80/unit.

We know they ended up issuing roughly $73,000 in refunds. But assuming they could tell the future and adequately planned their supply chain, they would’ve raked in over $240,000 in profit in 24 hours.

Wow.

Why It Worked

Three key factors:

1.“Free” turns heads

Want to command attention?

Offer something for free.

Caveat: as we saw above, Sunny Co used the word “free” fairly liberally. In any other context, $12 shipping for a single swimsuit is outrageous.

Nevertheless, it’s likely many customers realized this and still wanted in, especially when compared alongside a $64.99 retail price.

The real takeaway here is that people love the idea of “free,” even if it’s merely framed as such.

2. Urgency sells

If “free” grabs the audience’s attention, limited time offers give them no choice but to respond.

Sunny Co took advantage of this by restricting their campaign to 24 hours, which persuaded their audience to jump on board right away.

There’s nothing worse than missing out on a chance to grab something for free because you waited too long to act.

3. Relevant content converts

This campaign went viral for a reason.

Points 1 and 2 are critical, but they would’ve fallen flat if the Instagram image wasn’t appealing to their audience.

That wasn’t an issue for the Sunny Co team, because they chose an image that:
Looked like an Instagram post their target audience would typically make (not a spammy ad).
Incorporated their target audience’s interests (warm weather and swimming pools).
Used colors associated with excitement (ie. red).

These elements ensured their campaign got noticed.

Template: How to Make $600,000 in 24 Hours

Here’s how you can recreate Sunny Co’s success.

Step 1: Source a product on Alibaba.

Find a product you can:
White label and rebrand.
Charge the unit cost + shipping cost + desired profit as “shipping.”

To figure out the second part, first, determine your total costs.

For example, these blue light blocking glasses cost $1.80 per unit. You can ship them anywhere across the U.S. for roughly $3 via USPS First Class. That puts your total cost at $4.80.

Next, determine the maximum amount a customer would pay for shipping on the item.

If you sell the benefits properly (ie. blue light blocking glasses prevent headaches), I think you could persuade an audience to pay up to $8 for “shipping.”

That leaves you with $8-$4.80=$3.20 in profit.

Step 2: Order samples. Inspect for quality and reliability.

This step is a must and will save you from the terror of issuing mass refunds due to quality complaints down the road.

Pay attention to the supplier’s reviews regarding fulfillment times. Make sure they can handle large order volumes in a timely manner.

Step 3: Set up a Shopify store. Create an eye-catching image for social media.

As we discussed earlier, it’s important that your image doesn’t look like an ad and is relevant to your audience’s interests.

I strongly suggest including a human being in your image. After all, humans relate best to other humans.
Step 4: Set up a time-limited repost campaign. Ask everyone you know to post about it, or buy shout-outs from large themed accounts.

Your campaign should look something like this:

“For the next X hours, everyone who reposts this image on Instagram and tags us in the post will get a free [product]. Must be following us to be eligible.”

Sunny Co ran their campaign for 24 hours. You can run yours for however long you want.

Just keep in mind: shorter campaigns create more urgency, which yields better results.

If you have an existing following or an active social circle you can leverage, you may be able to pull this off with $0 ad spend.

If not, DM themed accounts on Instagram and buy at least $500 worth of ads.
Step 5: Go viral and profit.

There are a lot of variable components here, like how good your branding is, how appealing your product is, and how attractive your images are.

So it goes without saying your results will vary.

But as Sunny Co demonstrated, knowing your audience stacks the odds in your favor. Hit on all the right points with your branding and messaging and there’s no reason you can’t experience a similar level of success.



Understanding the Framework

At the end of the day, the key is understanding the power of the “free for a limited time” model.

In the brick and mortar days, companies used this method to get visitors to their store. Their goal was to get customers to also buy other items while they were there, which is how they made money.

In today’s global economy, however, it’s now possible to make money directly off the product you’re “giving away,” because many products can be sourced from overseas for pennies on the dollar.

The entire Internet just advertised for them — and still is

Most of us have heard the adage, “No publicity is bad publicity.” While there are some cases this certainly isn’t true (looking at you, United Airlines), that’s not the case with this situation.

Within 24 hours of starting the contest, thousands of major Instagram/Twitter influencers were posting about this — whether paid shout-outs or simply memes making fun of everyone else posting.

Before long, hundreds of major news accounts began covering the story, and hundreds of thousands of comments were being left about the giveaway — both good and bad. Regardless, this company was certainly now in the spotlight of both consumers and other massive brands (and maybe even the FTC), meaning ridiculous amounts of traffic were being sent their way.

Regarding the potential FTC attention, the one area Sunny Co Clothing poorly executed was delivering a clear and consistent set of terms and conditions for the contest, as some screenshots suggest they changed their terms multiple times during the giveaway process:

Take a look at Rule #3, stating “…we reserve the right to cap the promotion if deemed necessary.” Given this was not clearly stated at the beginning of the contest, this could certainly raise some questions from the feds, especially after the FTC’s recent announcement to crack down on unethical social media advertising practices.

Targeted demographic data and followers will be invaluable

Potential fines aside, it’s clear that the real win here for Sunny Co Clothing wasn’t in the relatively small amount of money they made, but rather the data they collected from a highly targeted niche of women interested in buying clothing online — specifically swimsuits.

Considering that the going rate in 2017 for targeted email lists is between $200–400 CPM (cost per mille, or thousand impressions), with even 50,000 email addresses collected they’re looking another $10,000 minimum for every business they sell those to. When dealing with large retail brands, such as Victoria’s Secret, this cost is something marketing teams are willing to pay at the drop of a hat.

Now, what about that massive Instagram following? While “shout outs” and influencer marketing promos have been around for a few years now, they’ve certainly become popular with massive brands more recently — raking in some massive cashflows for those in charge of these accounts.

Given that the going rate for an “influencer” page to create a post promoting someone else’s product or service is about $1 per 1,000 followers (based on my experience in the industry), the folks over at Sunny Co Clothing are looking at a minimum of $700 for EVERY single promoted post. Even if they only posted one a day, that could equate to over $250,000 a year.

Worst-case scenario, even if Sunny Co Clothing somehow goes under as a result of this stunt, there’s nothing stopping them from selling their Instagram account on the “black market” (given it’s against Instagram’s terms of service) for an outrageous amount of money. Knowing their engagement and number of active followers, they would easily be able to pull in anywhere from $30–50k for an account of that size.

In the end — was it a win?

While they’ve yet to stand the true test of time and begin fulfilling these orders, Sunny Co Clothing certainly has the potential to pull off a massive “W” as a result of this scenario. Even if they were to be hit with massive FTC fines and forced to close their “doors,” they’re set up now with a large number of cash-positive exit strategies resulting from their massive social media following.

The major takeaway here is that viral marketing and growth hacking social media is certainly not dead — you just need a bit of strategy and good luck. Even with major follower-building tools such as Instagress recently shut down, digital marketers are still left with plenty of opportunities to grow their brands’ followings.

With that said, don’t be surprised if you see a large number of strategy copycats popping up over the coming weeks, such as this towel company (who were smart enough to cap the number of giveaway items at least):

In the Wild Wild West of Instagram, it’s not surprising they even stole their photo:

As mentioned earlier, this marketing strategy is nothing new, and certainly presents opportunities for retailers with cheaply produced goods to creatively target new consumers. However, bear in mind that a good number of people will now realize that pair of “luxury” sunglasses you normally sell for $79 only costs you a few bucks to produce.

Björn Borg | Björn Borg Party Training

Insight

Björn Borg is Swedish for “David”.

The sportswear category is dominated with brands like Nike and Adidas, world-renowned titans of both the category and marketing. Björn Borg also makes sportswear, but it has established itself primarily for its line of underwear. Unfortunately for Björn Borg, a trend of personal training has swept through its core markets and the hype and pretentiousness behind these global giants of sportswear came along with it.

Björn Borg was set up for a David vs. Goliath clash against these sportswear makers in its own backyard, but these global giants sell performance and winning for a living and aren’t used to losing. They play a game where the odds are in their favour. But as they invaded Björn Borg’s territory, Starcom Mediavest Group wanted to show them that Björn Borg sportswear plays something different altogether.

Strategy

Choice: “Winning” or “Winning and Looking Good”.

The goal most people have when they train or work out is to look good – a trim physique and big muscles are more attractive than the alternative. They’re trying to impress others outside of the gym and while they’re at the gym as well. Having the right swag and fit of apparel is as essential as knowing the latest exercises and dietary supplements. But Björn Borg, with its heritage from sport, knows that although the clothes are essential it’s the psychology of how you feel that’s even more important.

These people have a separate goal than just trying to win, so SMG wanted to make Björn Borg sportswear stand for something else besides coming out on top and created the idea of “party training.”

Working out requires people to have free time which can also be spent enjoying oneself as well. Essentially, “Should I train or should I party?” It created true value and empowered them to do both.

Execution

What You’re Really Training For: To Party

The agency teamed up with online party and training enthusiast Ron Allen to create the world's first Party Trainer. It wanted people to realise that their real motivation for training is to look good when you go out to have fun with others.

To show its new sportswear collection in a cool way across all markets, SMG made the Björn Borg Tumblr page the hub for Party Training. It created a series of instructional videos of Ron Allen instructing people in how to Party Train — dressed in Björn Borg sportswear, of course. Tumblr even helped to re-skin the page and loved the design so much that the brand was able to editorially promote its videos on its home page.

With Björn Borg’s devoted fans ready and willing to spread the message, SMG created a way to let them create gifs of their Party Training by using LoopCam. This smart phone application captures and makes moveable images allowed fans to share their personal Party Training routine with one click to the Party Training hub. The reward? A chance to win a Party Training for a full year and a collection of the new Björn Borg sportswear.

Results

Under assault from the Goliaths of the sportswear industry, Björn Borg proved that Party Training was the way to go, with sales skyrocketing over 25% internationally.

Virally, it generated over 2.5 million views of the instructional videos and over 60,000 unique visitors to the Party Training tumblr page.

The Party Training moves have been shared more than 40,000 times on Tumblr. And, it received enormous press coverage, equal to €350,000 ($479,000) in its target communities (fitness, fashion, gay, students).

Most importantly, people are having more fun combining partying and training.

BRAND:

Björn Borg

CATEGORIES:

Accessories/Clothing/Footwear

Sport/Leisure

REGION:

Europe

DATE:

October - December 2012

AGENCY:

Starcom Mediavest

MEDIA CHANNEL:

Digital,Online

NET-A-PORTER| Net-a-Porter Live

Insight

NET-A-PORTER is a global phenomenon and the world’s premier online retailer of high end fashion. It sells more Gucci dresses, Louboutin stilettos and Chloe handbags than any other retailer in the world.

Its customer base is the world’s most in-touch connected fashion audience. The NET-A-PORTER audience consists of grade-A fashionistas with both the passion and the funds to buy the most sought-after premium brands in the world. While they may enjoy reading about the latest trends in magazines and online, what they love most is finding out what their peers are buying – no matter where they are based in the world. Ultimately, they want to know what people actually wear, not just what they see on the catwalk and what retailers show them.

Strategy

To help NET-A-PORTER fashionistas uncover what their peers are wearing around the globe, Havas Media decided to open up the NET-A-PORTER buying engine to consumers and, in doing so, showcase the world’s hottest fashion trends.

The agency transformed the NET-A-PORTER ecommerce site into a content generation platform, revealing the styles that are trending around the world based on what NET-A-PORTER customers are buying in real-time. The result was NET-A-PORTER Live - which enabled NET-A-PORTER shoppers to see which Lanvin shoes are selling in Paris compared to London or Rome as they are purchased on the site.

Execution

The first step was to fuse Google Maps API with NET-A-PORTER’s database of customers and stock codes, allowing the agency to match the product being purchased with the location of the buyer. NET-A-PORTER staff and consumers alike could then watch in real time as a shopper from Helsinki in Finland bought a Mulberry dress, while another in Saudi Arabia splashed out on a Valentino handbag.

The next stage was to share this mesmerising feature with potential new customers. The NET-A-PORTER Live feed was integrated into online banners in five key markets with partners including Vogue, Tatler and Harper’s Bazaar. The high-net-worth visitors to these websites could see the live Google Map in the display banner, showing the latest fashion purchases by their peers across the globe. Those who saw the NET-A-PORTER Live Feed in a display banner were then able to browse items in the ad unit and ultimately make a purchase.

Results

The NET-A-PORTER Live campaign set the brand apart from its luxury retail competitors and raised the bar for online customer experiences. It delivered an ROI of £11 ($18) for every £1 ($1.67) spent, with a click-through rate of 50% a marked improvement on usual performance. The creative also proved 70% more efficient than the average in terms of engagement. A remarkable 60% of all sales driven by the campaign were from new buyers. To put into terms a NET-A-PORTER customer would understand, the total additional revenue generated was the equivalent of 2,500 pairs of Jimmy Choos or 1,700 Prada handbags.

BRAND: Net-A-Porter

BRAND OWNER: Richemont

CATEGORIES:

Accessories/Clothing/Footwear

Luxury Goods

REGION:

Australia

France

Germany

Russia

United Kingdom

DATE: August - October 2013

AGENCY: Havas Media

MEDIA CHANNEL: Online

Jack & Jones Fitness Club

Using sex to sell isn't innovative, but the clever addition of a VIP club to persuade even casual viewers to submit personal information takes advantage of the viral potential of the site.

A campaign that uses overtly sexual imagery to drive consumer engagement. It isn't big, and it isn't clever, but this online fitness studio that promotes the spring/summer collection from men's fashion brand Jack & Jones provides hours of entertainment.

Jack & Jones is a brand for the fashion-conscious man about town. Positioned toward the premium end of the crowded high street category, it's important for a brand like J&J to keep men interested. Unsurprising then, that J&J decided the best course of action was to treat the boys to a pretty lady who would cavort about on their computer screens.

Visitors to the Jack & Jones Fitness studio first of all choose their look from the collections on offer. Based on the premise of teach the user some exercises that will help get them in the best shape to show off their new outfit, a helpful gym instructor shows the lucky online shopper some helpful moves. In her pants.

The premise is simple, slightly ridiculous but excellently realised digitally.

Visitors who want to see more can visit the VIP club, with the promise of more gym class demonstrations. A pass to the VIP club can be obtained by purchasing product or submitting some personal details to a mailing list.

Once in the VIP section, the Jack & Jones instructor offers classes in skipping, pole dancing and trampolining.  As an extra treat, the viewer can switch on options, such as slow-motion or water, to add to the experience.

An associated Jack & Jones Fitness Studio iPhone app replicates the experience for mobile, helping users to "get in shape and ready for action".

BRAND:Jack & Jones

BRAND OWNER:Bestseller A/S

CATEGORY:Accessories/Clothing/Footwear

REGION:DenmarkFinlandGermanyThe NetherlandsNorwaySwedenUnited Kingdom

DATE:June 2011 - ongoing