Pig on the internet

Like all good stories there needs to be an ending, and bacon barter made it. He made it all the way to sunny Los Angeles, only bartering with bacon.

The marketing plan was in my opinion a success, not only did he manage to deliver on the mission it embarked (to make it from New York to Los Angeles) It engaged with consumers on not only a fun way but in a pretty personal way as well. Consumers were open enough to allow a stranger in their house and be part of this marketing plan.

The campaign worked so well because all channels of communication had a streamlined message. That Oscar Mayer bacon was good enough to trade for goods in services in lieu of cash. 

Hi I’m Josh Sankey and you may remember me from such youtube videos that all contain bacon…..

Our bacon trail is set we are moving onwards and upwards , forward not backwards and always twirling twirling into the internet communication-sphere… In other words the campaign is gaining full speed.

Now as our campaign is a little closer towards the end, lets examine our spokes person during this adventure, Josh Sankey . Josh Sankey is an established American comedian that has been in films such as Zac and Miri make a porno and has even been on Oprah.

Oscar Mayer have used the  Josh Sankey brand, to leverage their company brand to be viewed as a light hearted humorous company. During this trip he has been the voice of the company in order to establish brand personality in this campaign. The consumer that participated have been down to earth, average people  who love bacon. Learn about sankey

Consumers are responding positively to this in fact, two people have even let him stay at their house for some bacon… 

stay at my house for bacon

And this little piggy made a complaint and was ignored….

To continue with the previous post, it is essential that we do not ignore consumers when they raise a complaint. The reason being is that if you ignored someone and they were standing in front of you discussing an issue, you would quite simply look rude..(or even worse people would think you’re uncouth ).  The same rules apply in the online community, especially when you’re a brand engaging with the online community

One company that has truly embraced the good the bad and the ugly that comes from engagement marketing is BodyForm. A uk based femine hygene brand that responded to  a cheeky facebook rant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Bpy75q2DDow

Now I understand its not possible to respond to every facebook rant, but when it is  the top comment on your youtube page, that’s when it becomes a priority. You don’t want the first comment to be a negative one. 

This little piggy went online and live

And our hero is off on a whirl wind adventure attempting to find pig loving Americans that are willing to provide goods and services for some very tasty bacon… (N.B I have never tried this bacon, but if I ever accepted payment in bacon, I’d like to think it be some dam good bacon.)

The first barter led to success in bartering bacon for tickets for “Jets Game”(I imagine this is a game where they throw pig skin around…) Now the second time around he bartered bacon for a cab ride in NYC, even though it went successful. It didn’t actually get a positive response from consumers….

Engagement marketing is highly popular because  consumers can become involved. Essentially these marketers want to create a nation of bacon lovers that will become loyal to the brand and spread the word about the deliciousness of Oscar Mayer bacon.

The cab ride for bacon video  did not yield a positive response from consumers, in fact a youtube user  AuburnAmazonArtist commented the following “Congratulations, Oscar Meyer, on moving forward with a marketing campaign that robbed fairly earned compensation from a low income bracket laborer that was pressured into agreeing to the deal because your camera was in his face. Well done. Seems fair and ethical.

I get the whole "bacon is even more awesome than money concept," but it's incredibly unfair to come to this agreement AFTER you've already started the meter running. Not cool, Oscar Meyer and marketing company.  Not cool”

Its comments like these that serves a reminder about the risk of engagement marketing. That now the consumer talks back, and sometimes its not so nice…

Oscar Mayer has not responded to this comment, which makes it all the worse.  But more on that on the next blog post!

Bacon Barter Taxi ride

TO BE CONTINUED