Twitter Next, the creative wing of Twitter, and Contagious, a creative and strategic service, is helping marketers, agencies and brands to create successful ad campaigns. Rishabh Sharma, Head of Twitter Next, Twitter India talks about the importance of focusing on human-centric ideas, while Katrina Dodd, Head of Trends, Contagious, speaks about the significance of audience participation for effective campaigns.
LEARNINGS FROM SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS:
“Recent ad campaigns like #JerseyKnowsNoGender of Uber India, Spotify India’s initiative to create a song for every mood and emotion, and International House of Pancakes’ (IHOP) stunt to change their Twitter handle to IHOb were successful because they started an online conversation,” Sharma states. He adds that these campaigns were effective because they targeted a human-centric issue that got people talking. “It is all about speaking to a human and not to a brand,” he notes.
Going beyond ad campaigns: Sharma goes on to illustrate how brands can create impact when they go beyond standard formats and messaging. OnePlus did that with the #OxygenOS campaign. “Smartphone brand OnePlus celebrated 1,500 days of their OxygenOS in September by partnering with WWF India and Twitter Next. For every single tweet with #OxygenOS, OnePlus designed a campaign to plant a tree and within 24 hours, we saw over 22,000 tweets,” Sharma explains.
CREATING HOLISTIC MARKETING CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES
“We work with marketers, right from the ideation and collaboration process to building a Twitter-centric idea and finally providing marketers with a holistic campaign strategy. Many brands use Twitter to launch products or connect with what’s happening. We serve as a platform focusing on what’s next in the conversation,” says Sharma.
WHY BRANDS SHOULD NOT LEAVE CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT TO CHANCE:
Adding that brands need to recognise that audience participation cannot be taken for granted, Dodd of Contagious points out, “The challenge for brands is to stop the scrolling on social media platforms and make people actually stop, read and talk. Brands need to focus on campaigns based on issues that people care about and find a connection to facilitate engagement.”
