Bras Across the Internet

A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media.



                                                           Summary

                                                           Our wedü social media and interactive teams wanted to create a
                                                           Facebook application for a cause that had a chance of going viral to
                                                           accomplish two objectives- 1) to show non-profits that it doesn’t take
                                                           enormous advertising budgets to reach a global audience with your
                                                           cause; and 2) to fine tune our methods of launch, outreach and publicity
                                                           to identify the ‘right formula’ of each so that we could apply these
                                                           methods to future client campaigns.

                                                           In Bras Across the Internet, we accomplished both objectives- and in a
                                                           big way.

                                                           Challenge
                                                
                                                           Our Team faced the same challenges that any developer has when you
                                                           would like to see a Facebook application go viral. The first challenge was
                                                           to identify the theme of the application and what it actually did. Secondly,
                                                           we needed to figure out how to properly launch the application and gain
                                                           enough attention to light the spark that would send its user count up
                                                           exponentially.



                                            wedü | 20 market st | Manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
 

Bras Across the Internet

A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media.


                                                                        Strategy

                                                                        We chose breast cancer awareness primarily because a
                                                                        number of our Team members had been touched by the
                                                                        disease and it was something that impacted so many lives
                                                                        across the world. It seemed like something that the Facebook
                                                                        community would embrace and support. The idea of posting
                                                                        bras to Facebook walls came to us from combining two past
                                                                        breast cancer awareness marketing initiatives that we
                                                                        thought were good ideas- Bras Across the River: an event in
                                                                        early September 2010 that was sponsored by a local radio
                                                                        station; and the bra color status meme that went around
                                                                        Facebook in early January 2010. We thought that it would be
                                                                        fun to combine the two concepts and create an application
                                                                        that allowed you to select you bra color and then “send” it
                                                                        across the Internet by posting it on your Facebook wall.
                                                               
                                                                        Once the application was concepted, designed and built, we
                                                                        decided to launch it softly early to supplement the Bras
                                                                        Across the River event and then promote it heavily at the
                                                                        beginning of October, which was Breast Cancer Awareness
                                                                        Month.


                                           wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
 

Bras Across the Internet

A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media.

                                                                     Strategy (continued)

                                                                     Some of the methods our Social Media and Public Relations
                                                                     teams executed for the application included: creating a Twitter
                                                                     account (@brasxfb) and building a strong following in advance of
                                                                     the launch; contacting the most social media influencers in the
                                                                     breast cancer awareness community and pitching the application
                                                                     to them; posting a link to the application on some of the well
                                                                     “liked” breast cancer awareness Facebook Pages; asking well-
                                                                     known Twitter personalities to Tweet about the application;
                                   
                                                                     sending out press releases about the daily growth in users; and
                                                                     creating a couple of small Facebook advertisements that ran for
                                                                     a few days at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

                                                                     As with any good development team, we solicited advice from
                                                                     our users and implemented change when it made sense. One
                                                                     major “tweak” that we did to the application post-launch was to
                                                                     add a T-Shirt option to the array of bra choices. This was done in
                                                                     response to the high number of males that told us they would
                                                                     like to participate, but didn’t feel too comfortable posting a bra to
                                                                     their wall.

                                                               


                                           wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
 

Bras Across the Internet

A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media.


                                                                      Results

                                                                      Bras Across the Internet quickly became a global
                                                                      phenomenon. In the first four days after the hard launch, the
                                                                      application garnered 150,000 users. Using the standard of an
                                                                      average of 300 friends per Facebooker, an estimated 45 million
                                                                      people had our application show up in their news feed.

                                                                      In addition to the application usage, another impressive
                                                                      development was that the application page organically became
                                                                      a memory wall for almost 9,000 users to leave messages of
                                                                      remembrance, survival and hope. This page took on a
                                                                      community feel with users were commenting on other user’s
                                                                      posts with their own bit of encouragement.

                                                                      To date, the application still continues to grow exponentially
                                                                      and is sure to eclipse all expectations of usage. The impact
                                                                      Bras Across the Internet has had on the Breast Cancer
                                                                      Awareness community is immeasurable and is sure to have a
                                                                      lasting impact. 

                                                            



                                           wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338

Bras across the internet case study

  • 1.
      Bras Across theInternet A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media. Summary Our wedü social media and interactive teams wanted to create a Facebook application for a cause that had a chance of going viral to accomplish two objectives- 1) to show non-profits that it doesn’t take enormous advertising budgets to reach a global audience with your cause; and 2) to fine tune our methods of launch, outreach and publicity to identify the ‘right formula’ of each so that we could apply these methods to future client campaigns. In Bras Across the Internet, we accomplished both objectives- and in a big way. Challenge   Our Team faced the same challenges that any developer has when you would like to see a Facebook application go viral. The first challenge was to identify the theme of the application and what it actually did. Secondly, we needed to figure out how to properly launch the application and gain enough attention to light the spark that would send its user count up exponentially. wedü | 20 market st | Manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
  • 2.
      Bras Across theInternet A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media. Strategy We chose breast cancer awareness primarily because a number of our Team members had been touched by the disease and it was something that impacted so many lives across the world. It seemed like something that the Facebook community would embrace and support. The idea of posting bras to Facebook walls came to us from combining two past breast cancer awareness marketing initiatives that we thought were good ideas- Bras Across the River: an event in early September 2010 that was sponsored by a local radio station; and the bra color status meme that went around Facebook in early January 2010. We thought that it would be fun to combine the two concepts and create an application that allowed you to select you bra color and then “send” it across the Internet by posting it on your Facebook wall.   Once the application was concepted, designed and built, we decided to launch it softly early to supplement the Bras Across the River event and then promote it heavily at the beginning of October, which was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
  • 3.
      Bras Across theInternet A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media. Strategy (continued) Some of the methods our Social Media and Public Relations teams executed for the application included: creating a Twitter account (@brasxfb) and building a strong following in advance of the launch; contacting the most social media influencers in the breast cancer awareness community and pitching the application to them; posting a link to the application on some of the well “liked” breast cancer awareness Facebook Pages; asking well- known Twitter personalities to Tweet about the application;   sending out press releases about the daily growth in users; and creating a couple of small Facebook advertisements that ran for a few days at the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As with any good development team, we solicited advice from our users and implemented change when it made sense. One major “tweak” that we did to the application post-launch was to add a T-Shirt option to the array of bra choices. This was done in response to the high number of males that told us they would like to participate, but didn’t feel too comfortable posting a bra to their wall.   wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338
  • 4.
      Bras Across theInternet A campaign to prove that cause marketing can bypass the expense of an international advertising campaign by leveraging social media. Results Bras Across the Internet quickly became a global phenomenon. In the first four days after the hard launch, the application garnered 150,000 users. Using the standard of an average of 300 friends per Facebooker, an estimated 45 million people had our application show up in their news feed. In addition to the application usage, another impressive development was that the application page organically became a memory wall for almost 9,000 users to leave messages of remembrance, survival and hope. This page took on a community feel with users were commenting on other user’s posts with their own bit of encouragement. To date, the application still continues to grow exponentially and is sure to eclipse all expectations of usage. The impact Bras Across the Internet has had on the Breast Cancer Awareness community is immeasurable and is sure to have a lasting impact.    wedü | 20 market st | manchester, nh 03101 | 603.647.9338