What do a human cannonball, a car-shaped wedding cake, and a wide-eyed #goalface have in common? They're just a few of the wild (and sometimes weird) ways that people show their love for brands on social media. Colin Stewart (Managing Director, West Coast) and Megan Hoelle (VP, Los Angeles) present an in-depth look at how to use social to stoke people's passions and create true fan brand experiences. From the Green Bay Packers to Ford, we’ll walk you through the makings of a fan brand—and show you why a strategic approach to social is worth the investment. Blue State Digital hosted this presentation during Social Media Week Los Angeles.

1. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 1
Building a Fan Brand!
Driving Loyalty on Social and Beyond!
#SMWLA!
September 22, 2014

2. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
Eat up, drink up, let’s chat.
1. What’s a fan brand?!
2. When is it a good idea?!
3. How do you do it?!
4. Let’s work together.!
!
!
!
!
!
Colin Stewart and Megan Hoelle!
Blue State Digital
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA
2

3. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
1
3
What’s a fan brand?

4. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
Focuses on engagement, not sales!
Keeps ’em warm between purchases!
!
Is fun on its own merits!
Revolves around real people
4
Afan brand:

5. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 5
It pays off in lots of ways.
Strengthens brand affinity!
Reaches new audiences!
Generates sales leads!
Creates ad opportunities!
Collects user-generated content!
Sweet Ninja Turtle costumes
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA

6. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 6
Agood fan brand looks like this…
Authenticity!
Acommunity of
real people…
Passion!
celebrating the
things they love…
Value!
with meaningful
experiences…
Fun!
and lots of
personality.
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA

7. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 7
…not this.
Remember when Walmart
tried to clone MySpace?
It didn’t end well.
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA
And now Fiat is trying really,
really hard to be “internetty.”
It’s also not working out.

8. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 8
Ultimately, you have to
respect your audience
and give them
something real.
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA

9. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
2
9
When to create one?

10. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 10
Afew questions to ask yourself
Is there an existing community to tap into?!
Is there positive brand sentiment to build on?!
Is there a connection to strategic objectives?!
Is there fodder for content and experiences?
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA

11. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
3
11
How do you do it?

12. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential© Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
Ford Social: Turning fan
stories into brand evangelism.
12

13. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
Ford Social was built to bring fiercely loyal fans together. !
And it was another way for Ford to talk about their cars and
trucks.
13

14. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
Fan brands are all about telling stories: !
Your brand story, in the voice of those who care about you.
14

15. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
People submitted their stories and identified with the brand through badges. !
We were able to target them based on their interests.
15

16. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
It wasn’t all about submitting stories…!
We engaged with the fans in all kinds of ways.
16

17. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential© Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 17
Green Bay Packers: Unite
fans around the world.

18. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 18
Ticket sales? Not an issue: every game has been sold out since 1960.!
But what are other ways to find revenue?

19. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 19
So we thought about the fans who couldn’t watch from Lambeau.!
How about recruiting bars from all 50 states to be official “Packers
Everywhere” bars? Over 2,000 bars to be exact.

20. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 20
We took what we learned from political campaigns:!
We helped fans feel like they were part of something bigger.

21. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 21
Fans could find their local game-watching spot through the site and app.!
We built a community where they could share stories and photos.

22. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 22
Lots of photos!

23. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 23
High fives and hollering – happy and invested Packers fans!
Results:
240,000 fans
signed up!
For the email list alone, and
many more engaged
through social.
Results:
750,000
searches!
People searched for bars
where they could watch
the games.
Results: 2,000
Bars recruited!
One in every state, and more
globally, from Quito to
Paris.

24. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential
4
24
Let’s work together.

25. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 25
Aquick exercise. (Make sure
you stretch.)
1) Take a familiar product.!
!
2)Answer three questions.!
!
3) Come up with a creative
concept.!
Building a Fan Brand #SMWLA
{
Is this a good candidate for a fan brand?!
Which strategic objectives would it support?!
Which social platforms to prioritize?

26. © Blue State Digital | Proprietary and Confidential 26
Ask us
anything.
sales@bluestatedigital.com