Many brands try to own a moment, in some form or fashion, and we have learned there is definitely an art and science to making this work. Some brands have deep pockets; some don’t. Some brands have celebrity talent; some don’t. Some brands have incredible stories to tell; some don’t. Successfully owning the moment requires all elements of a campaign to have an equal part of the limelight. At the same time, being able to react as quickly as possible to changes mid-flight cannot be understated. So how do we put this into action?
Successfully owning the moment requires all elements of a campaign to have an equal part of the limelight.
Plan to Be Present in the Moment
Beats by Dre brought their agencies together to execute on-the-ground plans around two totally different moments in the past few months. With the help of our partners at Laundry Service and Havas, we created a brand “war room” on the ground in London around the Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko fight in April. In May, we paired up with Ultra Super New and LDH in Tokyo for Beats’ “For The Love of Music” event known as Tokyo Takeover.
Know Your Audience
Tokyo is the world’s second largest music market and home to a massive audience of music lovers. With the goal of reaching this audience and lifting overall brand awareness in Tokyo, Beats created Tokyo Takeover to prove music and culture are at the core of the Beats brand with three days of music programming featuring top global and local music talent. By working with popular Japanese artists and influencers, Beats was able to leverage their local and global platforms to connect with the local music lovers and audiophiles of Tokyo.
Image source @beatsbydreuk
In London, we knew that people even remotely interested in the AJ fight would be joining the conversation on social, looking up stats on ESPN or watching pre-game content on SkySports – so we made sure that they saw the Beats brand on and around any Anthony Joshua content across the web. This is where high impact digital takeovers really come into play. Whether it’s a Twitter First View the day before the main event or an ESPN homepage takeover on game day, find a way to put your brand front and center of the conversation in places where they are already happening.
Take Advantage of Being on the Ground
Image source @beatsbydrejp
The role of a digital agency like PMG is, of course, to be ready to support moments across social and with digital partnerships that align to the event. But being on the ground also helps us shape real time decisions that speak to the audience. For Tokyo Takeover, being backstage and demonstrating unprecedented access led to huge success by being able to post and promote live coverage of the music events in real-time.
For Anthony Joshua, footage from his pre-fight warm up was being cut into videos moments before we shared them across all channels.
Plan For Different Scenarios
When activating around real-time moments, especially sports moments, it’s imperative to plan for different scenarios. What if they win? What if they lose? How will we respond? To ensure full coverage and brand message alignment, we plan for at least three or four different scenarios and have a full roll-out plan for post-game activation.
In conclusion, the best way to own a moment is to make sure your brand aligns with a moment that your audience already identifies with and share reactive or real-time content to engage those users already talking about the moment or event. And, most importantly, do so in an organic and engaging way. Plan ahead, be present and make sure to have backup plans just in case they’re needed.