- January 22, 2015
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Tillamook Whisper Campaign Wins Top Award by Screaming ‘Creativity’
Psssst. Here’s a little secret.
Sometimes simply talking to customers, not shouting at them, is the best way to get their attention–and in the process, perhaps win an award for integrated marketing creativity.
Such was the case recently with the Tillamook County Creamery Association’s small but highly focused “Late Night Comfort Call” campaign, which won top honors for the 100-member Oregon dairy co-op at EXHIBITOR Magazine’s prestigious 2014 Corporate Event Award Show.
Big Aspirations. Small Budget.
Tillamook’s road to recognition began at Feast Portland, one of North America’s largest and most acclaimed food festivals. Tillamook’s goal was to get 200 top food industry influencers, mostly well-known chefs, food critics and media reps, to sample, write about and tweet reactions to (using @TillamookCheese and #ComfortCall) the co-op’s deliciously creamy cheddar cheese, during or after the bustling four-day event.
Winning by Whispering
During the festivities, Tillamook’s biggest challenge was being heard over the din of deep-pocket competitors’ loud, logo-laden sponsorships. So instead of trying to outshout the bigger brands, Tillamook and its agency, Portland’s Henry V, fashioned what it called a ‘whisper’ campaign, which, though fresh and highly creative, was driven by a strategy that some marketers might consider risky.
“We analyzed the event, looking for any time… when the bigger brands quieted down,” said Henry V managing director, Katja Asaro. “The only time they weren’t barking was between
11 p.m. and 3 a.m.” Obviously the timeframe less than ideal but the team quickly got to work designing a campaign to get cheese into the hands (and mouths) of its 200 targeted influencers.
Late Night Comfort Call
After painstakingly tracking down all 200 of them, Tillamook marketers personally handed each a highly branded flip-style “Tillaphone,” which came preloaded with an hour of talk and texting time and instructions on how to obtain the campaign giveaway: comfort food–a made-to-order grilled cheese sandwich, oozing with rich, creamy Tillamook cheddar, and delivered in-person between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Recipients had but to push their Tillaphone’s preprogrammed speed-dial button and give their location to summon a friendly Tillamook staffer bearing their customized gourmet goodness.
Results of the Social Driven Campaign
Tillamook says it exceeded its ‘Comfort Call’ goals by a large margin, delivering more than double its targeted number of made-to-order sandwiches (likely to influencer friends and colleagues) and garnering nearly 29 million social media impressions–roughly 34 percent more than expected. Total budget: $49,000.
Small Business Takeaway
There’s no substitute for knowing your audience, developing and sticking to a good, sound strategy, and executing it to perfection with energy, enthusiasm and creativity. Also, realizing that when everyone else is shouting, it may be your time to whisper.
And speaking of integrated marketing that’s original, fresh and fun, check out how one company made history with the world’s first Tweet to Eat Twitter powered vending machines.
