“Let’s turn customers’ shopping carts into improvised videos.” It’s an idea so brilliantly quirky as to border on insane – but Jet.com’s one-day branding spectacular is one of the best examples of integrated marketing communications in action I’ve seen recently.
The premise of the campaign, called #JetSpree, was simple but groundbreaking. One day only, during predefined hours, Jet.com asked shoppers for permission to turn their shopping carts into what they called “on-the-spot video.” In essence, their purchases would be used as the inspiration for videos involving double dutch jump roping, a barbershop quartet, pantomime, yodeling, improv comedy, dancing toys and even a turtle. The videos were then shared on YouTube and social media during the event.
#JetSpree’s primary goal seems to have been increasing brand awareness. Few consumers have heard of Jet.com, since it launched less than two months ago. But with high hopes of becoming a serious contender for Amazon’s share of attention – and sales – Jet.com has to act fast to spread the word, and in memorable ways. To set the stage, Jet.com sent out an e-mail to its existing customers proclaiming they were “celebrating your smarter shopping today” with the #JetSpree event. They invited their customers to kick things off and follow the results on YouTube. Ahead of the day, they also used organic search and SEM to boost the signal of a number of fun television ad spots and display ads.
From then on, #JetSpree was a collaborative effort between the crowd – customers shopping on Jet.com – and the company, who quickly churned out videos like yodeling about deodorant. In a way, it was reminiscent of Old Spice’s wildly successful YouTube video campaign, where Isaiah Mustafa answered fan questions in character as The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, filming each response in the famous commercial set. But #JetSpree was a faster and more spontaneous phenomenon.
The production quality was excellent given the time constraints under which performers and editors were operating. Take Gerald’s “bike stuff” for example:
Between the hours of 9am and 7pm, 379 orders were placed, resulting in an impressive 50 videos. The videos were shared on YouTube, Twitter and beyond – and picked up steam as users discovered their shopping carts had been featured, and shared the videos with their own networks. Additionally, Jet.com purchased advertising on both Facebook and Twitter to help promote the event. And #JetSpree will live on in retargeted ads on major sites like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Jet.com isn’t done with #JetSpree. Next week they promise giveaways inspired by shopping carts and more video action.
And while I’m impressed with the orchestration of many different channels that created the #JetSpree buzz, what makes it excellent IMC is its basis in getting to know their customers, and letting their customers get to know them. Jet.com clearly knew their demographic would be tuned in to video as a medium, and appreciate a heavy dose of humor and, occasionally, absurdity. They also were willing to bet their customers would pay to play, so to speak. The videos celebrated not just the contents of carts, but the contents of carts that led to purchases. Jet.com banked not only on the personalities of their customers, but on their loyalty. It worked. Now the world is discovering the personality of Jet.com, too.
Time will tell how far #JetSpree and its related campaigns have propagated the message about Jet.com’s arrival on a deeply competitive online shopping landscape. But for now, #JetSpree is an impressive and concrete example of how aligning knowledge, goals and tactics can make IMC magic.
