The Toronto Blue Jays are affectionately known as Canada’s Team. Rogers has owned the team since 2000.
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Company: Rogers
Entry submitted by: Margaret Tsuji (Senior Manager, Social Media Support) and Melanie Reiffenstein (Brand Manager, Social Media)
Community/Social Channels: Communityforums.rogers.com, twitter.com/rogershelps, twitter.com/rogersfr, twitter.com/rogersvousaide, twitter.com/rogersbiz, twitter.com/rogersaffaires, facebook.com/rogers, facebook.com/rogersforbusiness, facebook.com/rogerspouraffaires
Lithy category: Surprise & Delight
The Toronto Blue Jays are affectionately known as Canada’s Team. Rogers has owned the team since 2000. The Jays became the first team outside the US to appear in and win a World Series in 1993. The team clinched a playoff berth and division championship in 2015 and 2016. The team topped the American League in attendance in 2016 with over 3.3 million, followed by the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels.
During Blue Jays away games, we aired a Lower Third television ad avail that spoke to the benefits of Roam Like Home with Rogers. With over 40 away games a season, Roam Like Home is a fantastic roaming option that lets customers use their device just like they do at home (and being the only team in Canada, away games mean die-hard fans are always traveling to the United States).
Without their knowledge, we kept an eye on Canadian Blue Jays fans who posted on Instagram while at away games throughout the season, as seen in these examples:
Using social listening tools like Lithium Social Media Management (SMM) and public profile information, we affirmed if the social media users were Rogers customers, and then surprised/delighted them with Blue Jays ‘swag’, specifically Jays baseball caps, a replica Martin jersey, a bobble-head and a hand-written thank you note from the Rogers team, as seen in the example below:
Goal, strategy and tactics
Our strategy was specifically and exclusively surprise and delight. In no way did we ask for participation in this activation, nor did we specify that any participants could receive any swag or prizes. This way, we could avoid any legal rules or regulations and genuinely surprise those who took part with prizes that meant something very real to them.
As a large telecommunications company in Canada, we often hear negative things on social media. The strategy to surprise and delight customers on social media was fueled by this, and we wanted to use our channels for a completely selfless and customer-first activation.
We used social listening tools to find users who were sharing photos at ‘away’ Blue Jays games, and then found out if they were customers using our secure, internal tools. We then liked their photos and asked them in a public if they could send us a DM because we loved their image.
When they made contact with us, we would surprise them by telling them that we had a special gift to share, in thanks for using Roam Like Home at an away Jays game.
The Results
This was an organic activation. We surprised approximately 15 unknowing customers with prizes and they were all extremely happy with the result. We also encouraged them to share an image of the giveaway on social when they received it (but never pressured or indicated that they had to do so).
We do not have sentiment/brand impact on this as the numbers were very small, but we know how happy the surprised customers were and will continue to leverage this strategy for upcoming social activations.
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