We wanted to build an emotional connection with this group of customers and showcase a more human and fun brand personality.
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Entry submitted by: Stephen Arnold (Strategy Manager)
Social channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Lithy category: Surprise & Delight
Woolworths is Australia’s largest supermarket chain. Operating 961 stores across Australia, Woolworths relies on the 111,000 team members in stores, distribution centers and support offices to provide our customers with superior service, range, value and convenience.
How our social promotion started
Since June 2016 a highly active group of customers on Facebook have been asking Woolworths on social media if we sell a product called ‘steamed hams’.
This is an in-joke in certain Facebook communities and groups that references a skit from 1996 episode of ‘The Simpsons’.
On one day in June alone, we received over 1,000 questions from customers. We were not the only retailer to receive these questions, but using Lithium Social Media Management (SMM) for Service, we were able to quickly quantify the volume and gauge the customer sentiment to identify what to do next.
The trend was escalated to our social media team to craft a response to this audience that would go beyond this group’s expectations.
Our goal, strategy and tactics
The goal was to re-engage this audience with content that would actively address the joke they’re playing on us and take it to another level beyond their expectations. We wanted to build an emotional connection with this group of customers and showcase a more human and fun brand personality.
In short, the brief was to create a piece of memorable content with a sense of humour that our community managers could engage with further.
We did this by…
- Creating video content that captures the intended audience’s attention
- Creation of other video assets that can be used in further conversation and moderation (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zd5CB-eEk)
- Use of talent that resonates with this audience and can deliver the jokes with authenticity
https://www.facebook.com/woolworths/videos/1253326524739476/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa36caiCML4
The results
The immediate customer response was overwhelmingly positive as soon as we posted it to our Facebook page. It drove a positive conversation with customers in exactly the way we intended through the surprise that we addressed the trend and took it beyond their expectations.
The content also led to customers creating their own memes across social media and in multiple Facebook groups...
As the content was shared across social media, it caught the attention of the original writer of ‘The Simpson’s’ Bill Oakley…
.@woolworths in Aus made this Simpsons reference-loaded video about cooking Steamed Hams (where are my royalties?) https://t.co/VJ6o4Krf7e
This led to a wave of industry and international press writing about the video including…
International Business Times: http://www.ibtimes.com.au/simpsons-writer-comments-woolworths-facebook-video-about-steamed-hams-1532...
AdNews: http://www.adnews.com.au/woolworths-responds-to-trolls
Mashable: http://mashable.com/2016/11/01/supermarket-video-simpsons-references/#enj7GT8WOqqS
Chattr: http://chattr.com.au/2016/11/04/woolies-steamed-hams/
Some performance stats include...
- Best performing video on Facebook to date in terms of audience retention. Over 65% of viewers watched to the end.
- Over 500k video views on Facebook alone
- Shared over 2,100 times, particularly within Facebook groups and by other pages.
- Over 4,500 comments, all of which positive and praising the brand
- Our comments in response to other customers alone received a total over 6,000 likes.
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