2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

#TheOneToFollow was our Instagram-based direct marketing campaign intended to create awareness, and generate positive conversations about, the X-Trail. We selected six of the UAE’s most influential Instagram bloggers to participate. Each was given a 2015 X-Trail (before it was publicly available) and sent on an all-terrain road trip across beaches, over mountaintops, and through sandy deserts. We incentivized our bloggers to share their experiences with their Instagram followers; points were awarded every time a user comment included a strategically chosen trigger word, such as “wow”, or “exciting.” Essentially, we had the top Instagrammers all competing to create brand advocacy for X-Trail amongst their personal networks. Through this campaign, we built relationships with our target demographic by leveraging our social influencers’ networks. Within only 6 hours, and without any paid support, we reached over 1.8 million people and received over 25,000 social media interactions.

Creative Execution

The creative execution was effective in the UAE (our target market) for a total of the six-hour road-trip. This short timeframe incentivized our influencers to get competitive fast! Once our Instagrammers had their personalized X-Trail keys in their hand, they set off on their journey following the directions we provided. At each stop, they were required to capture a memorable moments with the X-Trail to share with their followers. Through their unique and engaging images, the Instagrammers worked to solicit the highest number of positive conversation surrounding the X-Trail and in turn create mass awareness and brand advocacy.

Results

In just six hours (and without any paid support), #TheOneToFollow campaign reached 1.8 million people, and generated 25,000 social media interactions. Nissan’s Instagram handle saw a 32% organic increase in followers. Most exciting was that the campaign generated thousands of comments (19,000 overall) in which followers exclaimed brand advocacy by utilizing our carefully selected trigger words. Ultimately, we successfully positioned Nissan as a brand that is “innovative and exciting”, and drove positive sentiment about the X-Trail. We targeted consumers in the top-half of the purchase funnel (“Awareness”, “Opinion”, “Consideration”) and quickly moved them down the funnel, towards positive “Preference.”