Applebee’s fans, rejoice. The restaurant chain is giving Vine users the shot at six seconds of fame
Friends and fans of Applebee’s (we’re looking at you, Chip) can be part of two new TV spots for the chain’s more diet-friendly “Under 550 Calories” menu if they capture their “unbelievable” reactions to the special menu items on Vine.
According to Jill McFarland, senior manager of digital and social media marketing at Applebee’s, the idea came from focus-group sessions for the lower-calorie menu.
“We didn’t tell them it was 550 calories until after, and their reactions were, ‘Oh my God, we can’t believe this,’ so we wanted to figure out how to capture that for the commercial,” said McFarland.
Applebee’s chose to use Vine as the video-submission format because of its six-second limitation and because Vines are easily shareable on Twitter. People who want a shot at getting their “OMG” face on TV have to record and post their reaction on Vine and share it on Twitter using the hashtag #BeeFamous. If Applebee’s likes your Vine, you will get a reply on Twitter from the Applebee’s account sending you to bee-famous.com to follow special instructions to verify your identity and eligibility to be featured in the ad.
This won’t be the first time a brand is putting Vine content on TV. Dunkin Donuts ran a TV ad last September during ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show featuring animated content posted to Vine from the brand. Airbnb also created an entire short film made up of submitted Vine clips. Submissions will be accepted until Jan. 26. Ultimately, four winners in total will be chosen, and two Vines will be featured in each of the two final TV spots. According to Applebee’s, so far there have been about 150 submissions, which is actually in line with what the brand expected at this point in the campaign — the call for submissions started on Dec. 30. From creating jingles to stop-motion drawings, People are definitely getting creative with their Vines.
“Compared to previous activations where we’ve tried to get fans to give us things in exchange for rewards like gift cards, this is completely outperforming,” said McFarland. “It’s the chance to be on TV that gets people really excited, and it doesn’t take much time to participate.”
Check the campaign site on Jan. 30 to see if your Vine is among the chosen ones.
Image from contestant Alysha Burney
-
Why digital clutter is driving brands to rethink the value of newspapers advertising
GE, Equinox, Take 5 Oil and agency TBWA New York are among those investing in newspaper ads to generate social media buzz in an ever-more cluttered digital environment.
-
The ‘retirement’ of M&M spokescandies raises questions about viral marketing, edgy content
Marketers have mixed feelings and questions about the value of viral, stunt marketing after M&M's "retirement" of its spokescandies.
-
With TikTok’s growing list of issues, should marketers think twice about the platform?
There is a growing list of issues that TikTok needs to resolve, but marketers seem unfazed and continue to be enthralled by the platform.
-
SponsoredHow publishers are fighting clickbait ads and protecting audiences
Sponsored by GeoEdge For publishers, delivering an engaging user experience is paramount to ensuring loyalty and safeguarding monetization opportunities. One major revenue channel for publishers is selling programmatic ads, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to control the quality of the ads that come through programmatic channels. As a result, clickbait, offensive and misleading ads are […]
-
How gaming companies like Ubisoft want to expand screen adaption after the success of HBO’s The Last of Us
The rise of video game adaptations is certainly good news for major game developers. To learn how the Ubisoft is taking advantage of the recent explosion of interest in video game adaptations, Digiday spoke to Jason Altman, who has led the company’s film and television division since 2017.
-
Marketing Briefing: TikTok is making search a bigger focus, but marketers, agency execs say it’s early days
As some younger consumers are changing behavior and using TikTok as a search engine, marketers and agency execs say that it makes sense for brands to be early movers and find ways to stand out.
