Old Navy generates social media buzz with free flip-flops

Published August 19, 2014 at 7:33 am

Social media is a significant consideration for companies thinking about how to best reach their most relevant audience through effective campaign marketing. With more people turning to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for everyday communication, in addition to using them to research and purchase products online, interacting with customers on these channels has become a necessity.

As such, some marketers have been devising creative ways to foster and combine these interactions both on the screen and in real life. A recent article in AdWeek describes a campaign by clothing retailer Old Navy, which brings Twitter and vending machines together in an experiential marketing experience designed to get users tweeting about the company.

Old Navy used vending machines that allowed users to receive a pair of free flip-flops for creating a tweet from the machine. The purpose of the campaign was to drum up buzz for an upcoming sale. As a result, the kiosks, which were deployed across major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, resulted in 12 million impressions for the company. Additionally, 3,500 tweets were sent from the vending machines.

A creative concept has the potential to make an impact. Having a social media presence is a marketing necessity for businesses today. There are numerous ways to use social media platforms to get people talking about your product, service or special offer.

Yet this is another aspect of a multi-channel marketing campaign that must be maintained and coordinated appropriately in order to achieve the greatest effect. Automated marketing software helps marketers deliver the personalized marketing collateral customers have come to value and expect, while increasing the efficiency of campaign operations at the same time.