Taking consumer data and turning it into creative, engaging marketing is a brand trend of the moment…
Back in 2014, we delved into the Numbers Game trend, exploring how Millennials are harnessing their own personal data in new ways—and how brands were tapping into the interest. Lately we’ve seen a surge of the trend, with several attention-grabbing campaigns taking consumer data and personal info and using it in creative, fun ways.
Young consumers have come of age in a data driven world, with their every action online, and increasingly offline as well, creating a continuous output of data that is collected and used to sell to them, advertise to them, and suggest what they should look at next. Because of this constant Big Data collection, Millennials are arguably more accustomed to the pervasive collection of their personal data than previous generations, and are simultaneously more open about and more protective of their information. On one hand, they are wary (though at times resigned) of the fact that so much of their personal data is out of their control, and react with anger when they discover it is collected without their permission. On the other hand, when that data is used to benefit them in some way—whether it’s to make their lives easier or entertain them—they are happier to participate in the system.
Product or content recommendations have become the norm, but as Millennials have more access to their own data—think biometrics, wearables, etc.—they’re also becoming more open to different types of personal information being collected and being turned into something fun. Flashing back to 2014 once more, we cited Axe’s Social Effort Scale as one example. To promote their (at the time) new “effortless” Matte Effect hair products, Axe provided consumers with the tools to assess their social media personas. Their Social Effort Scale instantly analyzed users’ social accounts to report if they were trying too hard, or not trying hard enough, providing interesting stats and visualizations of their activity based on the data from their daily online socializing. This month, we’ve seen three brands take similar approaches, collecting consumer data and spinning it into a fun, engaging marketing effort. Here’s Numbers Game campaign roundup:
Snickers Hungerithm
Ever feel like everyone on the internet is angry? Well, that’s not such a bad thing thanks to Snickers’s new Hungerithm campaign in Australia. The brand’s Australian site has been transformed into a dashboard measuring the internet’s mood—usually crabby, frowny, or furious. The angrier the internet becomes, the more the price of a Snickers bar drops. When visitors want to cash in, they simply click “get a SNICKERS” to generate a barcode for the discounted price, good for use at 7Eleven. The Hungerithm works off an algorithm created by the Massachusettes Institute of Technology (it’s real science!) that monitors and measures the mood online by scanning social posts. Some of the best angry posts are featured on the site.
Old Spice Dream Runner
Tracking steps, runs, and other physical activity with phones and wearables has become a norm for mobile-addicted, early-adopting Millennials. But a morning jog tracked via GPS doesn’t usually get them anything but sweat and bragging rights—until Old Spice decided to have some fun with it. Their Dream Runner promotion, which launched this month, gave participants the chance to create fun shapes with their run maps, and (possibly) win related prizes. Or, as the site puts it, “It was a promotion where you could run in the shape of whatever prize you wanted in the world and then maybe win that prize possibly, anyway, it was so cool.” The routes were creatively interpreted, and prizes included items like “two monocles,” “life sized pelvic skeleton,” and, for a particularly windy route, “drawing lessons.” A full gallery of the maps and their associated prizes is still viewable.
Sunchips Laughalizer
When we asked young consumers what marketing makes them want to buy from a brand, 61% said advertisements that make them laugh. Sunchips took that sentiment literally with their Laughalizer campaign, which asks participants to LOL to learn more about themselves. Visitors to their Laugh With Sunchips site are told “Your Laugh is Unique in Every Wave™ just like SunChips®. Take our laughalizer quiz to get your distinct laugh-print and find out what your laugh says about you.” The site accesses users’ microphones, and shows them a funny video to get them to laugh out loud. After a brief quiz, their laugh is mapped out, and their laugh personality is revealed. The campaign is a joint effort with Step Up, a non-profit “creating change for young girls”—and the Laughalizer results can of course be shared on social media.
