Case Study - Quite Literally An Engaging Campaign
As the first component of a yearlong partnership with Google, 1-800-Flowers.com is holding a “Will You Marry Me?” contest to find the season’s most intriguing marriage proposal as mentioned in the New York Times. Participants would need to log on to a special 1-800-Flowers.com YouTube channel and submit a video of themselves proposing. The winning video will be on YouTube’s front page on Feb. 11, apart from a wedding at a Sandals Resorts property, with transportation provided by American Airlines and an engagement ring from the Internet jeweler Blue Nile.
Also on the channel, is a “Video Valentine” contest for those already married or not yet ready to pop the question. Users can upload their Valentine’s Day message to the site, and the winner will be featured on YouTube’s front page on Feb. 14. That winner will receive prizes from 1-800-Flowers.com and Victoria’s Secret.
Visitors to the channel will be able to view and comment on the video valentines, and will eventually choose the winner.
While the campaign itself is rather engaging, the interesting thing here, is that it extends beyond the Internet, and uses offline modes as well such as Google Audio, Google Print and Google TV, and secondly, 1-800-Flowers, is not really using this to drive people to their website, but instead is using YouTube itself as a platform where the power of community can be leveraged. For both 1-800-Flowers and YouTube it seems like a win-win situation.
Incidentally, the online floral and gift sales industry accounted for $2 billion in sales in 2007, and is projected to reach $2.9 billion by 2012, according to JupiterResearch. The floral industry on the other hand, is valued at something like $16 billion.
Filed under: Business, Digital culture