In a world where consumers have many different communication options, our challenge was to keep our user base engaged while also introducing our eCards to a younger demographic. To do this, we needed to develop a product and marketing strategy that excites our customers and makes their recipients feel special.
American Greetings developed Celebrity SmashUps eCards, which allow users to send personalized birthday greetings delivered by a popular celebrity. These digital greetings are available on americangreetings.com and on the SmashUps iOS and Android apps.
To raise awareness for the Celebrity SmashUps product offering, we leveraged our partnerships with prolific entertainer Donny Osmond and NBA star Shaquille O’Neal.
Throughout 2019, Donny Osmond has used his very own SmashUp eCard to surprise and delight both his fans and family. In January Donny sent his card to a lucky fan on her birthday, and then took the surprise even further by showing up at her house to surprise her in person. Later in the year, Donny sent his card to his sister Marie for her 60th birthday during a live taping of ‘The Talk.’ Marie had no idea that Donny was waiting backstage to surprise her in person!
To close out the year, we launched the new Shaq Celebrity SmashUp in December 2019. As part of the launch, we had a sweepstakes offering 4 winners the chance to win a Shaquille O’Neal jersey signed by Shaq himself. The sweepstakes was advertised in email and throughout the American Greetings website. Shaq also posted about the launch of his new eCard on both his Twitter and Instagram channels. By tapping into Shaq’s substantial following on social media, we were able to drive traffic to the sweepstakes landing page garnering increased engagement and exposure of our product line of Celebrity SmashUps eCards.
Donny Osmond’s social posts generated over 90K likes and 12K comments. After Donny showcased his eCard for Marie on ‘The Talk,’ the segment was posted to the show’s YouTube account where it received over 600K views.
Shaq’s social media posts received 17K likes and over 100 comments.
