The goal is to generate and increase brand awareness, measured by Opportunity-To-See (OTS), for Orkin within the United States by gifting themed boxes to 10 Instagram influencers within budget by October 31. To understand where to begin, the below research revealed the best way to reach the target audience: middle-income (HHI $75K+), millennial (ages 25-44) homebuyers and homeowners in metro cities and suburbs.
Pew Research Center conducted a survey of U.S. households from Jan. 25-Feb. 8, 2021, and found the following:
Even more, since this wasn’t a paid campaign, we needed to provide influencers with an incentive to post about the gift. Based on primary research, influencers prefer to promote content that is visually (“gram-worthy”) and relevant to their organic content.
Concluding from above that Instagram is the most appropriate social media platform to reach our target audience, the next step is to build the Halloween, pest-themed gift box filled with “gram-worthy” items, visually appealing pest facts and notecards, customized for each researched influencer.
Influencers often receive products from brands and share results and opinions with followers. Orkin does not provide products, only services. Instead, influencers receive practical branded and unbranded items along with tips from the Rollins Technical Services team to implement at home and share with followers. Topics regarding personal hygiene practices aren’t always the easiest to share, so it was important to keep the important information playful.
For our campaign, we target potential customers as our primary audience. This group is categorized by the following characteristics: middle-income (HHI $75K+), millennial (ages 25-44) homebuyers and homeowners in metro cities and suburbs. Our secondary audience is lifestyle and DIY influencers with 20K-150K Instagram followers who own a home and have shown a knack for holiday decorations on their feed in the past. These individuals will be leveraged to further reach our primary audience.
As soon as the brief was approved in August 2022, the clock began ticking and the research began. The following events played out:
Throughout the outreach process, it’s important to tactfully plan follow-ups, both timing and method of distribution. “Marnie Piper”, Kimberly J. Brown, first accepted a Halloween gift box in 2021. Without expecting a response for a second year, the team reached out to Kimberly’s agent anyway; she accepted! Outreach continued until all 10 boxes were secured and shipped, in time to beat any holiday shipping delays.
With this being an unpaid partnership, reporting results was not a feasible requirement from participating influencers. Success for brand awareness was measured by Opportunities to See (followers of the influencer multiplied by the number of posts). Our results were as follows:
Overall, the campaign successfully generated earned coverage for Orkin amongst their target audience, more than doubling the campaign's OTS goal. This campaign continues to prove that it is relevant, a good fit for the brand, and well-received by influencers.
