Every year during March Madness, brands battle for attention in a field more crowded than the tournament itself. With the road to the Final Four packed with commercials and brand activations, Capital One decided to take to the skies in a way only Charles Barkley could. Introducing the Chuck Blimp—a blimp designed to look just like Barkley. The “Airbound Mound of Rebound” made its debut in a spot first airing on Selection Sunday and with a real-life blimp that traveled to Phoenix for the Final Four.
We created the “Blimp Yourself Filter” so fans on TikTok could turn themselves into a blimp and share it with their friends, just like Chuck. Of course, the filter was a big hit, more than doubling the benchmark for branded effects on TikTok and becoming the most used branded effect in TikTok history. By the time the tourney champs cut down the nets, the Chuck Blimp had helped achieve the highest brand awareness for any brand in March Madness. Ever.
While a few lucky cities were able to see and experience the Chuck Blimp flying across their skies, we knew that wasn’t enough. The (larger) online audience deserved to engage with the Chuck Blimp in a manner just as fun—and funny—as the 40 mph (max) traveling entity itself. We wondered, “What’s better than seeing the blimp?” Easy answer - being the blimp.
In partnership with TikTok, we were able to create a “Blimp Yourself” branded effect that allowed users to turn themselves into the Chuck Blimp. We partnered with four premium TikTok content creators to promote this branded effect in an effort to show users various, unique ways to engage with it. Together, these key factors and strategy resulted in “Blimp Yourself” being the most-used branded effect in TikTok history.
We set out to create a branded effect that accomplished cross-channel integration while successfully engaging a mass audience. The result was a branded effect that is not only Capital One’s highest performing to date, but one that more than doubled the benchmark for branded effects on TikTok on it’s way to becoming the most used branded effect in TikTok history.
