Each summer, Macy's celebrates its American Icons Campaign, an all-star salute to the inspiring people, music, iconic destinations, summer celebrations and amazing fashions that make us proud to live in the land of the free and home of the brave. As part of the campaign's foundation, Macy's celebrates America's veterans. Since 2013, Macy's raised more than $6.7 million through a point of sale based program for Got Your 6, a coalition of veteran-focused non-profit partners who are working to help veterans make America stronger. With a strong dedication to the cause, Macy's looked for a new way to engage millennials while continuing to support Got Your 6.
In 2016, the fourth year of the campaign, Macy's celebrated the music and musicians that changed the shape and sound of popular culture as we know it, and the men and women who fought for our right to be free, through a first-of-its-kind digital music event.
After learning that 14.7 million millennials attend at least 1 music festival per year and 81% of millennials use YouTube, Macy's partnered with Portal A and YouTube to create Macy's Summer Vibes, the first digital music festival. Our goals were as follows:
1) Establish Macy's as an entertainment brand
2) Connect with millennials by aligning with their passion point of music on a naturally highly frequented platform
3) Reach 100,000 views to raise $100,000 for Got Your 6 through a $1 donation for 1 view
1) Talent & Atmosphere: The 60-minute music experience premiered (and lives) exclusively on YouTube.
Programming: Show cut between behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, & Got Your 6 segments
-Intimate performances drew the audience into the world of the artist's music & style.
-Allowed artists to introduce themselves & their music to set the tone more authentic to the YouTube experience
-Used in-video annotations, CTA's, & cross promotion by the influencers on all social platforms
Talent:
-Headliner: Todrick Hall- former Broadway star, MTV personality, & American Idol contestant
-Up & Coming Talent: AJ Rafael, the Gardiner Sisters, & Macy Kate- influential musicians who spoke authentically to a new generation of consumers
-All spoke to support Got Your 6, some with personal connections to the military
-All wore Macy's fashion for a direct connection to the brand & authentic promotion on social channels
-Macy Kate premiered new music, making Summer Vibes the exclusive show to listen for the first time
2) Promotional Plan
Partnered with vendors who are seen as the voice for festivals & summer to drive awareness & sales of American Icons products in a multi-faceted ecosystem
YouTube:
-Macy's YouTube included Shoppable overlays highlighting key trends
-Partnered with key influencers who have over 3.7MM followers
-Distribution across YouTube ecosystem drove awareness & engagement with festival
-Short form teasers drove anticipation before & after launch to extend content life across display & social platforms
-TrueView pre-roll video & search promoted the concert among relevant content
-Utilized carousel units to encourage consumers to purchase American Icons festival fashion
Buzzfeed & Snapchat:
-1 week of Snapchat Discover- video produced by Buzzfeed, highlighting Macy's festival trends along with 3 additional custom videos
Facebook & Instagram:
-Fashion alignment & sales driving was supported with 2 Canvas units per month, promoting festival line & trends at Macy's
Twitter:
-Leveraged static & video units to distribute Portal A & Macy's produced content, driving engagement & festival views
Premium Display Partners: increased awareness & sales of Macy's fashion through branded content
-Buzzfeed
-Hearst (Marie Clare, Cosmo, Seventeen, Elle, Harper's Bazaar)
-NBC Universal/E! Online
-Amnet
Got Your 6:
-Website: Summer Vibes video embedded & homepage CTA
-Social: Organic posts to all social channels before & after festival
-Partnerships: Non-profit partners & celebrity ambassadors promoted festival
3) Connection to Got Your 6
During the American Icons campaign, Macy's honors America's veterans with an in-store give-back program supporting Got Your 6. With the expansion of American Icons into Summer Vibes, Macy's continued its support of Got Your 6 through a $1 donation per view of the festival, up to $100,000.
1) Establish Macy's as an entertainment brand
-Recognized by Billboard Magazine as part of "Next Wave of Music Marketers" (featured at Cannes Lions Festival)
-Search Results
--44% search volume increase for "Summer Vibes" after 5/25 teaser release
--15% search volume increase for "Macy's" after 6/2 festival launch
-Total FB engagements: 2,763
--Top post: Little Dictionary of Festival Fashion – 55,439 views
-1MM+ earned views of other Macy's channel videos, representing 1,115% YoY growth in Macy's channel video views
-TrueView campaigns drove 27% subscriber growth representing 40,898% y/y
2) Connect with millennials by aligning with their passion point of music on a naturally highly frequented platform
-Ages 18-34 made up over 95% of YouTube festival views
-77,000+ views were remarketing viewers who saw teaser video before launch
-Ad Recall: 11.2% brand ad recall lift of viewers ages 18-24
-Consideration: 10.2% lift (4.4-6.6%. lift is best in class for Macy's peer set)
-Interest: 17.1% brand interest lift in keywords (Macys, macys.com)
-CTR exceeded 0.10% benchmark: 0.40% overall
-May pre-festival awareness content: 50MM+ impressions across Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter
-Snapchat Discover Videos: 7.11% VCR
3) Reach 100,000 views to raise $100,000 for Got Your 6 through a $1 for 1 view donation
-Hit 100,000 views within 24 hours to raise $100,000 for Got Your 6
-To date, the festival has over 1.5MM total views
-The 2016 American Icons campaign (POS donations & Summer Vibes view donations) raised $1.6MM for Got Your 6
-- +211% campaign goal
-- +28% last year
