It started with a simple question posed to AT&T employees: If we gave you $1,000 to spread holiday cheer, how would you spend it?
We received 659 suggestions from AT&T employees. We selected five of those suggestions to be featured in video stories. And then we literally gave each of those five employees $1,000 and asked them to put their ideas into action.
With the help of hidden cameras, real-time storytelling, and largely unscripted dialogue, we created a five-part video series this past holiday season – AT&T's "24 Hours of Giving."
Filmed in five locations across three states, using the actual employees and not actors, the five-part video series was a huge hit across AT&T's social channels and within the AT&T employee community. We shared the videos across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Crowdtap, the AT&T SocialChorus (an internal AT&T channel that encourages employees to share stories about AT&T), the AT&T Insider online employee news source, and the AT&T external newsroom.
We re-tweeted the content from three AT&T Twitter handles and created a Vine to tease the videos before launch.
The project illustrated that emotional content with light branding produces high levels of positive engagement across channels. The use of employees as advocates for the content on SocialChorus and Insider was another key driver of views and online engagement.
The "24 Hours of Giving" series was so well received that even before the 2014 holidays were over, we were directed to plan for a repeat in 2015.
What made AT&T's "24 Hours of Giving" video series so successful?
The answer is simple: The AT&T employees who "starred" in the videos and who brought their ideas for spreading holiday cheer to life. These largely unscripted employees, as well as the surprised people who received the acts of kindness, gave each video story a measure of authenticity that is difficult to achieve.
Here are snapshots of each of the five stories:
The five-part "24 Hours of Giving" video series aired from December 18, 2014, to January 16, 2015, across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Crowdtap, and the AT&T Newsroom, as well as internally among AT&T employees.
The five videos earned a total of 216,761 views across AT&T's Facebook and YouTube channels (172,602 views on Facebook and 44,159 on YouTube).
The Walmart video earned the most views and impressions on Facebook, accruing 44,486 views and 515,629 impressions.
Visitors used the #LifeatATT hashtag 220 times on Twitter in conjunction with the program, earning 4,074,225 impressions.The video stories were a major hit with AT&T employees. The series was shared on the company's internal online news source, the Insider, and the videos were viewed 24,593 times.
All five videos may be viewed here:
