In 2014, Keurig launched the Keurig 2.0 – a state-of-the-art brewer with even more flavors and options, and a proprietary brewing system that required users to use the Keurig system to remain in the Keurig family. Keurig needed to spark excitement with Keurig owners and give them a reason to try new and expanded flavors — occasions to discover their Keurig brewer anew. As part of our research, we learned we needed to align with our coffee and K-Cup fans' existing behaviors to extend Keurig routines even further into their days.
In bringing "the perfect beverage for any occasion" to life, we needed to match each brew to a different time of day and our Keurig fans' moods. From analysis, knew they were music lovers; a first-of-its-kind partnership with Google's Songza music service offered us access to an unlimited pool of music – a lockup we call "native advertising 2.0." A campaign site – www.keurigbrewtunes.com – allowed users to select their mood and current activity (ex. working) and then provide deeper detail (ex. working on a presentation). The website generated the perfect beverage to match the occasion Users could click directly to Keurig.com to queue their K-Cup brew, or were invited to jam in the native Songza web experience. The site itself shifted morning, afternoon, night and on weekends, based on the activities we knew were most relevant to Keurig consumers – creating literally thousands of combinations of moods, moments, flavors and playlists curated for Keurig fans.
Native experiences have come of age – websites, apps and experiences that link closely with consumers' needs, and enable marketers to deliver contextually relevant media and messages directly at the moment of need.
The key to engaging consumers still remains with balancing product and brand with emotionally resonant moments. For Keurig – as with many other brands – music offers a way in, a bridge to consumers' tastes and passions. In the case of #BrewTunes, modern music services offer the variety and technology offerings to target consumers more closely and accurately than ever. Songza had never before engaged in a brand lockup of this level of sophistication – and Keurig had never before leveraged such an expansive and nontraditional effort to expose its audiences to the breadth of Keurig varieties. Other consumer products and appliance brands might explore linkups and moment-of-need native advertising efforts with unexpected partners to increase emotional connection with consumers where they are spending the most time.
The results:
Organic content shared on Facebook on owned channels reached 906,000 fans; in addition, Keurig's promoted content on Facebook reached 800,000 fans. Overall, the microcampaign and native advertising effort saw more than 1.6MM total impressions.
The campaign generated more than 10,000 engagements in all, measuring more than 1,000 engagements per post on Facebook, and more than 170 engagements per post on Twitter.
Experience
Optimization & Learnings
The Keurig #BrewTunes effort led to key learnings about Keurig consumers and the types of brews in which they were most interested. While not directly tied to sales, the effort helped expose Keurig fans to a wide swath of Keurig flavors and brands in the Keurig portfolio. Moreover, the clicks and choices our users made in a choose-your-own-adventure style setting meant the effort gleaned valuable data about how Keurig fans make decisions and the types of product experiences in which they're hoping to engage.
