The Girl Scout Cookie Program is about much more than purchasing a box of treats. It's creating a lifetime of confidence in each Girl Scout as she learns the five skills – goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics – that are essential to leadership, success, and life. Through a national Girl Scout recipe contest (the first ever!), Girl Scouts of the USA set out to engage consumers in the Girl Scout Cookie sale, leverage the incredible power of user-generated content (UGC), while benefitting the Girl Scout mission of building more girls of courage, confidence, and character. To drive this integrated campaign, we utilized social media, web, email marketing, and PR/earned media – ultimately increasing brand awareness and driving national cookie sales.
Consumers were asked to get creative and whip up fun, delicious dessert recipes using Girl Scout Cookies in the ingredient mix. The recipes (UGC entries) were submitted through a microsite. The finalists were then narrowed down by Taste of Home (our contest partner) chefs who tested and selected the top 16 recipes. Each final recipe were cross-promoted via our social channels with Taste of Home using CTAs asking the public to vote to determine the winners for best recipes. Four winners [one for each category: (1) cakes, pies, cupcakes, (2) cookies, brownies, bars, (3) pudding, ice cream, gelatin desserts, and (4) candies] won prizes ranging from $250 to $500 in addition to a spotlight feature in the Taste of Home magazine (increasing visibility of the contest).
The following tactics were implemented to promote this contest :
Entries: More than 550
Finalists: 16
Votes: 12,264 votes
Social Impressions: 3,910,291
PR Impressions: 385,711,250
Media Value: $1,018,532
Helping Girls Make the World a Better Place: Priceless