1. Reach Millennials in a cost-effective way that speaks specifically to their generation
2. Generate an authentic opportunity that allows for cross-promotion and communication of the value proposition across The Clorox Company's portfolio of brands
3. Create and distribute branded content to engage Millennials driving awareness and consideration for Clorox products
Research shows that Millennials delay life events, including home ownership, marriage, children and settled careers. The majority are living in rental situations and often with roommates, spending their money on experiences rather than material items. A competitive audit of apartment living, decorating, trending, holiday, entertainment and female-focused sites showed that few were focused in social gatherings (experiences in the home) and there was even white space when those events were inspired by life stage and what's trending.
Knowing that Clorox could authentically provide tips, tools and inspiration to help Millennials make the most of their experiences at home, we created Gather – that site that serves up unique and trendy "excuses to hang out" that won't break the bank, but might turn into tonight's theme or a new tradition. This project was the first Millennial focused and cross brand digital campaign for the company.
We created content that featured events that are millennial-focused, aspirational but obtainable, talking friend to friend, intimate and inviting and with creative that was Instagram style, showed handcrafted details and using minimal copy, with great visuals. This content fell into three themes: seasonal and in the moment themes that are cheap and easy to pull off, event how tos where we partnered with party planners to great step-by-step guides for larger gatherings and quotes that celebrate togetherness and life-stage realities.
For the first phase, we partnered with Tumblr to create the site as it is a platform that aligned with the target, gave us a great opportunity for testing, has affordable media options and the social focus can be on awesome content vs. big build expenses. For the second phase, we partnered with Brit + Co, a platform that provides tools to teach, inspire, and enable creativity among women and girls. From traditional crafts to high-tech manufacturing, they connect millions of users with makers, designers, chefs, and inventors, together building a community of creativity.
Brit + Co hosted a #Friendsgathering event at the B+C shop to promote 5 of Gather's brands: Clorox, Brita, Burt's Bees, Glad and Hidden Valley. B+C partnered with two Influencers to create blog posts centered around Gather and Thanksgiving. Both Influencers promoted their content across Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter + Instagram. Additionally, Brit + Co promoted Gather's content across its homepage and post pages to drive traffic, and included a Gather custom post in a Thanksgiving e-newsletter.
We invited a variety of influencers and fans resulting in approximately 50 attendees. Event-goers were able to snack on delicious apps and sip on tasty refreshments while DIY-ing and mingling. We held multiple DIY stations with projects from the custom post including mini succulent planters and custom designed Glad containers. B+C also held a sweepstakes where 3 attendees won $300 gift cards by socializing from the event with the #Friendsgathering hashtag. Lastly, attendees were given gift bags with Clorox products at the end of the night.
Attendees of the B+C Gather event were so impressed with the activation that they promoted it across their blogs + social channels. We saw 10 blog posts and 31 social media shares from influencers and as a result, we garnered over 650K impressions.
Within one week's time frame, Brit + Co's digital activation resulted in a total reach of over 15M, more than 100K engagements and over half a million total impressions. Gather's custom post was one of Brit + Co's top performing posts in 2015 with almost 70K views, outperforming all B+C benchmarks. Facebook accounted for 58% of post views and garnered nearly 18K engagements.
