On January 4th, Calvin Klein released its Spring 2024 Campaign featuring actor from "The Bear" Jeremy Allen White. Jeremy’s recent rise to A-List stardom saw him become culture’s latest sex symbol. So needless to say, when Calvin Klein’s ad dropped featuring him lounging on a red corduroy couch on a New York City rooftop, the internet got talking. But, people weren’t just talking about Jeremy’s abs – they wanted to know more about the red corduroy couch.
Facebook reacted immediately by sourcing the exact couch from shoot, listing it on Facebook Marketplace, and promoting it via social and PR. Within minutes, everyone was talking about it. Thousands of inquiries flooded the inbox, but even better than that? Thousands of people had shared and posted the listing. This couch went from Facebook Marketplace to TikTok, the New York Times, TMZ, Hypebeast, the Drew Barrymore Show, and beyond. We had successfully embedded the Facebook brand into a viral cultural moment while directing traffic straight to the Facebook app all while reminding the world of the magic found on Facebook Marketplace.
The best part? The entire activation was FREE. We spent zero dollars on talent, production, and media. And the results? We garnered 2.7 BILLION in earned media impressions with 90% positive sentiment and increased the app’s daily active users by 5.3% - that’s 150 MILLION people!
How do you drive young adults to Facebook when they see it as irrelevant to their lives? Our strategy involved embedding Facebook into the moments and cultural events they care about, demonstrating how the app can enhance their social discovery experience. Recently, we capitalized on the buzz surrounding Jeremy Allen White’s Calvin Klein ad. When the ad went viral, we quickly sourced the couch featured in the shoot and listed it on Facebook Marketplace. The listing, which described the sofa as “FREE — Red corduroy sofa from famous ripped chef shoot” and included photos of the couch on an NYC rooftop, went viral within minutes. The surge of interest and coverage from publications like People, Hypebeast, and the NY Times was massive. We leveraged this attention by partnering with Drew Barrymore to give away the couch on her TV show, making both the couch and Facebook central to two episodes watched by millions. This approach not only aligned Facebook with current cultural conversations but also highlighted its role as a hub for discovering and engaging with trends.
Within minutes of listing the couch on Facebook Marketplace - IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE. We set out to get the attention of young adults, and they did us one better - by spreading the word themselves. Some of their TikToks sharing it got up to 2 million views. The press coverage was never ending - from NYTimes to TMZ and beyond. Among the thousands of inquiries begging for the couch, we selected one and then tapped Drew Barrymore to do the honors of giving it away on her talk show - centering the couch and Facebook in TWO episodes with millions of eyeballs watching. With $0 spent on media, production or talent; the activation garnered 2.7 BILLION in earned media impressions with 90% positive sentiment. The most impressive bit is that we effectively increased the app’s daily active users by 5.3% - that’s 150 MILLION people!
