Working with blu has been an exciting, unique challenge from the very beginning. With federal regulations that prevent blu from using paid advertising to sell their product, it's been extremely creatively rewarding for us to push ourselves to think outside the box in order to create content for their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram platforms for both their US and UK territories. The many fans of #bluNation are fun, outspoken, and full of suggestions. We wanted to foster that relationship between blu and their customers – after all, at blu, customer feedback is an integral part of internal product design, flavor choices, and blu's rewards points system. Social Control found a way to craft a united voice across all platforms and territories, while still managing that cool, laid back vibe that many of blu's customers love. Overcoming the obvious legal obstacles was a challenge, but we combined our iconic graphic design style with exciting, upbeat copy to increase brand loyalty and engagement for blu.
Our entry for the Short Awards feature our "Iconic blu" design style. We used classic modern art and surrealist influences to capture blu in a unique, stylized, attention-grabbing way. Using original photography and photo manipulation, we were able to use these images to give the viewer a look at blu from a different perspective. We wanted to showcase all of blu's award-winning flavors and products in an out-of-the-box visual style that would make the customers think about blu in a whole new light. We played around with depth, illusion, and subtle surrealism to make each flavor and product come to life. Each image features clean lines, bold colors, and bizarre imagery to draw the viewer into the image and prompt engagement.
Social Control is pleased to say that by implementing this unique design strategy, we successfully increased blu's Facebook post engagement by 23.55% over the course of 6 months, from January 2016 – June 2016 when we started using the Iconic blu style. blu's Twitter profile saw an increase of 3% more followers engaging with our content as well. We know that blu's post engagement will only continue to grow over the next several months, as we continue to come up with new, unique designs for the Iconic blu style. Our goal was to increase brand loyalty, overall engagement, and help foster an active online community with "blu Nation" supporters. We succeeded by creating eye-catching images that would start a conversation.
