As the creator of the first smartphone, Motorola has a storied history of innovation. But over time, the mobile industry has become stagnate. Determined to break the cycle, Moto shattered the industry paradigm with the launch of the Moto Z family and Moto Mods, firmly assuming their new role as a true challenger in the mobile space.
Moto recognized the voice, credibility and expansive reach of the social influencer community, and identified YouTube as the perfect platform to implement robust storytelling around the newly launched products. Influencer video content provided the opportunity to bring the product's use-cases to life in a way other marketing channels could not -- where else could a YouTube star strap a Moto Z Force to a 10' rocket?
As part of an integrated marketing effort to launch, plan and sustain momentum, Moto tapped agency partner Weber Shandwick to develop an original, multi-layered YouTube influencer program to drive awareness around the Moto Z family and Moto Mods among target audiences, highlight unique use cases for the product and drive consumer conversation. With the goal of attaining a reach of 25MM organic impressions + video views, Weber engaged influencers across multiple verticals and target audience groups to reach a broad range of consumers.
Weber Shandwick was tasked with creating a high-reaching social influencer program to co-create compelling content that introduces Moto Mods and demonstrates fun use-cases for the products to get consumers buzzing. In an effort to position Moto and Lenovo as exciting, =innovative brands and drive consideration of Moto Mods among target consumers, the team kicked off the program immediately following the launch of Moto Z family and Moto Mods at Lenovo Tech World on June 9.
The team worked with 13 influencers to develop individualized content. Knowing that creating any sort of overly branded content would have an adverse effect, Weber leaned heavily on our influencer partnerships to form unique, authentic and engaging content.
Each influencer created one "partnership announcement" post, one "hero" YouTube video highlighting a unique use-case for Moto Mods and at least two additional social posts. Within each hero YouTube video, each influencer featured at least two Moto Mods and showed the breadth of the product portfolio and the ease of which consumers can snap the Mods on and off the devices. The 13 YouTubers the team engaged included:
Meredith Foster, Swoozie and D-trix each created YouTube videos in partnership with Portal A, an award-winning content studio that develops, produces, and distributes video built for the digital age. Portal A, which hand- selected these three influencers based on the aforementioned criteria, worked with these creators to produce a compilation video highlighting all their content and other promotional assets, further amplifying the program.
Weber leveraged these influencer relationships to amplify broader brand initiatives and partnerships, such as Lenovo's sponsorship of designer Vivienne Tam's runway show at New York Fashion Week. The team tapped influencer Ingrid Nilsen to drive awareness around this partnership. Ingrid used her Moto Z and Moto Mods behind the scenes at NYFW, and interviewed Vivienne at her studio to create a video that highlighted the intersection of fashion and technology. Ingrid also sat front row at Vivienne's show to capture additional must-see content using the Moto devices.
Leaning on the creative expertise of the YouTube influencers, the program yielded 13 completely different but equally impactful videos that increased brand awareness and highlighted product use-cases. From strapping a Moto Z Force to a 10' rocket and shooting it into the air, to taking Moto Mods camping, to surviving a haunted high school -- consumers got to see the Moto Z family of smartphones and Moto Mods in action, in any situation.
Content from all of our 13 influencers continues to perform at a high level with viewers praising Moto and Lenovo for creating unique entertainment videos that spotlight fun use-cases for the Moto Mods. In fact, content has generated 11.6MM video views and 38.1MM social impressions to date. Content continues to resonate with audience, sparking more than 1 million engagements from fans and followers and driving purchase consideration with 122,000 total clicks to MotoMods.com. We brought awareness to new audiences, with 80 percent of visits from our influencers' content had never been on MotoMods.com before, 8.4 percent higher than non-Influencer traffic.
The results and impact of the program speak for themselves, and they will continue to grow as consumers engage with our influencer content. Check out a few program highlights here.
