Brandthumb worked with Movado to develop a social media program with the goal of promoting the Movado Bold Connected II watch and display its' smart features. We aimed to reach potential targets through the social following of elite NFL athletes on Instagram to drive awareness and purchase consideration for the Movado brand during the 2016 holiday season.
Founding partner of Brandthumb and former NFL athlete, John Gilmore, leveraged his insider knowledge of the NFL schedules and his understanding of the player profiles to coordinate all efforts and to ensure a successful outcome. Elite NFL players are unique celebrities. They do not dedicate much time to anything other than football during the season. To obtain their cooperation required special networking and logistics. Brandthumb utilized their relationship with "The Super Agent", Chafie Fields, to forge a partnership with two 2017 Pro Bowl athletes, one outstanding rookie and one retired (NFL) social media standout. The players- Khalil Mack, Vernon Hargreaves III, Patrick Peterson, and Anthony "Spice" Adams have a combined Instagram following of over 1M. The program consisted of providing elite athletes with 2 Movado Bold Connected II watches – one watch for them to keep, and a second to use as a giveaway to one of their followers. Each athlete posted a total of 3 times during the campaign. Their posts consisted of pictures of them wearing the watches, the watch itself, and even a funny video from Anthony "Spice" Adams. The key component of this campaign was fostering a connection between the NFL athletes and their fans through the Movado brand.
With a campaign duration that was only 2 weeks, the Movado brand's Instagram follower count was increased by 6,000 to 123k. Three lucky fans were chosen to receive the second watch given to the NFL players. The posts themselves received:
By leveraging the NFL players' ability to engage with their fans, we were able to successfully generate awareness of the Movado brand during the 2016 holiday season. Movado had this to say about the outcome of the project:
"This is the first time Movado worked with Brandthumb and we were extremely happy with the outcome. They were great collaborative partners and completely aligned with our strategic social media marketing goals for this program. John clearly has the appropriate relationships and connections to successfully execute and deliver on an Instagram program involving elite NFL athletes,"
- Mary Leach, CMO, Movado Group.
