Smirnoff India betting big on FB community

At Smirnoff India, the world’s best selling vodka brand, the digital roadmap was set. While championing the original drinking experiences, the brand aimed towards combining the unmatched versatility and purity of its products with the innovativeness in its communication. This became the key strategy to target its consumers, mainly its Facebook Fans, which led to arriving at the milestone of 5 lakh fans in a span of only 5 months

 

The very first milestone was the Nightlife Exchange project – a global initiative that gained maximum ground in the Indian Fan base. The overwhelming response from the online audience inspired them further to launch the I-Choose campaign. In the mission to inspire and enable unique experiences, the I-Choose campaign focused on connecting with each of Smirnoff India’s fans through personal engagement. Fans interacted with the I-Choose app on Facebook to get an animated DNA of the choices they’ve made in their social circles. 

 

Having rallied an online fanbase of over 4 Lakh like-minded people during the I-Choose campaign, Smirnoff India aimed towards creating initiatives that would put these fans at its very center. And to do so, the dynamic strategy of the brand was to be their friends rather than a brand. 

 

Smirnoff India ensured consistent communication with its fans on a daily basis, where they dropped in a friendly ‘hello’ in the morning and in the evening; gave them something to celebrate, to look forward to. Every evening, they unlocked a cocktail recipe or raised a toast with it through some rich pictorial posts. Also, their Call to Actions on these posts didn’t go unnoticed. Soon, the ‘Likes’ started converting into ‘Comments’ and ‘Shares’. And in no time, the brand themselves had a reason to celebrate – the people talking about us rose from 3,250 to 28,490 due to a perfect marketing mix of thoroughly engaging content and digital media in a span of 5 months. Smirnoff India also rewarded its fans and made them their ‘mini celebrities’, and started featuring our Fans on our Facebook cover - week after week.

 

The brand’s Facebook Timeline also started becoming an infographic of its milestones. Lighthouse Insights (an Indian Social Media news blog) listed their timeline on their ‘13 Indian Brands Using The Facebook Timeline For Effective Story Telling’ post. And here’s what they have quoted “Smirnoff has a tempting timeline like Bacardi India but Smirnoff has driven more engagement on the timeline. The brand has not only shared interesting milestones but has encouraged fans to guess on the questions that it had asked.”