For this weeks’ home assignment I’ve found two brands that have tried to engage prosumers in their marketing campaign. The first is American beer brand Samuel Adams and the second is AMC’s Emmy-winning show Breaking Bad.
In January 2012, Samuel Adams created a Facebook application to let people create the world’s first crowd-sourced beer: they could submit their preferences in terms of the beer’s color, clarity, body, etc. They also included a section where the users could comment on Samuel Adams’ already existing range of products. It looked something like this: http://randymatheson.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/samuel_adams_facebook_beer1.jpg
Breaking Bad used a completely different strategy to engage the audience; they created a set of social media extensions designed to pull the viewers deeper into the Breaking Bad universe. The show is represented on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and it even has designed a digital second-screen-experience, that activates whenever a new episode is aired & contains background information, hints, quizzes about characters and references to other episodes. ( http://www.amctv.com/shows/breaking-bad/story-sync is the link, for those that are interested)
As you can see, Adam Samuels placed emphasis on co-creation; letting the prosumer create a new beer and giving them space to share their thoughts on existing products. Breaking Bad placed emphasis on audience participation; also engaging the prosumer, but in a more controlled way. Which approach do you think is the best one? Or have they both done a good job?
Hi! First of all, I want to say that I really like both examples. I am not a big fan of beer, but I can imagine that if you are, it can be pretty nice to have a say in a new type of beer. Samuel Adams understood the interactive nature of contemporary marketing, and probably engaged a lot of their customers with this idea. The design also looks good; simple but effective and user-friendly. I can imagine that if I were a drinker of Samuel Adams beer, I would find it really cool to be able to submit my preferences and see whether the final result would resemble my idea of a good beer.
Breaking Bad went for a very different way of engaging the fan. Fans of a TV show (or books, movies, etc.) are often craving for more content, and that is exactly what the show gave them. I am watching the show myself, and I will definitely check out what it is like with the second-screen technology when I start with the final season.
On the other hand, I question whether second-screen technology is such a good idea. Last year I dug into the first second-screen technology movie ‘App’ and what people thought of the concept, and most survey responses pointed towards a negative response. People thought it would be an interruptor to the movie and were annoyed by the idea of having to pay attention to two screens simultaneously.
So in the case of Samuel Adams, I think there is no negative side, but they put in less effort than Breaking Bad with its extra content. Therefore, I feel that both have done a pretty good job, but I would need to try out the second-screen technology of Breaking Bad myself before I can really air an opinion about it. I do really like their social media activity though! So considering everything, I think Breaking Bad put a lot more effort into it and scores a bit higher than Samuel Adams.
What do you think about the second-screen technology? Would it add to the viewing experience?