I’ve spoken on this blog about drinks brand Stella Artois’ creative marketing strategy before. And now it has, in our opinion, tied all of the elements of Web 2.0 together in a devastating new advertising campaign. In line with its long-held, close association with the film industry, the company is the chief sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival 2010. Part of the deal is a VIP competition giveaway to Cannes for the duration of the event.
To promote it, and to cleverly capture data through social media platform Facebook, Stella has designed and built a microportal, only accessible through Facebook Connect, that hijacks the user’s FB profile photo, as well as those of some friends, gender and marital status and integrates the information into a short film.
The outcome is to persuade the user to insert his or her details into the microsite, thus converting Facebook data into Stella data seamlessly.
There is no doubt that this stunt cost a small fortune – certainly more than a luxury trip to Cannes – to pull off, but all of the elements that we have been talking about for years are there:
1. Intelligent, relevant use of social media
2. Use of video to add captivating depth, intrigue and humour to the campaign
3. Data capture
It’s truly a work of art. And I’m sure one that we’ll see replicated.