I blogged about Walkers “Do us a Flavour” campaign just last month, and was at the time I was excited about both the idea and the massive marketing support they were putting behind it.
And as Iain Tait points out, they have now tallied up nearly 800,000 entries from the crisp eating public.
800,000 photos. 800,000 flavour names. 800,000 inventions. And they have a decent chance at hitting 1 million submissions before entry closes October 10th.
That’s an incredible number. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of an online UGC competition that is anywhere in that ballpark.
Beyond the online participation, the amazing thing is to think how many conversations this promotion has sparked around their brand back in the real world.
Iain relates excited conversations he’s gotten into and debates had around flavours, which speaks to it’s sheer brillance as a word of mouth device: it’s a pub conversation topic from heaven, and it’s both on brand and about the brand.
It gets people considering the product, engaged with the product, and co-creating on behalf of the brand. I’ve heard stories from co-workers of entire families brainstorming and submitting together.
The other point to be made is around the investment. Walkers put £10m across PoS, radio, online, and television, their biggest investment ever. And the prize is massive, one-off prize of £50,000, as well as 1% of all subsequent sales of the flavour going to the customer.
Walkers didn’t slice off a token digital and sales promotion budget at the opportunity, they saw it could work both as a brand campaign and a way of engaging the customer and invested accordingly.
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Hi. It’s interested to read about all the interest in Walkers ‘DO US A FLAVOUR’ ad campaign. I sent the slogan(DO US A FLAVOUR) to an ad agency (Young & Rubicon) & to WALKERS CRISPS back in 1997 & again in 1998 by Royal Mail Recorded Delivery and they turned it down as ‘unsuitable’. I’m just glad I had the foresight to send my ideas for this slogan to myself ‘Recorded Delivery’ & still have the UNOPENED envelope with a copy of my ideas inside it with me now.
I didn’t enter this competition but have friends who put a huge amount of time and effort into thinking up original and unique flavours for this competition. After all, the guidelines were that the winning flavour would be original and fun, and we were told that we should consider combining foods that aren’t usually combined, and come up with unique names. So…where does an entry like ‘fish and chips’ figure in all of this? Methinks that there is something ‘fishy’ going on with the judging panel here. Their own advice has been totally ignored, especially considering there has actually been a fish and chip flavour crips before. Oh how original (not). MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY HAVE THE WINNERS ORIGINAL PICTURES BEEN HIDDEN FROM THE PUBLIC? I have asked several times to see those winning pictures and been met with a stony silence. I think that for a prize of this nature and considering so many people entered, the least they should be doing is putting the winning pictures online…and not some artist’s mock up. Really feel disappointed and annoyed for those who took the time and effort to enter this.
Hey guys,
I’m not sure the Walkers folks are reading this blog, so your best bet is to get in touch with them directly with your comments. They have an online comment form available here: http://www.walkers.co.uk/contact/contact.html
Cheers,
Geoff
Yes, have tried that a couple of times, but alas, no reply.
Hi! how are you?
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