Blog Series – Outline


Series I – Topic:  Case Study Gerber Baby Contest – Gerber’s use of “Social Media”
Part (i): How Gerber uses Social Media
Part (ii): How Gerber uses Facebook
Part (iii): Our participation
Part (iv) Conclusion

Series II – Topic:  How to use Linkedin for Healthcare and business
Part (i): Value of having recommendations
Part (ii):  How to build a health care business network in LinkedIn
Part (iii):  How Linkedin can benefit your practice
Part (iv):  How to effectively communicate on Linkedin – Summary 

Part (i): How Gerber uses Social Media

Gerber a Nestle company recent launched “The Gerber Generation is looking for the Next Star” contest and it is a phenomenal example in commercial social media marketing. Contests are commonly becoming the go-to tool to turn social media interest into action. Over the next four weeks we will be breaking down the ins and outs of this well thought out campaign in our series, “The Next Gerber Baby: A Case Study on How-To use Contests in Social Media.”

 


On January 6, 2010, Cision partnered with Gerber to develop the campaign. As of October 4, 2010 there are just fewer than 153,000 baby participants in a six-month contest to find the next generation Gerber baby. Each month Gerber chooses one-baby finalists from six different categories based on number of votes. The six categories include; birth, supported sitter, sitter, crawler, toddler and preschooler.  Each category is branded to correspond with their products aimed at the specific target markets age and food group. At the end of six months the Gerber board will review the winners and a baby from each category will be selected.  The winners will receive prizes ranging from being featured in a Gerber Advertising Campaign to a $25,000 Scholarship. In addition every month six winners will receive a Flip HD video camera.

Gerber’s strategy consisted of a contest format that offered prizes to the contestants with the most votes. A contestant would upload a photo of their child and then campaign for votes. Three key factors led to the success of the contest turnout.

Rules: The contestant with the most votes, wins. Participants can vote multiple times, but only one time per day. A vote is cast by registering your email address on Gerber’s proprietary contest website.

Mediums: Gerber used Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their proprietary contest website to share real-time status updates of the contestants with the most votes.

Sharing: They promoted sharing the contest with friends and family through the contestant’s own social network. They also provided a simple to use platform on their website to send emails to the contestant’s friends and family and invite them to vote.

Prizes: The winners will receive prizes ranging from being featured in a Gerber advertising campaign to a $25,000 Scholarship. In addition every month six winners will receive a Flip HD video camera.

The strategy is simple yet brilliant. Gerber effectively turns the contestant into a brand advocate that campaign on behalf of the company. Gerber garners participates personal information that can be used in the future for marketing purposes, product launches etc. Secondly they create a viral marketing campaign that spreads exposure for the company to build a community of people with a common interest, babies. The results are astounding and make a case for social media vs. traditional advertising a no-brainer. In Part 4 of our series we will break down the results. 

Please visit back next week for Part (ii): How Gerber uses Facebook

Paul Bradley Smith
Social Media Strategist/Blogger
E-mail: paul@smitherswebsolutions.com
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Created by © Paul Bradley Smith