Neutrogena was tasked with building brand awareness of its line of grooming products for men on colleges and universities across the country against a group of competitors with significantly larger marketing budgets. Neutrogena chose a non-traditional marketing approach, relying on user-generated content at the central focus for the campaign. In doing so, Neutrogena allowed consumers to shape opinions and drive interest in the products.
Neutrogena knew it had to do something unique on campus that fully engaged students. Rather than speak at students, Neutrogena chose to partner with them to develop the content driving the promotion as well as the vehicle promoting the program.
Neutrogena partnered with RepNation to create the Undercover Hotties program. The program centered around a micro site developed by RepNation (www.shavehisface.com). Shavehisface.com encouraged students to nominate fellow students who would be irresistible if they only shaved their face. The top 30 "undercover hotties" on shavehisface.com at each campus participated in a Neutrogena shave clinic.
The program was marketed through brand ambassadors via RepNation's Consumer Powered Media network. Reps were extensively trained in the Neutrogena brand and taught effective marketing tactics to ensure the program's success. Ambassadors utilized flyers, posters, online networking, and campus events to quickly spread the word about Neutrogena and the promotion.
The consumers themselves were truly responsible for the content and success of this campaign, creating the content for the website, voting on the finalists, participating in the shave clinics, and ultimately selecting the winner.
The results exceeded program goals. Shavehisface.com logged nearly 15,000 unique visitors (36% above the goal) during the one-month campaign, and over 1,000 pictures were uploaded to the site -- all completely user generated! With such a broad reach, Neutrogena was able to greatly extend its brand awareness and will likely see a sales boost in targeted markets.
Credit Information
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Client: Neutrogena
Agency: RepNation Media, LLC
Date of Campaign: 9/18/06 - 11/17/06
Case Study URL: http://www.repnation.com/womma/Neutrogena.ppt
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