2013 Silver Best use of Social Media for Customer Aquisition

Client Benjamin Schwab

How did the campaign make a difference? Ben was running the London Marathon and needed to raise £1,600; his agency wanted to help out. They decided to create something to help his friends from around the world support him, which smashed his fundraising goal by 218%, raising £5,085 in four days and generating £508.50 for every £1 spent.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? They saw the relationship between music and running as a fundraising opportunity. Who wouldn't want to support a friend during such an epic run? And music was the perfect way to do it: a heartfelt and personal message to support Ben as he ran. The track choices had social currency too. People were eager to find out what others had chosen, which encouraged them to visit the site and get involved. People attempted to out-do each other's tracks. Choices included You're The Best, Born To Run, Don't Stop Me Now, Harder Better Faster Stronger, Heroes and I'm Still Standing. Some people even donated more than once when they realised there was a better song choice they'd missed. During the marathon, friends, family and colleagues could track Ben's progress on the site and listen along to his playlist with him.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Music was at the heart of the Badonnathon experience, so the agency created an LP-inspired site, integrating Spotify, Facebook, Just Giving and iPhone location APIs to allow people to donate money, add a track and monitor Ben's progress easily. Once you made a donation and picked a track, it was shared on Facebook, spreading the word and encouraging people to keep going back to see what tracks had been added, which created friendly competitiveness along the way. But it didn't stop there. On marathon day supporters could track Ben's progress in real time and listen along with him track by track. They could even keep up with him on Twitter, as he somehow found the energy to tweet and post Vines.

Results They raised £5,085 in the four days leading up to the marathon, and created a 126-track playlist for Ben - more than enough to encourage him through the race. The average donation was £40.36 per track, raising a massive £508.50 for every £1 spent. The Badonnathon fan club turned out in force to give Ben that extra boost of support, while friends and family tracked him online from three countries. Ben crossed the finish line after four hours and 48 minutes with David Bowie's Heroesringing in his ears.