The Loeries Creativity Q&A: Insights from Facebook Creative Head, Rob Newlan - London
Facebook recently worked with McDonald's on the Fry Futbol campaign for the FIFA World Cup. What were the some of the key elements that made this campaign a success?Rob Newlan: "Firstly, Facebook is the perfect platform to promote football-related content. Over 500 million people on our platform identify themselves as football (soccer) fans - and a huge worldwide event like the World Cup has an even broader appeal than just football fans. Fry Futbol reached over 125 million unique people, which is nearly 1/3 of all people who engaged on Facebook about the World Cup - 350m. Even more impressive is that almost 100m people were reached on mobile.
Facebook recently worked with McDonald's on the Fry Futbol campaign for the FIFA World Cup. What were the some of the key elements that made this campaign a success?Rob Newlan: "Firstly, Facebook is the perfect platform to promote football-related content. Over 500 million people on our platform identify themselves as football (soccer) fans - and a huge worldwide event like the World Cup has an even broader appeal than just football fans. Fry Futbol reached over 125 million unique people, which is nearly 1/3 of all people who engaged on Facebook about the World Cup - 350m. Even more impressive is that almost 100m people were reached on mobile.
"Secondly, Facebook has the advanced targeting tools available to make sure the right people were presented with the Fry Futbol campaign. The importance of personalised content can't be overstated. Reaching people who we knew were genuinely interested in football, the World Cup and McDonald's meant we were able to deliver something that was genuinely relevant and added real value, which we know can be a big driver of brand trust.
"But for me, it was the creation of brilliantly crafted content that McDonald's audience actually want to see and engage with that really made the Fry Futbol films such a great success. As we gathered to watch each football match, the art department would begin creating props - everything from the opening ceremony singers to a pinball pitch - bringing our ideas to life in real-time for 8am release the next morning. That incredible attention to detail is what really comes across in the Fry Futbol films."
Digital is the fastest evolving medium in the brand communication industry. What does Facebook do to ensure they stay leaders in the market?Newlan: "We're continually evolving - and we're good at it. Based on what's been achieved in Facebook's first ten years, I'm incredibly excited about what the future holds. Our dedicated team at Facebook Creative Labs is constantly crafting new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share, and we have a number of exciting things in the pipeline as we develop a full ecosystem of different ways for people to do this with one another."
Digital is the fastest evolving medium in the brand communication industry. What does Facebook do to ensure they stay leaders in the market?Newlan: "We're continually evolving - and we're good at it. Based on what's been achieved in Facebook's first ten years, I'm incredibly excited about what the future holds. Our dedicated team at Facebook Creative Labs is constantly crafting new apps to support the diverse ways people want to connect and share, and we have a number of exciting things in the pipeline as we develop a full ecosystem of different ways for people to do this with one another."
"We also understand the world is mobile which is why Facebook has evolved to be mobile first. The Facebook app by itself is the furthest along of our mobile products - more than 1 billion people use it and it's the core of our business. We believe our mobile apps have a lot of room to grow and will be so important for brands in the future."
How important is it for brands to create real-time content for campaigns?Newlan: "Having an 'always-on' strategy has been something people thought meant pushing content out all the time when in fact, it's important for brands to be clever about selecting when you do and don't talk to people. Facebook enables marketers to reach people at great scale - which is fantastic - but it's also really important to do that with relevancy. If we take Fry Futbol as an example again, that's why we used real business metrics like sales and affinity to benchmark the work we did with McDonald's; the content was not just creative but also able to tangibly move the business forward."
Can you name a piece of work that you wish you had done?Newlan: "One of my favourite, light-hearted campaigns was actually led by Facebook's Creative Shop in the US and was designed to launch 'Wendy's Bacon Pretzel Cheeseburger'. Inspiration came from outlandish and enthusiastic quotes consumers were posting about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger on its Facebook page, which led to the development of a campaign to tap into that passion. The campaign took what people actually had to say about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then put them in a music video's lyrics. People who wanted their comments sung were invited to try the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then share their comments on Facebook. It was everything a campaign should be: mobile, real-time, personal, and effective, reaching 85 million unique people on Facebook. I think it's something I would have had a lot of fun with."
What do you think makes award-winning work?Newlan: "I always look for work that embraces storytelling - particularly on mobile - to deliver personalised, powerful brand stories. By doing so, brands can more precisely target an audience and build a connection that captures their imagination or compels them to act, at a time, place and with a message that resonates. The opportunity lies in crafting compelling creative on social networks by building contextually relevant, episodic content narratives that are authentic, distinctive to the brand and have a genuine value for people."
How important is it for brands to create real-time content for campaigns?Newlan: "Having an 'always-on' strategy has been something people thought meant pushing content out all the time when in fact, it's important for brands to be clever about selecting when you do and don't talk to people. Facebook enables marketers to reach people at great scale - which is fantastic - but it's also really important to do that with relevancy. If we take Fry Futbol as an example again, that's why we used real business metrics like sales and affinity to benchmark the work we did with McDonald's; the content was not just creative but also able to tangibly move the business forward."
Can you name a piece of work that you wish you had done?Newlan: "One of my favourite, light-hearted campaigns was actually led by Facebook's Creative Shop in the US and was designed to launch 'Wendy's Bacon Pretzel Cheeseburger'. Inspiration came from outlandish and enthusiastic quotes consumers were posting about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger on its Facebook page, which led to the development of a campaign to tap into that passion. The campaign took what people actually had to say about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then put them in a music video's lyrics. People who wanted their comments sung were invited to try the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then share their comments on Facebook. It was everything a campaign should be: mobile, real-time, personal, and effective, reaching 85 million unique people on Facebook. I think it's something I would have had a lot of fun with."
What do you think makes award-winning work?Newlan: "I always look for work that embraces storytelling - particularly on mobile - to deliver personalised, powerful brand stories. By doing so, brands can more precisely target an audience and build a connection that captures their imagination or compels them to act, at a time, place and with a message that resonates. The opportunity lies in crafting compelling creative on social networks by building contextually relevant, episodic content narratives that are authentic, distinctive to the brand and have a genuine value for people."
Can you name a piece of work that you wish you had done?Newlan: "One of my favourite, light-hearted campaigns was actually led by Facebook's Creative Shop in the US and was designed to launch 'Wendy's Bacon Pretzel Cheeseburger'. Inspiration came from outlandish and enthusiastic quotes consumers were posting about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger on its Facebook page, which led to the development of a campaign to tap into that passion. The campaign took what people actually had to say about the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then put them in a music video's lyrics. People who wanted their comments sung were invited to try the Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger and then share their comments on Facebook. It was everything a campaign should be: mobile, real-time, personal, and effective, reaching 85 million unique people on Facebook. I think it's something I would have had a lot of fun with."
What do you think makes award-winning work?Newlan: "I always look for work that embraces storytelling - particularly on mobile - to deliver personalised, powerful brand stories. By doing so, brands can more precisely target an audience and build a connection that captures their imagination or compels them to act, at a time, place and with a message that resonates. The opportunity lies in crafting compelling creative on social networks by building contextually relevant, episodic content narratives that are authentic, distinctive to the brand and have a genuine value for people."
What do you think makes award-winning work?Newlan: "I always look for work that embraces storytelling - particularly on mobile - to deliver personalised, powerful brand stories. By doing so, brands can more precisely target an audience and build a connection that captures their imagination or compels them to act, at a time, place and with a message that resonates. The opportunity lies in crafting compelling creative on social networks by building contextually relevant, episodic content narratives that are authentic, distinctive to the brand and have a genuine value for people."
Don't miss the DStv Seminar of Creativity at Cape Town City Hall on Friday 19 September. Rob Newlan will be joined by other international leaders including Unilever's Yaw Nsarkoh, McCann Sydney's Executive Creative Director, Patrick Baron; Thimoteus Wagner, Executive Creative Director at Jung von Matt/ Alster Werbeagentur GmbH; PJ Pereira, CEO and co-founder Pereira and O'Dell, San Francisco; Stephen Doyle, Creative Director, Doyle Partners, New York City and Ali Ali the acclaimed commercial's director from Egypt and former Executive Creative Director and Founder of Elephant.
For more:
- The Creativity Q&A: Rod Baker chats to PJ Pereira
- The Loeries Creativity Q&A: Insights from international award winner, Stephen Doyle
- The Loeries Creativity Q&A: Insights from 2014 Cannes Gold winner, Ali Ali
- The Loeries Creativity Q&A: Insights from the creator of "Dumb ways to die" Patrick Baron, ECD of McCann Australia
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