Pringles top of the pops

Cream editor Olivia Solon explains, "We analyse the most innovative marketing communications from around the world and noticed that increasingly brands use their achievements on Facebook as a ROI benchmark for their campaigns. What was missing was context for their achievements - how many fan pages could be considered good, average, or amazing?

"Our index benchmarks the popularity of these brands. Many of the higher ranking brands in the index reflect the brands' success in harnessing the power of social media - almost all of the top 10 have rolled out specific campaigns to increase their influence in Facebook and increase their connection with their customers."

Ranking includes negative

The number of official fan pages was tallied along with 'unofficial' fan pages for the ranking, with the number of 'hate' pages factored in as a negative in the scoring. Big food/drink owners P&G, Unilever, Kraft, Coca Cola and Nestlé with their brands Pringles, Cadbury, Milka, Ben & Jerry's, Dr Pepper, Kit-Kat, Sprite, Nescafé, Lynx and Old Spice, dominated the top 10.

Pringles was number one, with a fan population of 4 618 675. It achieved this through Pringles in Australia, which invited Facebook users to create their dream party - choosing a venue, a modular band and 100 of their friends as guests. The app created a Flash clip of their ultimate party and users could post the film to their page. Other users could comment and vote on the party - or create what they thought would be a better party.

Pringles actively engaged in consumer conversations on the fan pages and gave away free music downloads as spot prizes. This proactive approach reportedly made the brand's Australia fan-page the number one Facebook fan-page in Australia with more than 266 000 fans. It then went viral across the Facebook universe, delivering the Pringles message to 7.1 million Facebook users, the total Facebook Australia population at that time. Pringles experienced a massive 200% leap in sales at key retailers within two weeks.

Top 10

1. Pringles (P&G)
   
2. Cadbury (Kraft)
   
3. Milka (Kraft)
   
4. Ben & Jerrys (Unilever)
   
5. Dr Pepper (Coca Cola)
   
6. Kit-Kat (Nestlé)
   
7. Sprite (Coca Cola)
   
8. Nescafé (Nestlé)
   
9. Lynx (Axe) (Unilever)
   
10. Old Spice (P&G)
    

To get a copy of Cream's Top 50 Facebook Advocacy Index, email cc.derauqsc@doowder.elleinad