During the Super Bowl, Network Solutions tried a different approach to raise awareness and gain new customers. Instead of spending millions on a 30-second TV ad to be run during one of the most prominent events of the year, they tried a social media campaign. They launched what they referred to as a “mockumentary-style Internet video campaign” called Go Granny, a video parody spread on the Internet, backed by a Twitter account, Facebook promotion and the support of social media stars like Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki or Jason Falls.
The idea of the video was simple: Go Granny, played by Academy Award winner, Cloris Leachman, looks back on her wild past as the original “Domain Name Girl.” The message: get serious about your small business. She is joined by the NetSol woman, BlogHer’s Lisa Stone, female entrepreneur and well known Internet figure.
The video was supported by a Twitter Takeover (which consisted of an ongoing conversation under the #gogranny hashtag), banner ads, targeted media outreach and shareable functionality. So how did the Network Solution campaign perform in a period when the Internet was buzzing about the Super Bowl alone?
The campaign had 2,000 shares on Facebook and 1,680 retweets. The grand total of social media impressions reached was of over 40 million, including 17 million on Twitter alone. If the numers do not say much, according to company data, they translated into a 500% increase in .CO sales for Network Solutions.
Based on this very clear business growth result, the campaign sounds like a huge success. Unfortunately, we have no Super Bowl data to compare it with, nor do we know the amount invested in this campaign. What we know is that it was significantly less expensive than the aforementioned ad and it worked out brilliantly for Network Solutions.
The PR agency that represents Network Solutions – and handled the PR surrounding the ad (which was created in-house) is PadillaCRT.