Welcome to the first edition of "Content Marketing Minds" written by me - Matthew Yeoman! My plan is to bring you actual examples of great content that has gone viral, or struck a chord with its audience.
During weeks when nothing strikes me, I'll take a look at data supplied freely by statistics compilers across the web.
For my first column, I figured I'd go with an online marketing campaign that can't fail. It's full of celebrities, user generated content, and lots of sex. Get your eyes ready, and leave your prudish attitude at the door, for the #MyCalvins online marketing campaign.
What is the #MyCalvins content marketing campaign?
Calvin Klein underwear are already an iconic item. The top band of your underwear sticking out from your jeans with almost any other brand just doesn't have the style factor that a pair of Calvins do. When I was young, there was Marky Mark sporting them in ads. But now Marky Mark is Mark Wahlberg and he's known more for acting with a talking teddy bear than for his fit body.
With this in mind, the #MyCalvins marketing campaign is a move on Calvin's part to update the prestige of the underwear for a new generation. In the year 2015, that means working with Justin Bieber:
It begins. @CalvinKlein #mycalvins :) pic.twitter.com/px0SJWVGSy
- Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) January 6, 2015
It certainly did begin, and has gone on to over 145,000 retweets on just this one message! There are countless #MyCalvins tweets out there. From fans taking pictures of billboards, to media reports on everything happening, and fans posting their own versions:
Really big. Spring 2015 Calvin Klein Jeans featuring @justinbieber and @LaraStone. #mycalvins pic.twitter.com/SoqVjIgFgg
- Calvin Klein (@CalvinKlein) January 7, 2015
What I liked about the #MyCalvins campaign
The strength of the #MyCalvins campaign is how strongly all of the content is being tied into the hashtag. Without the hashtag the content would lose much of its relevance as it would just be more pictures of sexy people in their underwear. The hashtag connects it across all social media platforms:
A photo posted by Calvin Klein (@calvinklein) on
Jan 7, 2015 at 3:12pm PST
Everytime someone sees some of the #MyCalvins content, with the hashtag, there's another chance that they'll add to it. If the content didn't have this hashtag on one would ever think to og online and look for more, or even create their own.
The first time I saw the #MyCalvins marketing campaign wasn't online. There is a huge banner hung in one of my local malls. It features the Bieber himself along with the #MyCalvins hashtag. If it was just a picture of Bieber I would have never given it a second thought. The hashtag made me explore it further and discover more content. I wonder if anyone has any data on mobile devices being used right under these banners...
What I didn't like about the #MyCalvins Campaign
Besides the fact we've all had enough Bieber in our lives, the campaign has a major failure point with the website. The homepage of the website does not use the #MyCalvin hashtag as part of its imagery.
You have to click on the page set aside for the Justin Bieber campaign, and then all you get is this completely uninspired page with a small use of the hashtag:
When you have a superstar like Justin Bieber...well, you have to push him harder than this on your website. Your entire content marketing plan is to get people to your website. People who find the #MyCalvins content are use to seeing LOTS of super-sexy images. They finally get to the page all about it and that's the first thing they see? That's not good enough.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's when content doesn't match up with the end goal - the website. I feel like Calvin Klein dropped the ball just before they crossed the goalline on this one. If you learn anything from this content marketing campaign, and given all the scantily clad people you may not, it's that the end goal - your website - is always the target. It needs to be perfect.