Close to the target group thanks to branded entertainment

In the weekly TV format "Best Friends", two pairs of friends talk about their experiences. "Selfies" are in. All over the world, young people in particular are snapping self-portraits with their smartphones and sharing them on social media. Reason enough for UBS to use this trend for a campaign. Under the motto "Best Friends", the major Swiss bank launched an online-based competition from mid-August to the end of October 2014, which combines the theme of friendship and the current "selfie mania".The game is quickly explained: best friends take a selfie together and upload it to a microsite. Only those who promote their photo and collect votes have the chance to win a prize. Every week, fifty cinema packages were raffled off among the 100 top-placed votes. UBS also gave away twenty weekend trips worth CHF 2,500 each at the end of the campaign. The campaign's target group is 12 to 30-year-olds, with a focus on students.Weekly TV format as the centerpieceIn order to reach this target group, UBS decided to collaborate with the Swiss TV channel Joiz. Just in time for the start of the campaign, Joiz focused on the topic of "friendship" - on all channels. The first step was to publicize the competition. The Joiz presenters served as identification figures and drivers and posted selfies with their best friends. In addition, a video tutorial was launched with "tips & tricks" for a successful selfie with the "dos and don'ts" for perfect self-staging. Finally, the best user selfies were used as the basis for the further call for competition, and the centerpiece of the campaign was a weekly TV format on the topic of friendship entitled "Best Friends", which was broadcast four times. In each half-hour program, two pairs of friends who took part in the competition talk about the best, most poignant and most emotional moments of their friendship.Close cooperation with UBSJoiz worked closely with UBS to develop the broadcast format. "As a young broadcaster, we are very flexible, and we also invest a lot of time in working with our partners," explains Joiz program director Alexander Sautter. "This allows us to contribute our expertise so that the show is well received by the audience. "Joiz accompanied the show with accompanying measures and told the story transmedially across all available platforms: Social media, online and TV. This included posts on Facebook and Google+, tweets on Twitter and photos on Instagram: The campaign took place on all channels. The so-called "red button" was also used. When this is displayed during TV programs and commercials, users can click on the button on joiz.ch or via the Joiz iPhone app to go directly to the competition. "The Red Button makes TV clickable and overcomes the media break between TV and Internet/mobile with a single click," explains Sautter.Community actively involvedWith so many channels, measuring the success of the campaign is anything but easy. Joiz relies on IaKom, a private institute for applied communication research and a spin-off of the University of Zurich. With "Crossplatform Analytics", IaKom provides a measurement system that also records the campaign contacts that a broadcaster achieves through program-supplementing offers and also takes interactions into account. There are three indicators: TV, website and social media, and the results of the "Best Friends" campaign are impressive. In total, around two million contacts were generated on Joiz, YouTube and other social media within two months. There were over 12,000 interactions live on the Joiz website or via social media. "This doesn't even include the classic TV program, with which Joiz reaches an estimated 100,000 contacts per day," says Joiz Managing Director Nicolas Bürer. "It's important that the Joiz community doesn't just consume content, but is actively involved with us. For this reason, the interactions are part of the 'engagement marketing' concept that Joiz pursues."

"Communicating the message authentically"

INTERVIEW Daniel Fischer, Head of Marketing UBS Switzerland, talks about the idea behind the campaign and the collaboration with Joiz.

Daniel Fischer, Head of Marketing UBS Switzerland.MK What is the idea behind the "Best Friends" campaign?DANIEL FISCHER Young people are an important target group for UBS as a client segment, as young clients have the potential for a long-term business relationship. The topic of friendship has a high emotional value in the target group, which is why it is the focus of this acquisition campaign. Selfies are still very popular, so it made sense to develop a competition from them. The campaign also aims to communicate the great added value of free banking products for young people and students.MK Why did you decide to work with the TV channel Joiz?FISHER Joiz is a channel that enjoys a high level of acceptance among the target group. We opted for Joiz as part of a pilot project because it allows us to communicate in a cross-media way that is tailored to the target group - via TV, web and social media. Joiz provided us with ideal support in achieving our campaign goals and generating as many leads as possible.MK What are the advantages of being able to implement your own TV format for a campaign?FISHER We can convey our message forcefully and authentically without coming across as "promotional". In this way, we achieve a higher level of emotionality in the target group and thus generate greater engagement with the topic. Our marketing campaign is subtly supplemented in every broadcast concept - always in an entertaining, age-appropriate way.MK  How satisfied are you with the success of the campaign?FISHER We are very satisfied. This can also be seen in the figures: We have generated around two million contacts and over 12,000 interactions - in a period of less than two months. This would not have been possible with traditional advertising, especially not in this target group.MK Are there already plans for the future in the area of branded entertainment?FISHER Based on our experience, it goes without saying that we will keep an eye on the "branded entertainment" discipline in our future projects and, if appropriate, use it wisely.Author: Simon Wolanin