Chocolate Grasshopper Campaign By the Numbers

Ambassador of Buzz for Grasshopper, Jonathan Kay, emailed me yesterday (July 27) to update me about the chocolate grasshopper campaign the company conducted in May 2009.

I’m really glad he did this because this campaign was a topic of discussion at our dinner table. My husband is in marketing/sales, too, and we spent a good half hour talking about how much each piece cost, including shipping by FedEx.

According to Jonathan, the campaign’s objective was simply to generate buzz and “spark a grassroots movement among the entrepreneurial community that would raise awareness of the brand, and get people interested in entrepreneurship” — not to get people to sign up for the company’s  Advanced Number service, which is something I originally posted about when I received my packet of grasshoppers.

Hence, the  campaign consisted of mailing out the chocolate grasshoppers and creating a video about “the power of entrepreneurship.”

The Grasshopper team spent months scouring the Internet looking for 5,000 of the most influential people with “buzz” around them — emphasis on “influential,” not entrepreneurs who might need the Advanced Number service.

Based on this simple objective, the campaign was a real success. You can read the full Chocolate Grasshopper case study for all of the numbers, but suffice to say, the campaign is a great example of how social media can drive awareness — and cost much, much less than one 30-second TV commercial:

Total campaign cost: $68,103

183,000+ page views for the Entrepreneurs Can Change the World video

51,700+ page views of Grasshoppers.com/idea

2,959 referrals from Twitter

1,664 referrals from Facebook

170 blog posts (according to Jonathan, I was one of the first people to post about the campaign)

Do note that the referrals from Twitter are higher than those from Facebook — Facebook may have more members, but Twitter, it appears, has greater reach.

One other thing to note — which the case study doesn’t cover: This is the second time (for me) that a company has followed up with me after I’ve written about them on this blog. (The first instance was when Brian Ellefritz, Cisco’s Director of Social Media Marketing, contacted me after I featured one of the company’s campaign videos.)

Follow-up with influential bloggers should be, if isn’t already, a social media best practice because you create good will, develop relationships, and increase the possibility for follow-up blog mentions.

Not only did I write an additional blog post about Cisco after talking one-on-one with Brian, but I’ve also have continued to use Cisco as a “what to do right” case study in presentations.

The same will now hold true for Grasshopper. You simply cannot buy that type of brand awareness — and it’s why social media is so effective. (And it’s also why companies must, must, must monitor what’s being said about them online because social media also drives negative awareness in the same huge way.)

One final note: because I was targeted as an “influential” (I’m truly honored!) and because I do consider myself an entrepreneur with vision, let me share my vision with you. It’s what drives me to get out of bed every morning:

I want to be a hands-on mom and give my son a great childhood while also helping my clients achieve their business objectives with results-oriented marketing communications consulting and copywriting.

What’s your vision?