Building Social
Movements for Brands
An Analysis of Global Movements
John Bell, Tom Boland and Erin Carter
March 2013
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
3
Our Approach
6
Our Findings
7
Movement qualities that drive social actions
11
Profiles of Movements Obama ‘08 – Yes, We Can
15
Political Movement Obama ‘12 – It Begins With Us
16
Political Movement Romney ‘12– Believe in America
17
Social Movement Earth Hour
18
Social Movement It Gets Better
19
Social Movement Occupy Wall Street
20
Social Movement Tsunami Relief Fund
21
Brand Movement Amex Small Business Saturday
22
Brand Movement Nike Foundation, The Girl Effect
23
Brand Movement Pepsi Refresh
24
Appendix A: Top Ten Pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
25
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
2
Executive Summary
D
igital and social media have changed
how causes and movements grow and
accelerate. Building movements is hard
work, and doing it well is an art and science
practiced by NGOs, political candidates, and
supporters of social causes. The collaboration
and communication advantages of digital and
social platforms have reduced the overall
cost of organizing supporters, but not the
complexity. Sharing via social networks,
using content effectively, and managing
relationships with individuals can affect
elections, environmental movements, brand
movements and more. As more brands aspire to build movements
around causes that intersect with the online
community and their business, understanding
the benchmarks of scale and success
becomes key. Brands want big movements
that drive people to action. But how big is big?
The size of a movement matters. Most brands
will be as concerned about overall reach of a
program as the various types of engagement
they can inspire in people. The actual size
of membership, such as the number of
subscribed fans of a Facebook page, for
instance, determines the pool of people we can
drive to save energy, support gay rights, adopt
a more sustainable lifestyle, or some other
action or behavior change.
How does the number of people driven to
action by the 2012 campaign to re-elect
President Obama compare to a brand program
like Pepsi Refresh Everything? How does the
engagement level of a global social program
like Earth Hour, that promotes energy-saving
behaviors, compare with a brand program
like Nike’s The Girl Effect? And how do the
engagement levels of various movements
compare to the most popular phenomena in
social media, like Psy’s Gangnam Style, that
drive more than a billion actions?
As movements aspire to drive people to some
type of action or behavior change, what does
success look like? What do brands need to do
differently? What lessons can we learn?
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
3
What are social actions?
Whether a political movement, a social
movement or a brand movement, all are
trying to do more than simply reach people.
They need to drive action, whether as simple
as sharing a Facebook post or retweeting a
message, or as complex as changing energysaving behavior. To compare movements,
we looked at a variety of typical engagement
metrics, from liking a Facebook page
(“fanning” a page) to watching a video to
following a Twitter handle. We consider
each a “social action.” Most are triggers for
additional advocacy. Facebook shares, for
example, broadcast our action to our own
friends and followers via our own personal
page, and expand the reach of a program.
The value of social actions are not all equal.
Some stimulate more sharing or drive more
time spent with content. Each is a discrete
action, and we have grouped them into a
single number to make comparing movements
easier. Detail of social action types can be
found in the Profiles of Movements section.
How do different movements
compare to each other?
Entertainment Phenomena, Political, Social
and Brand Movements, fall into a descending
order of magnitude.
Entertainment phenomena, like Justin Bieber
and Gangnam Style, earn more than a billion
social actions. Political campaigns, like the
U.S. Presidential, race garner hundreds of
millions of social actions. Social and Brand
Movements fall below these levels, often
earning between five to ten million social
actions.
Political campaigns rely on paid media to
spark owned and earned media to a massive
scale in a short period of time.
Presidential elections have a singular purpose
— to get a candidate elected by a fixed date. As
such, they need to capture people’s attention
and drive action in a concentrated period of
time. Even the established movements with
millions of members, like the 2012 campaign
to re-elect President Obama, need to grow
and update their existing member base, and
increase the actions they are likely to take.
Invariably, these campaigns rely on paid media
to grow the member base fast and drive them
to social actions in a short period of time.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
4
Social and Brand Movements can achieve a
similar level of scale to each other, and do so
more slowly, often over a few years.
Nike’s The Girl Effect drove more than 8
million social actions in 2012, its sixth year
of activity. Earth Hour after four years has
expanded across global markets, and grown to
more than 6 million actions — many focused at
a signature moment in the year.
Large movements have at least four common
characteristics.
Enduring “truths” have emerged about what
it takes to sustain large movements. These
include singular, focused purpose; a genuine
or authentic motivation; low barriers to
entry; and a commitment to the people and
resources to cultivate growth and action.
Brand Movements that do not align and
support current business goals are often
discontinued before earning the full benefits
of multi-year growth.
Pepsi Refresh achieved 8 million-plus social
actions in just two short years, fueled by an
integrated, paid, owned and earned1 program
to acquire supporters and drive action.
Still, this program was either coincident or
correlative to a period of a drop in product
sales. While the program may have improved
brand measures, few programs can maintain
internal support when actual product sales or
growth are hurting.
1
Owned media includes all of the content and platforms controlled by a brand or
organization, such as websites and content, like videos. Earned media describes
all of the community advocacy (e.g., sharing inside Facebook) as well as the
non-paid stories run in professional and semi-professional media outlets. Paid
media includes all forms of paid advertising.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
5
Our Approach
W
e examined social actions across
three types of movements, and
compared these to a fourth
category of the most popular entertainment
phenomena.
ƒƒ Political movements included US
Presidential elections, as well as emergent
phenomena, like the Arab Spring.
ƒƒ Social Movements included advocacy and
behavior change efforts around social
causes.
ƒƒ Brand Movements included focused efforts
from major brands to drive action around a
social cause aligned with the brand.
ƒƒ Entertainment phenomena captured the
artists and media with the absolute highest
level of social actions.
For the sake of this analysis, we have assumed
that all social actions are weighted equally.
Understandably, how one social action is
weighted may depend on the category, timing,
and other factors. For example, liking a
Facebook page may carry less weight than
sharing and commenting on a post; viewing
a video may be a more passive social action
than retweeting a brand’s tweet. We primarily
looked at activity across the threemajor
social networksmost often used by these
movements- Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
We reviewed 10 different movements from
across the globe, looking for those that were
developed for political campaigns, social
causes, or brands. These 10 were culled from
a list of 30 movements overall. We analyzed
each category, looking at total social actions,
as noted above, as well as the duration of the
program: was it in its infancy, or had it been
in existence for a few years? The objective
was to reveal strengths and weaknesses
of different movements, especially those
designed to contribute to driving sustained
behavior change. For a deeper understanding
of individual movements’ strengths and
weaknesses, a ranking and analysis of each
political, brand and social movement we
explored can be found in the final section.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
6
Our Findings
Entertainment rules…by a lot!
Across all platforms, players in the
entertainment category quickly emerge as
the most popular. Psy (Gangnam Style), who
took over the top spot on YouTube in less
than a year, had been viewed more than one
billion times by year’s end. Those who reign
on Twitter and Facebook are not the same as
the leaders on YouTube, but nearly all those
who lead in these social networks are in the
entertainment industry. Few brands, and even
fewer non-entertainment individuals rise
to the very top on these networks. Notably,
no causes or movements seeking behavior
change were at the top. For a full list of the top
pages on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, see
Appendix A.
Political movements in the US
are becoming more effective in
the use of “integrated” social
media.
Measured by social actions, President
Obama’s recent re-election campaign
achieved almost three times the impact ofhis
2008 campaign. Compared to his opponent,
Governor Mitt Romney, who had an impressive
social media footprint, President Obama
clearly led in social actions. In October 2012,
Political
Movement
Comparison
Total Social
Actions in
One Year
400,000,000
Obama ‘12
300,000,000
200,000,000
100,000,000
50,000,000
Obama ‘08
Romney ‘12
0
the New York Times reported social actions of
nearly 50mm for President Obama, and only
9mm for Governor Romney. Political election
movements can get bigquickly, fueled by a mix
of integrated marketing and very sophisticated
message targeting driven by data insights.
These campaigns were not merely social. They
represent integrated programs that combine
owned, earned and paid media, for maximum
impact. At their heart is a sophisticated
approach to email-driven CRM, combined
both with paid advertising and action-oriented
programs in social media. The 2012 campaign
to re-elect the President of the United States
put more emphasis on mobile fundraising
to match changes in user behaviors. The
campaign also achieved greater results with
lower ad spend. This was due to at least
four factors. The Obama campaign had
an established base of followers on social
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
7
Comparison of
Social vs Brand
Movements
Total Social Actions
8,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
Social
Brand
Pepsi
Refresh
7,000,000
Amex Small
Business
Earth Hour
It Gets Better
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
Nike The
Girl Effect
Tsunami
1,000,000
Occupy Wall Street
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Years
networks from the previous election cycle.
These users had four years of growth in their
own reliance on social networks. Meanwhile,
the campaign developed increasingly more
sophisticated CRM practices,as well as datadriven targeting.
Political movements generate an amazing
amount of social actions over a short period
of time. They are designed to educate and
influence an audience to accomplish three
specific short-term goals: drive advocacy,
encourage fundraising, and generate votes.
They rely on advertising dollars online and
offline to “jumpstart” election programs. By
June 2012, the Obama re-election campaign
spent $31mm in online advertising alone. This
was four times what Mitt Romney’s campaign
had spent, though both candidates spent
between $400-492mm on total ad spend in the
course of a year. After the election, though,
the activity and engagement with those who
participate in the movement nearly stops
completely.
International, non-election, political
movements work differently. They are smaller,
and the dollars available are often insignificant
in comparison to what is spent on electionbased political movements. Many also lack the
organization of election-based movements.
For example, the Egyptian movement We Are
All Khaled Said, which expressed outrage over
Khaled Said’s death at the hands of Egyptian
police, lacks the scale for a true comparison,
with only 293,000 Facebook fans. The AntiJapan Sentiment in China, although growing
in news coverage, is not a cohesive, mobilized
movement that supporters could join, never
mind be driven to common actions.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
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Social and Brand movements
achieve similar levels of scale.
Social and brand movements designed to
sustain action over several years are often
smaller than the compressed efforts of an
election campaign. Election movements
have a simple, singular call-to-action, whose
relevance is broadly clear to a community.
They also have large advertising budgets and
sophisticated social CRM techniques.
Even while some brand movements, like Pepsi
Refresh or American Express Small Business
Saturday, may support their efforts through
some paid media budget, these are dwarfed
by the money spent during an election cycle.
Social and Brand movements often rely on
sophisticated use of owned and earned media,
with some “strategic” paid media.
Social movements perform well when they
have low barriers to entry and simple calls to
action. The Girl Effect, which advocates rights
for young women, and Earth Hour, which
promotes energy conservation, have both been
active for over four years. They enjoy large
social footprints as the ideas have spread to
different regions of the world. It Gets Better,
a program which seeks to eliminate bullying
of gay and lesbian youth, has also grown a
significant social footprint, as it has expanded
from North America to over 25 global markets.
Earth Hour has grown across the world,
driving a synchronized and simple activity
among its followers. While it is relatively
straightforward to tally up the social actions
taken in a program like Earth Hour, or even
to understand how many people turned their
lights off during the actual “Earth Hour,” it is
much harder to evaluate whether the program
causes, or correlates to sustained behavior
change. Are people participating in the social
and symbolic actions of Earth Hour actually
changing the way they live every day to save
energy? “Social actions” is a simple measure
of how much engagement, and even digital
advocacy, we may be driving. All movements
have a more tangible behavior goal that must
be tracked, as well.
Conversely, Occupy Wall Street — a
movement that received significant media
attention and led to popular social memes —
has receded. The call to action is not clear. The
actual goals of the movement are confusing.
People may be interested in the movement,
but don’t know how to best participate. Indeed,
Occupy Wall Street bills itself as a “leaderless
resistance movement,” which could be part
of the reason that interested parties are not
entirely clear on how to effect change on any
reasonable scale.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
9
Brand movements need to align
with business success to be
sustained.
The best brand movements generate
impressive social participation figures when
they have low barriers to entry and a clear
call to action. But if a movement does not
support the business goals of a brand, few
brands will stay committed, as is the case with
the Pepsi Refresh Project. While it may have
boosted brand reputation with 6.6mm social
actions in support of the movement, it did not
translate into a sales lift, and correlates to a
period of overall sales decline. Pepsi reported
that they “measured our results by the level
of engagement between the brand and our
consumers, social ROI [impact made] and
brand-equity results. And, by these measures,
we [were] more than satisfied.” However, it’s
been argued that the cost of the program
compared to the weakening sales and market
share made it unsustainable in the long-term.2
American Express Small Business Saturday,
on the other hand, has been in the market for
two years. Consumers and merchants are
supporting the program, which has translated
to a 23% increase in small business revenue.3
Part of its success may be explained by the
cause itself, which already had meaning for
people before American Express embraced
it. Rather than fabricating an issue or cause,
American Express chose to champion one that
people were already invested in and talking
about.
There are common characteristics to the
best-performing movements. Between the
high-performing, election-based political
movements and the more modest social and
brand movements, some qualities stand out as
more critical keys to success:
Social and Brand
Political
ƒƒ Low barrier to
entry.
ƒƒ A strong CRM
program connected
to social.
ƒƒ Clear call to action.
ƒƒ Measureable
actions
ƒƒ Owned, earned and
paid media working
together.
ƒƒ Addresses a
ƒƒ Leverage big data
personally or locally
to find and activate
relevant cause.
key opinion leaders
(KOLs).
2 http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/186127/why-pepsi-cannedthe-refresh-project.html
3 http://mashable.com/2012/03/22/american-express-small-businesssaturday/
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
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Movement qualities
that drive social actions
Relevant Cause:
Supporters generally need a strong cause to
rally around and support. While it can be about
a global or national issue, it must have some
personal and/or local relevance. The beauty of
Small Business Saturday in the United States
is that everyone has a local business that
they care about. Most causes have emotional
as well as rational drivers —something
participants are passionate about, and can
“put their heart into.” Often, it is not connected
to a brand or buying a product. When causes
blatantly connect to selling a product, they can
come across as being too “sales-y” or focused
on making money, rather than promoting
the cause. The Girl Effect, Earth Hour, Small
Business Saturday and It Gets Better are all
good examples of strong, relevant causes.
Application of Behavioral
Economics:
For the sake of this paper, we will consider the
broad discipline of driving people to action via
behavioral insights as “behavioral economics.”
From social proof to confirmation bias to
letting people be creative and display their
involvement, great movements know how
to trigger action. Pepsi Refresh Everything
invited people to vote to determine which
non-profits would receive $20mm of funding.
Participants became invested in the outcome,
part of something bigger, and could show their
involvement via Facebook. Most movements
are keenly aware that emotional cues, rather
than rational reasons, drive action and invest
in strong storytelling to inspire action and
belief. All of these are simple examples of the
art and science of behavioral economics that
explain why any of us would actively support a
cause.
Clear Call-to-Action
and Low Barrier:
Successful movements have a clear call
to action and make it easy for people to
participate. Removing barriers to participation
and encouraging simple, everyday actions that
are easy for people to do on a regular basis
can help allow a movement to catch hold.
Earth Hour is an example of a movement that
had a low barrier to entry, asking participants
to give up electricity for just one hour during
the entire year. As noted previously, however,
getting people to do something once a year
may not result in a sustained habit.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
11
Measureable Actions:
Not only do supporters need to know
what goals they are working toward with
the movement they have joined, but it is
important for the organizers to be able to
measure whether the movement has “moved
the needle” in any significant way. The key
performance indicators will vary, depending
on the mission statement of the movement,
and could be connected to product sales,
social change, or political gain. Being able
to track year-over-year results allows the
movement’s organizers, supporters (and
detractors) determine success.
Four enduring lessons for
movements:
1 Understand and be able to articulate the
cause behind the movement and the actions
required of participants. Without a clear
vision, a movement cannot succeed (e.g.,
Occupy Wall Street). Additionally, it is vital
that brands be clear on financial and brand
reputation goals, and set appropriate
metrics against which to measure the
positive impact on business in addition to
the community impact.
2 Some of the most successful movements
are those that are perceived as genuine
and organic. Trying to develop and define a
movement connected to a product, or where
the purchase of the product is key to the
movement, may be perceived as inorganic
and forced. Connecting directly to a product
may not lead to sales growth, as was the
case with Pepsi Refresh Project. (One of
the things that helped make The Girl Effect
successful is that the Nike brand is not
readily evident as a sponsor; because the
movement is unbranded, it has a scope and
vision much larger than athletic gear.)
3 Given the demands on consumers’
time and attention, the more a brand or
movement can limit barriers to entry, the
more likely it is that participants will join.
Complicated requirements for support
can be a hindrance to participation and/
or duration of a movement. Simple actions
and simple messages work best. The
artful management and targeting of simple
messages and actions in the campaign to
re-elect President Obama was part of its
success.
4 Be prepared to invest time, effort, and
dollars to assist the movement’s growth.
Part of the success of the Obama 2008
and 2012 campaigns came from the sheer
volume of dollars and work effort involved
from paid staffers and volunteers. Similarly,
American Express has invested significant
amounts of money in paid media and other
resources to support their strategy and
efforts for Small Business Saturday. While
some movements are successful and “go
viral” with little financial investment, this is
rare. The biggest brand movements require
financial support, allowing them to grow
on a scale that unsupported movements
cannot.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
12
Movements Rankings
Social
Movements
Total Social
Actions
Facebook
Fans
Twitter
Followers
YouTube
Views
YouTube
Subscribers
Google+
Followers
1
Obama ‘12 It
Begins With Us
350.6mm
33mm
28mm
287mm
284k
2.4mm
2
Obama ‘08 Yes,
We Can
123.5mm
3.2mm
109k
120mm
150k
0
3
Romney ‘12
Believe in
America
44mm
7.9mm
1.23mm
34mm
32mm
882k
4
Pepsi Refresh
6.7mm
4.0mm
65k
2.6mm
2k
0
5
Earth Hour
6.3mm
768k
81k
5.4mm
72k
8k
6
AMEX Small Biz
Saturday
5.0mm
3.2mm
16k
1.8mm
0k
0
7
Nike Girl Effect
4.4mm
306k
36k
4mm
4k
0
8
It Gets Better
4.1mm
287k
77k
3.8mm
46k
642
9
Tsunami Relief
Project
773k
38k
50.5k
682k
302
3,364
10
Occupy Wall
Street
585k
411k
172k
0
0
2,732
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
13
Sub-Category Rankings
Political
Movements
Total Social
Actions
Facebook
Fans
Twitter
Followers
YouTube
Views
YouTube
Subscribers
Google+
Followers
1
Obama ‘12 It
Begins With Us
350.6mm
33mm
28mm
287mm
284k
2.4mm
2
Obama ‘08 Yes,
We Can *
123.5mm
3.2mm
109k
120mm
150k
0
3
Romney ‘12
Believe in
America
44mm
7.9mm
1.23mm
34mm
32mm
882k
Social
Movements
Total Social
Actions
Facebook
Fans
Twitter
Followers
YouTube
Views
YouTube
Subscribers
Google+
Followers
1
Earth Hour
6.3mm
768k
81k
5.4mm
72k
8k
2
It Gets Better
4.1mm
287k
77k
3.8mm
46k
642
3
Tsunami Relief
Project
773k
38k
50.5k
682k
302
3,364
4
Occupy Wall
Street*
585k
411k
172k
0
0
2,732
Brand
Movements
Total Social
Actions
Facebook
Fans
Twitter
Followers
YouTube
Views
YouTube
Subscribers
Google+
Followers
1
Pepsi Refresh
6.7mm
4.0mm
65k
2.6mm
2k
0
2
AMEX Small Biz
Saturday
5.0mm
3.2mm
16k
1.8mm
0k
0
3
Nike Girl Effect
4.4mm
306k
36k
4mm
4k
0
* no official Google+ channel
* no official YouTube channel
*Facebook page and Twitter page are no longer live
Data reflects a snapshot in time, as of Tuesday, 11/27/12
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
14
Profiles of Movements
Obama ‘08 – Yes We Can
Target
US
Sustained Action
Duration of 2008
election cycle
Size
123.5mm
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
YouTube, Social
Networks, Twitter,
Email, Paid Media
Spend and ingame advertising
SOURCES:
http://mashable.com/2010/12/30/adagency-obama-campaign-purchase/
http://www.barackobama.com/
http://www.k-state.edu/
actr/2010/12/20/three-simplewords-a-rhetorical-analysis-of-theslogan-_25e2_2580_259cyes-wecan_25e2_2580_259d-molly-mcguire/
default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_
Obama_presidential_campaign,_2008
http://www.slideshare.net/mjmetekohy/
srmguruobama2008012 9sho
rt212338595089952692-1950834
http://www.politico.com/news/
stories/1108/15306.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a
erix76GvmRM
Description
Strengths
The “Yes We Can” movement
became nationally recognized in
the United States during Barack
Obama’s 2008 campaign for
president.
ƒƒ Barack Obama became the
44th president of the United
States in an election that saw
130mm people vote, the most
ever in a presidential election.
(130mm?)
The message was powered by
a massive media buy, including
digital and social media, which
helped harness the grassroots
base and generated the largest
voter turnout in US history.
Call to Action
The desired behavior of this
movement was to identify and
activate a new group of voters
who would help fundraise,
campaign, and vote for a leader
who promised to bring real
change. Obama’s campaign
team introduced new forms of
technology to fundraising that
combined the traditional reach
of old media with the targeting
capabilities of digital/social media.
Cause
ƒƒ The Pew Research Center
determined the 2008 election
was the most racially and
ethnically diverse in US
history, which reinforces
how successful the Obama
campaign was at attracting new
voters.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Detractors point to Obama’s
$740mm media spend as a
major driver of his election
campaign.
ƒƒ Bloomberg published Obama’s
spending, which eclipsed the
combined $646.7mm that
Bush/Kerry spent four years
earlier.
Elect Barack Obama to the
Presidency in 2008.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
15
Political Movement
Obama ‘12 – It Begins With Us
Target
US
Sustained Action
Duration of 2012
election cycle
Size
350.6mm
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Social Networks,
Reddit, Tumblr,
YouTube, Twitter,
Email, Paid Media
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_
Obama_presidential_campaign,_2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVZLvVF1FQ
http://www.barackobama.com/
http://adage.com/article/campaigntrail/romney-outspent-obamaadvertise/238241/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_
Obama_on_social_media
http://www.bluestatedigital.com/work/
case-studies/barack-obama
http://www.economist.com/
node/21552590
www.linkedin.com/today/post/
article/20121009061552-33767-obamavs-romney-in-social-media-who-susing-it-best?
Description
Strengths
The “It Begins With Us”
movement became nationally
recognized in the United States
during Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
ƒƒ Barack Obama won a second
term as President of the
United States by leveraging big
data and cloud computing to
generate 2.2mm volunteers, the
largest grassroots campaign
in political history.
Again, President Obama
leveraged new media and big data
to help target and connect with
new voters. Through his message
and innovative marketing strategy,
Obama won his re-election by a
margin of 50.35% to 48.13%.
Call to Action
The desired behavior of this
movement was to identify and
activate new groups of voters, to
help fundraise, campaign, and
vote for a leader who promised to
keep moving the country forward.
To do this, Obama’s campaign
team introduced leveraged big
data and cloud computing to
improve his targeting capabilities.
ƒƒ To illustrate, the Economist
reported on how President
Obama spent the lion’s share of
his funds on online advertising
to develop “a huge network of
volunteers, to proselytize on his
behalf.”
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Some point to the fact that
Obama had fouryears as
president to gather support
through social networks and
other media outlets, whereas
the Republican candidates
were not afforded the same
opportunity.
Cause
Re-elect Barack Obama to the
Presidency in 2012.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
16
Political Movement
Romney ‘12– Believe in America
Target
US
Sustained Action
Duration of 2012
election cycle
Size
44 mm social
actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook,
YouTube, Twitter,
Television,
Google+, email
SOURCES:
http://www.nytimes.com/
interactive/2012/10/08/technology/
campaign-social-media.html
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.
com/2012/11/15/social-and-anti-socialmedia/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/
markfidelman/2012/11/11/5-waysromney-could-have-won-the-electionwith-data-social-and-mobile/
http://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/
infographic-obama-romney-socialmedia/236798/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_
Romney_presidential_campaign,_2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/winnerof-the-obamaromney-social-mediacampaign-2012-9?op=1
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/
article/20121009061552-33767-obamavs-romney-in-social-media-who-susing-it-best
Description
Strengths
The “Believe in America”
movement became nationally
recognized in the United States
during Mitt Romney’s 2012
campaign for president.
ƒƒ Utilized multiple social
networks, from Facebook to
Pinterest to Spotify, to capitalize
on a range of audience
segments and communication
formats.
It was based on the theory
that Romney’s experience in
the financial sector could help
address the economic situation
the United States was facing, and
put America back “on a course to
greatness.”
Call to Action
The desired behavior of this
movement was to encourage
people to vote for Romney,
who, if elected, promised to
grow the economy, create jobs,
and increase financial checks
and balances in the federal
government
Cause
Elect Mitt Romney to the
Presidency in 2012.
ƒƒ Although he had lower follower
numbers on Facebook, Romney
made strategic Facebook ad
buys so that his ads would
appear next to terms such
as “Obama” and “Democrat.”
The result, according to one
report, is that Romney gained
Facebook followers at double
the rate of Obama.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ As Forbes notes, although
the campaign had access to
a significant amount of data
through social networking,
it failed to utilize it in such a
way that drove actions that
would lead to a Romney win on
election day.
ƒƒ Romney was forced to spend
much of his campaign prior to
the nomination dealing with
Republican opponents, and
defending himself against
detractors in his own party,
which led to a split focus.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
17
Social Movement
Earth Hour
Target
Global
Sustained Action
Once-a-year
activation, that has
taken place for the
past four years
Size
6.3mm
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook, Twitter,
Website, Google+,
YouTube and TV
SOURCES:
http://worldwildlife.org/pages/earthhour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour
https://twitter.com/earthhour
https://www.facebook.com/earthhour
http://sowellslawblog.blogspot.
com/2009/03/busted-earth-hour.html
Description
Strengths
Earth Hour is a worldwide
movement organized by the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
and held towards the end of
March encouraging households
and businesses to turn off their
non-essential lights to raise
awareness about the need to take
action on climate change.
ƒƒ Supporters highlight Earth
Hour’s global adoption by 150
countries, measureable impact,
and four years of activity as
evidence of success.
Call to Action
The goal of this movement is
to reduce energy consumption.
Every March 27th, WWF
encourages supporters to shut
down all their power (lights,
heating, air conditioning, etc.)
for exactly one hour (known as
Earth Hour). Participants are
encouraged to spread the word to
their friends and family through
social channels.
Cause
A small act by a large group of
people can make a big difference.
Using this principle, Earth Hour
aims to show the world that by
making small sacrifices, there
can be some hope in reversing the
effects of global warming.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
ƒƒ For example, Commonwealth
Edison(a utility company that
services Chicago) reported that
about 840,000 pounds of carbon
dioxide were kept out of the
atmosphere during Earth Hour
2008.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Detractors label Earth Hour
as a failure because the oncea-year program generates
insignificant short-term and
long-term behavior changes,
beyond a symbolic action.
ƒƒ To illustrate, Roger
Sowell published a report in
2009 that showed no apparent
decrease in the power load
throughout the state of
California during Earth Hour.
18
Social Movement
It Gets Better
Target
Global
(NA heavy to date)
Sustained Action
Continuous
Size
4.1mm
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook, Twitter,
Website, Google+,
YouTube and
Tumblr
Description
Strengths
It Gets Better is an Internetbased movement founded in
the United States in 2010 by
Dan Savage and his husband
Terry Miller, in response to the
suicides of teenagers who were
bullied because they were gay or
suspected of being gay.
ƒƒ Supporters classify It Gets
Better as a success due to the
movement adoption in 25 global
markets and two years of
sustained activity.
Call to Action
The goal of this movement is
to prevent bullying and suicide
among LGBT youth. To do this, It
Gets Better encourages gay adults
and straight allies to help convey
the message that LGBT teens’
lives will improve.
Cause
Everyone deserves to be
respected for who they are.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Gets_
Better_Project
http://www.youtube.com/user/
itgetsbetterproject
http://www.whitehouse.gov/itgetsbetter
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=HzcAR6yQhF8
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
ƒƒ For example, President Obama
shared his support by making a
promotional video that had over
461K views to date.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Detractors point out It Gets
Better should focus on parents,
not teens, to help reduce LGBT
suicide.
ƒƒ To illustrate, The Family
Acceptance Project’s research
has demonstrated that
“parental acceptance, and
even neutrality, with regard
to a child’s sexual orientation”
can bring down the attempted
suicide rate.
19
Social Movement
Occupy Wall Street
Target
Global
Sustained Action
Continuous
Size
585k
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook, Twitter,
Tumblr, Website
and Celebrities
(Michael Moore,
Nancy Pelosi)
SOURCES
http://occupywallst.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_
Wall_Street
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring
http://www.yesmagazine.org/peoplepower/occupywallstreet?gclid=CLOX
jv2p67MCFYd9Ogod1DgACQ
http://www.yesmagazine.org/peoplepower/five-ways-occupywallstreet-hassucceeded
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/
top-ten-richest-celebrities-supportingoccupy-wall-street/#
http://stpeteforpeace.org/occupyarrests.
sources.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/
nyregion/protesters-are-gunning-forwall-street-with-faulty-aim.html?_r=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_
Policy_Polling
Description
Strengths
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is a
protest movement that began on
9/17/11. The main issues are social
and economic inequality, greed,
corruption, and perceived undue
influence of corporations on
government.
ƒƒ Supporters highlight how OWS
is currently active in 1,500 cities
globally and how technology
and social media are increasing
awareness and participation.
Call to Action
The goal of this movement is to
fight back against the richest 1%
of people who are writing the
rules of an unfair global economy.
OWS encourages supporters to
follow the revolutionary Arab
Spring tactic to achieve their
goals, and encourages the use
of nonviolence to maximize the
safety of all participants.
Cause
Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless
resistance movement, with
people of many colors, genders
and political persuasions. The
one thing all participants have
in common is that We Are The
99% who will no longer tolerate
the greed and corruption of the
1%. BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
ƒƒ In November 2011, Public Policy
Polling did a national survey
which found that 33% of voters
supported OWS.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Detractors often criticize OWS
for not having clear demands
and thus not being able to
accomplish any goals.
ƒƒ Ginia Fellafante points out
in the New York Times that
OWS supporters have a lack of
focus, highlighting some who
note that “no one who uses an
Apple computer can possibly
say anything critical about
capitalism.”
20
Social Movement
Tsunami Relief Fund
Target
Global
Sustained Action
Continuous
Size
773k social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook, Twitter,
Website, Google+,
mobile/texting
SOURCES:
http://www.globalgiving.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalGiving
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/
japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.
cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=11648
http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/11/21/
low-ranked-charity-not-a-scam-butskip-global-giving-if-you-sleep-in-thisblack-friday/
Description
Strengths
There were many organizations
delivering relief, or funding relief
programs, in the wake of the
Japanese Tsunami. GlobalGiving
was one organization that
effectively connected donors
with disaster areas or grassroots
projects in developing worlds.
Potential donors could browse
and select from a wide offering of
projects, and could easily transfer
funds to the area of interest.
ƒƒ Supporters proudly highlight
that the Tsunami fundraising
movement is currently 93% of
the way to its goal, with $8.8
million dollars raised out of a
$9.5 million goal.
Call to Action
Following the Japanese
earthquake and tsunami in March
2011, GlobalGiving established
a fundraising goal of 9.5 million
dollars for tsunami relief. They
solicited and collected donations
from multiple platforms,
including, digital, mobile, social
and TV.
Cause
GlobalGiving is a charity
fundraising movement that gives
social entrepreneurs and nonprofits from anywhere in the
world a chance to raise the money
that they need to improve their
communities from anywhere in
the world.
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
ƒƒ For example, Makoto
Katakeyama explained how
he received relief money from
GlobalGiving so he could start
oyster farming again, which
directly benefited his local
economy and increased the
local food supply.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Detractors label GlobalGiving
as fiscally irresponsible
because it takes 10% of
donations for operating
expenses.
ƒƒ To illustrate, Charity Navigator,
the well-respected nonprofit watchdog, only gives
GlobalGiving three out of a
possible four stars (a concern,
since a four-star rating isn’t
hard to achieve).
21
Brand Movement
Amex Small Business Saturday
Target
US
Sustained Action
Once a year
Size
102 million US
consumers
shopped “small”
on Small Business
Saturday in 2011.
5mm social
actions.
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook, Twitter,
Website, Merchant
Kits, CRM,
Advertising
Description
Strengths
American Express started
Small Business Saturday in
2010 as a way to generate more
awareness of local, small
businesses, and to assist in
generating sales for their small
business merchants.
ƒƒ American Express helped drive
sales in small, local stores, as
102mm customers shopped on
Small Business Saturday.
Call to Action
Shop small and shop local — go
into your local stores and give
them your business.
Spread the word — tell others to
shop small and shop local.
Cause
Small businesses across America
need the enduring support
of local shoppers. While the
benefits of big chains and big box
retailers cannot be dismissed, it’s
America’s small businesses that
serve our communities best.
SOURCES:
www.americanexpress.com/Business
http://mashable.com/2012/03/22/
american-express-small-businesssaturday/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/
business/american-express-to-refund85-million.html
http://www.inc.com/eric-markowitz/
small-business-saturday-real-effectson-merchants.html
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
ƒƒ Mashable reported that
American Express “saw a
23% increase in transactions
at small business in 2011”
which was a win for the small
businesses as well as Amex.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Critics point out how the
one-day affair has limited
sustainable impact, how
American Express charges
very high fees to vendors
(~2.5%), and how this campaign
is designed to help AmEx,
rather than the small business
community.
ƒƒ Inc.com recently reported
that the program is “a
monetary boom if they can
get more people to use the
card…but there’s been no
reciprocal kindness back to the
merchants.”
22
Brand Movement
Nike Foundation, The Girl Effect
Target
Global
Sustained Action
Continuous
Size
4.4mm
social actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
YouTube,
Facebook,
Twitter, Multiple
Websites, Email,
Partnerships (with
Clinton Global
Initiatives, etc.)
and PR/Blogger
Outreach
Description
Strengths
Founded by The NoVo Foundation
and The Nike Foundation, The Girl
Effect is a movement to invest
in and provide opportunities to
adolescent girls as a means
to end poverty in developing
countries. It is based on the
theory that, if given the right
opportunities, girls and women
can be effective at lifting
themselves and their communities
out of poverty.
ƒƒ Supporters highlight how
Nike was able to successfully
draw attention and interest
to an important international
social and economic issue,
as evidenced by $41 million
donated to the program in first
three years (2007-2009).
Call to Action
The desired behavior of this
movement was to end poverty in
developing countries by focusing
on, and investing in adolescent
girls in those countries.
Cause
Ending poverty by investing
resources in girls around the
world.
ƒƒ The Huffington Post reported
on how the Girl Effect helped
decrease HIV prevalence by
60%, compared to peers.
Peers? Means what? Unclear.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Critics have slammed the
Girl Effect for playing up to
stereotypes of women and
girls as natural caregivers,
ignoring questions of
structural inequality and power
imbalance.FIX WIDOW.
ƒƒ Aidwatchers openly
questioned, “Why reinforce
perceptions about “women’s
work” and “men’s work” by
claiming that women make
better homemakers?”
SOURCES:
http://youthinkyouknowme.girleffect.
org/
http://www.girleffect.org/learn/thebig-picture
http://nikeinc.com/pages/the-girl-effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_
Effect
www.hks.harvard.edu/hauser/role-ofbrand/documents/girleffect.pdf
http://www.guardian.co.uk/globaldevelopment/poverty-matters/2012/
mar/23/girl-hub-strength-weaknesses
http://aidwatchers.com/2011/01/so-nowwe-have-to-save-ourselves-and-theworld-too-a-critique-of-%E2%80%9Cthegirl-effect%E2%80%9D/
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
23
Brand Movement
Pepsi Refresh
Target
US
Sustained Action
Two years
Size
6.7mm social
actions
Key Engagement
Platforms
Facebook,
Twitter, Website,
Mobile, YouTube,
and Advertising
Celebrity tie-ins
(NFL)
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_
Refresh_Project
http://adage.com/article/viewpoint/ateaching-moment-professors-evaluatepepsi-refresh-project/237629/
http://www.hugeinc.com/casestudies/
pepsi
http://www.pepsico.com/PressRelease/
The-Pepsi-Refresh-Project-Awards-13Million-to-Support-the-Publics-FavoriteIdea03222010.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/
business/06charity.html
http://helloenso.com/Pepsi-refresh
Description
Strengths
The Pepsi Refresh Project began
in 2010 as an initiative to identify
and fund projects that would
have a positive impact on their
community, states, or the country.
Originally planned as a one-year
campaign, Pepsi Refresh lasted
for two years, and awarded
$20mm in grants to non-profit
organizations, businesses, and
individuals, who were chosen
through a system of voting via
social media.
ƒƒ Built equity for the Pepsi brand,
as evidenced in a 2010 Forbes
and Reputation Institute study,
which indicated that Pepsi
moved from #16 to #5 among
the country’s most reputable
brands.
Call to Action
ƒƒ Didn’t correlate directly enough
to sales, as market share
decreased during the same
time period.
The desired behavior of this
movement was to encourage
individuals and nonprofits to
ideate innovative and creative
solutions to help move their
communities forward.
ƒƒ Empowered communities and
individuals to believe they could
step up and change their world.
Weaknesses
ƒƒ Faced criticism with how grants
were awarded, and there were
many allegations of cheating.
Cause
Refresh Everything (The Pepsi
Refresh Project) was conceived
as a “ground-breaking initiative
designed to fund good ideas, big
and small, that help refresh our
world.”
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
24
Appendix A:
Top Ten Pages on Facebook,
Twitter and YouTube
Facebook
Brand
Twitter
Fans
YouTube
Brand
Followers
Brand
Views
1 Facebook
84,121,319
1 Lady Gaga
32,660,281
1 Psy
1,116,593,319
2 YouTube
67,719,238
2 Justin Bieber
32,372,480
2 Justin Bieber
817,886,738
67,666,376
3 Katy Perry
30,699,659
3
Jennifer Lopez/
Pitbull
636,739,081
4 Rihanna
64,797,581
4 Rihanna
27,579,512
4
Eminem/
Rihanna
527,855,009
5 Eminem
64,490,260
5 Barack Obama
25,257,501
5 LMFAO
6 The Simpsons
58,826,643
6 Britney Spears
22,912,239
6
7 Shakira
58,572,171
7 Taylor Swift
22,449,120
7 Shakira
504,975,753
8 Coca-Cola (Coke) 56,883,666
8 YouTube
21,435,228
8 Lady Gaga
502,934,765
Harry Potter
9 and the Deathly
Hallows
54,723,452
9 Shakira
19,175,242
9 Michel Telo
473,010,286
10 Lady Gaga
54,678,908
10 Kim Kardashian
17,050,528
10 Don Omar
415,846,863
3
Texas Holdem
Poker
Source: http://fanpagelist.com/ as of 1/3/13
Source: http://twitaholic.com as of 1/3/13
BUILDING SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FOR BRANDS
MARCH 2013
Charlie Bit My
Finger - again!
512,476,646
505,465,413
Source: http://www.youtube.com as of 1/3/13
25
About Social@Ogilvy
S
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network in the world. Named 2011 Global Digital/Social
Consultancy of the Year by The Holmes Report, the practice
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For more information, visit social.ogilvy.com and connect with
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