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100 years of Oreo:How the iconic cooi(ie brand is using social mediaBy Amy Jacques

Oreo,"Milks Favorite Cookie," cele-brates its Centennial year this spring. Inhonor of the occasion and for the NewYork portion of the Social Media Weekconference, Kraft and 360i Foods present-ed a discussion dded,"How Oreo Is UsingSocial to Celebrate 100 Years of BrandLove," on Feb. 14 at 360i headquarters.

The session discussed how Oreo isconnecting with people via social mediaand buuding a loyal community of fansand followers in online spaces. Beth Reüly,digital marketing lead, Kraft, and SarahHoßtetter, president, 360i Foods, provideda case study on how to use social to "baudbrand love."

"Oreo is not so much about snackingas it is about sharing childlike moments ofdelight," said Hofstetter. "These are socialmoments inherendy, special to audiencesand customers."

The Oreo case study focused on the"Oreo Moments" gallery, the GuinnessWorld Record and its 100th Birthday inMarch, and explained how the storiedcookie brand stays relevant in socialmedia. Oreo aimed to empower cus-tomen to communicate moments, put

consumers at theheart of marketingand invite them toshare in the magic.

Hofitetter saidthat 360i and Krafthad to find out howto bring the cam-paign to center stageas people were eat-ing Oreos across theworld but in differ-ent social settings.

"Brands todayneed to act as mediacompanies and invite people to sharecontent," she said, adding that after thisrevelation, Oreo's Facebook communi-ty grew fiiom 2 million to 60 miUionfans.

Oreo realized that sharing acrossplatforms was key. "Don't treat them asmatching lu^age; all people and plat-forms are different," Hofitetter said. "Socialmedia is a conversation, not a one-nightstand."

The company hosted a GuinnessWorld Record event last February thatunited fans fiom across the globe and aimedto get the most Likes on a Facebook post in

24 hours. They promoted thisthrough their social media platformsand the Oreo website. Various onlinemedia oudets and local press soonpicked up on the story too.

"The marketir^ becomes the111 essaging,' ' Hofstetter said, as Oreoearned 15 million media impres-sions.

Adaptability is key in these situ-

ations because a twist brin^ attention to aneffort.

The Guinness event catapulted Oreointo the spotlight — it received 25,000Likes in the first 60 seconds oflaunchingpublicly and achieved a total of 56,615 towin the Guinness World Record.

Social listening opportunitiesFor Kraft,"The single bi^est oppor-

tunity is in social — fostering differentlanguages and cultures," ReiUy said."Wehave more than 24 miUion fans talkingabout Oreo in 100 countries."

Kraft and similar companies mustkeep tabs on Pinterest and other burgeon-ing social networks because of the conver-sations about food, ReiUy added.

As for existing social mediums,"Twitter is about relevancy. It's for conver-sations and news and customer service, butnot as much about a community asFacebook is," Hofstetter said, adding that itis important how the customer discoversyou and experiences your brand online."Listening is key — you are looking foropportunities to join cultural relevance."

Hoßtetter noted that personal rela-tionships are an integral part of the Oreobrand. If you give Oreos to five differentkids, then they wul eat them in differentways, she said. It's something that parentsexperienced when they were younger andcan now share with their children. O

Amy Jacqu6S is the news editor of Tactia. She holds amaster's in arts journalism fiom Syracuse University'sS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.Email: amy.jaaiues@prsa.org.

Going giobai with Hyatt:How the hotel chain checics in with social brand managementBy Amy Jacques

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has a con-sistent global brand presence with 112Facebook pages. As major worldwideconsumer brands expand their marketingstrategies to integrate a wider social pres-ence, Hyatt hotels faces the complexitiesof social global brand management.

The company had to learn how tocollaborate socially with each branch andcentralize the company message whilealso ensuring a consistent brand andenabling the right local content and con-tributions.

During a Social Media Week sessionat Big Fuel Headquarters in New York onFeb. 14, Ellen Hahn, vice president, brandcommunication and advertising, Hyatt,discussed the challenges and best practicesfor maintaining a global social presencethat is locally relevant and engaging.

"Our goal is to inspire travelers to getthe best out of their experience," Hahnsaid. Hyatt has found success by reaching

April 2012 TACTICS

facebookout to guests andconsumers throughFacebook. On June30,2011, the hotelchain had 290,899fans, and by Dec. 31,201 l,it had 863,086fans. It had to decidehow many pages tohave and who wulmanage the contenton each.

The hotel chain also has severalTwitter handles for PR, customer serviceand social media purposes.

Corporate traditionally wants localproperties to own their particular pages.However, corporate also distributes socialmedia campaigns to each property. Inaddition, she said that the local generalmanagers should be looking at other out-lets each day to see what else is happenir^.

Making people happyCommunicators must also keep an

engaged, passionatevoice and respondto fans in a humanway, she said.

"It's an oppor-tunity to makepeople happy,"Hahn said. She alsosaid to post quickand engagingquestions to con-sumers that get

people involved and help them adjust totheir properties (such as "What do youforget on a trip?").

Hahn recommended using SocialMedia Suite for monitoring andFoursquare at a local level, and that thereare a lot of location-based services that arepopular overseas for Hyatt.

She admitted that there are manychallenges for communicators to continu-ously connect with consumers online.

"Social media is a lot to manage withjust a few people," she said."Have data in

place to figure out what you don't want.We're stiU struggling with globalizing ourcontent and being able to localize it."

Ultimately, she said, you have todecide where you want to be present,mentioning other social media platformsPinterest and Googje-I-.

Social media should positively impactthe brand."How do we give and get moreand share more? How do we get people toshare experiences?" she asked.

If someone is a fan of the hotel, thenyour goal is for them to say that they had agreat time and recommend it to fi-iends.

Hahn also said that when managingsocial media for a global brand, it's impor-tant for everyone to "post back and forthand keep conversation open. Make sureyou ask more questions. Err on the side ofunder-communication — and then over-communicate." O

Amy Jacques is the news editor of Tactics. She holds amaster's in arts journalism from Syracuse University'sS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.Email: amy.jacques@prsa.org.

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