An integrated campaign and initiative backing Aussie small business.

Facebook

Gift Guide 2019

Our challenge was to remind Australians, business decision-makers, and the broader business community that Facebook is a place for Aussie small businesses (SMBs) to connect with customers and thrive, no matter where they are.

We wanted to highlight that Facebook is a platform which allows many SMBs from smaller, regional communities and centres the opportunity to reach consumers and build communities. Working closely with Facebook, we developed the idea of the Facebook Gift Guide 2019 which we used to showcase thirty unique Aussie small businesses from across regional Australia. The Gift Guide profiled these unique businesses, their products and gave people original gift ideas just in time for the Christmas holiday season. This strategic approach also allowed the SMBs to drive sales during a key sales period. 

The Facebook Gift Guide 2019 was the centrepiece of our communications - turning Aussie small businesses on Facebook into the heroes of an omnichannel, integrated campaign which featured a physical printed gift guide, a microsite destination, video content, out-of-home, digital, social media and print assets.

Critical to the success of the initiative was consistent integrated campaign messaging - showing that Facebook was backing Aussie small business by encouraging people to “Gift Off the Beaten Track”. 

Our design team developed an overarching design aesthetic for the integrated campaign which localised the Facebook brand in the hearts and minds of Aussies. Design elements incorporated a mix of coastal and rural flora from the region where each featured business was located. This made the campaign visually striking and served to localise an international brand.

We captured photographic stills of each of the thirty SMB products and also flew 10 hero business into Sydney in order to film video ads, interview content and print assets – all completed across 3 days of production in studio.

Touch points

We created a printed brochure showcasing the thirty regional Australian SMBs on Facebook with unique gift ideas and this was distributed throughout targeted locations.

We designed a companion microsite which gave people deeper information about the businesses and the role Facebook had played in their success. The site also allowed people to directly purchase any of the gifts online.

We created videos for ten businesses and turned the business owners into the heroes of our campaign. These videos were distributed in a very targeted way throughout Facebook to maximise audience reach, impact and sales.

Two longer-form campaign videos were created, one was an overview of the Gift Guide and the second was created to reach business decision-makers. These videos were distributed throughout Facebook, relevant online publishers and Qantas lounges.

Print, out-of-home, digital out-of-home and digital display delivered broad campaign awareness and reach with a clearly defined and consistent message.

A targeted Google search campaign which focused on driving awareness and conversions ensured that The Facebook Gift Guide 2019 was easily found by anyone searching online.

Results

The integrated campaign was a big success. Facebook also saw a quantifiable shift in positive Business Decision Maker sentiment. The individual profiled businesses also saw a huge lift in sales in the lead up to the Christmas holiday period. Such was the success of the campaign that it will now be rolled out globally throughout key Facebook countries in 2020.