Social Media Campaign Review: xBhp Biker of the Year 2013 Encourage Bikers to Share their Experiences

Bikes and the pleasure of riding them with the wind in your hair is something that unites the young, male population of the country. With college students, working professionals and the young at heart all being fascinated with bikes, the conversations usually turns to bikes when men get together. With the Biker of the Year 2013, xBhp took these conversations and transported them to social media.

Objectives

According to xBhp, The Biker of the Year Awards are a recognition, an honor and an endeavor aimed at respecting those individuals who have demonstrated their greatest passion for biking. 

Bikers are known to weave and share stories around their experiences and the journeys they have undertaken. Through the Biker of the Year endeavor, xBhp is providing the biker community with a medium to share their adventurous journeys with fellow Bikers. The idea was to use these stories to encourage other bikers to jump in with their stories and share their experiences

Execution

The campaign was hosted on a dedicated Facebook application on the Castrol Biking page which has a strong fan base of more than 830K fans. Bikers were able share their experiences on this platform, in the form of write-ups, and pictures, or videos for others to view and experience. In order to spread the possibilities of winning among various types of bikers, xBhp has divided the awards into different niche categories based on different styles of biking, namely:

• Power Biker of the Year
• Wanderer of the Year
• Track Racer of the Year
• FreeStyle Biker of the Year
• Female Biker of the Year
• Fight-Back Biker of the Year
• Bike Customizer of the Year
• Angel Biker of the Year
• Motor Cycling Club of the Year
• Rally Rider of the Year

Prizes

Award winners in each category were to be awarded with a Golden helmet, along with prizes worth Rs 150K up for grabs for the winners in each category.

Positives

A focus on biking is a refreshing change from the blitzkrieg of social media contests that are entirely cricket based. On that note, xBhp has worked towards targeting people who love bikes and reached out to a specific group of people who love motorcycles and riding. The idea of getting people to share stories and experiences makes it interesting, as stories always make people sit up and take notice.

The prizes are also good and motivating enough for people to participate.

The app is well designed, attractive and easy to navigate.

The campaign is generating buzz on Twitter with @CastrolBiking engaging hashtags like ‘#WhyBikesbeatsCars’ and ‘#IAmABikerBecause’ drawing encouraging responses from Biking enthusiasts and connecting with the Twitter handle. With more than 4000 tweets in the first week of the launch, the campaign has grabbed the attention of the Twitterati. xBhp also ran a Twitter campaign for Biker of the Year aimed at increasing awareness about Biker of the Year, and to enhance xBhp's follower base in general and to use Twitter to engage with Indian biking enthusiasts.

Another thing that the campaign is involved in, is trying to create a community of the biggest biking brotherhood called ‘UBFI’ (United Bikers Flag of India). The UBFI is a community sourced flag representing unity among bikers. Bikers in each city and members of every motorcycling club will sign the flaglets (the clubs will also append their logo on the flaglets), which were to be returned to xBhp HQ and later displayed at the Biker of the Year 2013 Awards Ceremony. They are also conducting a social campaign where every signature would count for a contribution of Rs. 50 towards a social cause.

Scope for Improvement

With all the action restricted to Facebook and Twitter, the campaign has failed to fully tap the potential of its YouTube Channel to generate a buzz. Video based storytelling would have definitely been more effective.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the campaign is in line with xBhp and has supported brand Castrol’s brand image and its commitment to speed and passion for driving. By opting to build a campaign around biking and bikers' experiences, the brand has provided a refreshing change from the many cricket centered campaigns we have seen lately. A touch of personalization through stories about biking is perhaps just the thing people need when it comes to engagement. With some more buzz online and effective use of YouTube, the campaign will definitely scale greater heights next year.