Opera Coast Builds a Custom Made PR and Social Campaign for Creative Experts

Brand

Opera Coast

Agency

20:20MSL

Introduction

Web browsers have been around for 20 years and their conventions can get in the way of your browsing on touch-driven devices. Therefore, Opera custom-made the Opera Coast web browser for iPhone and iPad devices. It has been appreciated across the globe for its fresh look, design, intuitiveness, originality, unconventionality and functionality. Opera Coast is so refreshing that we feel it is one of the best apps to spend those precious fleeting moments that can make your day.

In the same spirit, we reached out to creative professionals in India who use iPhones or iPads, with a unique #OperaCoastSurprise to introduce them to Opera Coast. Since creative people are well known to have cracked a big idea while wasting time instead of consciously working on it, we thought Opera Coast would be a great app for them to help them waste time well. We sent across a surprise package of kinetic sand along with the personal note to each professional. Kinetic sand has special properties that make the sand soft, stretchy and non-sticky, so you can make shapes with it on your desk without getting messy.

These professionals enjoyed the combination of kinetic sand and Opera Coast, and they showed their love on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can check out the #OperaCoastSurprise tag board to see some of their reactions from artists, illustrators, a psychological illusionist, a filmmaker, a blogger who writes on parenting and relationships, media & advertising professionals, undaunted entrepreneurs, musicians and many other inspired individuals who acknowledge our efforts.

Objective

Increase awareness about Opera Coast, a browser for iOS devices, amongst the creative community using iOS. The outreach was to be done in way that was ‘hatke’, so that the ‘hatke’ appeal of the browser got highlighted.

Execution

A painstaking effort to identify some of the most creative individuals in India was initiated. The 3 parameters, that each of those individuals had to meet were: (1) they had to be creative, with sufficient proof of creativity (2) they should have considerable influence on social media and (3) they should be using iOS devices. While offline connections worked towards finding creative individuals, finding social media influencers and those using iOS, was an online game. Hootsuite and Followerwonk helped measure the influence. iOS users were discovered using an app Tweetcaster, that shows the platform from which tweets get posted.

This was followed by an equally rigorous task of selecting a gift that would equally match the creative geniuses, of these selected individuals. The gift chosen was kinetic sand. Unlike beach sand, kinetic sand won’t make a mess (it sticks to itself but not to you) and never dries out. It’s great for goofing off in the office, distracting co-workers, building castles, making shapes and faces, writing messages, reducing stress and building any wacky shape that you can think of.

Each of these gifts were sent along with a customized note that recognized each person, in the creative light that we saw him/ her in. The hashtag #OperaCoastSurprise was included in the note, which was a small but sure step to spur online conversations.

For e.g. the note to the Angel Bedi, from ‘The Filmy Owl’ fame, said “Dear Angel, Your designs and statements inspire us! That's why we feel compelled to introduce you to our Opera Coast web browser for iPhone and iPad. We think it matches the spunk your doodles have. Opera Coast's design will wow you and leave you wondering why you haven't had a browser like this before. Give it a spin. Meanwhile, as you discover a new way to waste away some idle moments and have fun with Opera Coast - here's a sack of kinetic sand which is equally good to waste time well. Hope you like both. Do let us know what you think about this #OperaCoastSurprise :-) Best, @OperaIndia” All these details were acquired via listening across social channels.

Owned media played a crucial role in helping the recipients decipher the campaign. Since details of most individuals were anonymously noted, we didn’t want them to be scandalized on receiving the gifts. Hence a post on Demystifying #OperaCoastSurprise was done on the Opera India blog, tagging them within a couple of days from when they received it.

On receiving these gifts, everyone tweeted and shared about their reactions on getting the gift, across social networks.

Results

The campaign secured over 300,000 impressions. But the major success was to reach out to a targeted audience, in a way that created a ripple effect of sorts, at centers of influence!

You can view all of the tweets & shares, and pictures within them, from this Opera tag-board.

Some screenshots of the post campaign messages and mails.