There’s a lot of buzz in Chicago these days about Divvy, the new bike-sharing program that launched in June. The branded blue bikes are a marketing tool all on their own, but the Divvy team heightened the buzz with a pre-launch social initiative. The #DivvyIs Challenge is a great example of how a well-executed social media campaign can build enthusiastic online chatter about a brand, even when the attached reward is rather small. Let’s take a look at how the challenge worked.
To coincide with the launch of their membership program and full website launch on May 29, Divvy challenged Chicago to explain what #DivvyIs in 140 characters or less. They posted succinct directions on their blog:
They also promoted the challenge on Twitter:
Want to save $10 on your @DivvyBikes Membership? Tell us what #DivvyIs for you. Memberships go live at noon! Details: http://t.co/CAkHmkrGPJ
— Divvy Bikes (@DivvyBikes) May 29, 2013
And cross-promoted on Facebook:
A week later, Divvy had collected over 100 responses. They shared their favorites on the Divvy blog and handed out plenty of gift certificates good toward their annual membership.
#DivvyIs about to be a part of my complete transit breakfast. Also brunch. And lunch and dinner. @DivvyBikes
— Tony Coppoletta (@tonycoppoletta) May 29, 2013
#DivvyIs another step to making Chicago the greenest city in the world! It’s the best addition to our public transit system yet! @DivvyBikes
— Warren Skipper (@warrenskipper) May 29, 2013
#DivvyIs is the Chicago friend I never knew I needed. Until now. @divvybikes
— Ankur (@ankurthakkar) May 29, 2013
The challenge was a win-win for the brand. Influencers publicly tweeted their enthusiasm for the brand, Divvy collected a wealth of positive user-generated content, and the $10 off coupon added to incentive for these fans to actually purchase their membership rather than just talk about it.
What kinds of interesting social prelaunch campaigns have you seen lately? Share with us on Twitter, or better yet tell our readers about it in a post by becoming a lonelybrand blog contributor.
