The Brief

An exclusive to 7-Eleven stores, we were briefed to launch Krispy Kreme Glazed Bites, delicious little cake pieces covered in the famous Krispy Kreme glaze. While reading the brief – and trying the product – we came across the information that these wonderful bites of heaven were just a limited edition, and would be taken off the shelves in 6 weeks. Instead of a launch campaign, we decided to focus on the fact that those magical mouthfuls of wonder wouldn’t be around forever. So instead of a campaign, we initiated a movement, a call to arms to save the bites.

Creative Execution

We announced the hijack on a Friday night. The hero of ‘Save the Bites’ was the 7-Eleven Social Media Team – Phil, Sari and Ally. They launch the movement online with a Facebook post announcing they’re going rogue, changing 7-Eleven’s Facebook password and hijacking the page until the company decides to make Krispy Kreme Glazed Bites a permanent product. Once the initial message was assimilated, a combination of posts, content, activation and community management conducted this social storytelling journey in 20 chapters/Facebook posts, giving people the power to make a stand. Fans on board means User Generated Content. Memes, photos of users enjoying the product, messages of support and even online petitions to support our cause.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Young Australians, 16 to 24 years old, digital natives. They are naturally engaged with social media and follow 7-Eleven almost as a content provider on Facebook. They expect a bit of entertainment from the brand and are always on the lookout for the next bite size bit of fun. A social storytelling experiment seemed like a natural fit for this audience. FOMO and slacktivism are strong trends among them, so a "role-playing-social-movement" was a literal translation of the "sense of urgency", in retail advertising best practices.

Results

The ‘Save the Bites Movement’ turned out to be an irresistible call to action for the FOMO generation, winning even spontaneous mentions in one of the most watched TV shows in Australia (Sunrise). Over a 15 day period, #savetheBites raised awareness of the Krispy Kreme Glazed Bites’ plight with over 3.5million Facebook users reached. The support for the rogue social media team saw page engagement increase by 765%. And crucially, a 20% increase in sales was observed during the campaign period.