Title	THE BLOG BATTLE
Brand	BARNCANCERFONDEN (THE SWEDISH CHILDHOOD CANCER FOUNDATION)
Product/Service	CHARITY
Category	A07. Celebrity Endorsement
Media Agency 2	IUM Stockholm, SWEDEN
Entrant Company	IUM Stockholm, SWEDEN
Media Agency	IUM Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production Company	ADORE YOU Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Andrea Gezelius	Ium Sweden	Creative
Patrik Sundberg	Ium Sweden	Creative
Avilin Persson	Ium Sweden	Copywriter
Anette Anderson	Ium Sweden	Client Service Director/Project Manager
Christina Jorup	Ium Sweden	Digital Planner
Linus Almqvist	Barncancerfonden	‎head Of Communications/B2c Marketing
Marie Åberg	Barncancerfonden	Production Manager
Jessica Runenäs	Barncancerfonden	Project Manager

The Campaign

Since personal recommendations are the key when it comes to online purchases, we created The Blog Battle where six of Sweden’s top-bloggers competed in selling Barncancerfondens (The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation) fundraising bracelet the Silver heart. Normally when reaching out trough bloggers, it´s just a sponsored post and traditional display ads. By taking advantage of the competitive spirit among bloggers, we could use the fact that it´s important for them to get a good placement on the top lists. Traditionally for having most readers, but this time they had to sell most to be on top. Each blog installed a mini web-shop at the landing page of their blog where the Silver heart was sold. A live leader-board showed the followers how their purchase affected the battle. And our bloggers were given total freedom on how to engage their fans except 3 mandatory blog posts. This freedom made them outperform so we almost got 3 times as many social posts than they were contracted to write. Sales targets: 2000 bracelet, 4587 were sold (+229%) +272% more posts from our bloggers than contracted +2300% sales increase from a regular 3-week period +1500% increase in added donations with purchase There were no other marketing except The Blog Battle during this period.

The Brief

Our assignment was to sell 2000 Silver heart bracelets online during 3 weeks. (Goal was set to sell enough bracelets to fund the media and production costs) We also aimed to get strong ambassadors engaged enough to make social post for free, since we had a limited budget. In that way we could reach out to our target group in a personal and cost effective way.

Execution

We created the first ever Blog Battle. Six of Sweden’s top bloggers competed in selling bracelets. On launch day, a mini-web shop were installed on each blogs landing page, where fans could buy directly from their favourite blogger. Simple, fast, effective. A live leader board showed that every purchase mattered. We gave the bloggers a toolbox with info, but they had no rules on how to create engagement and generate sales, except 3 mandatory sponsored blog posts (1 per week). This resulted in they using their own social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Podcast) and wrote even more blog posts than contracted. The plan was not adapted, other then these bonus social posts.

* Sales targets: 2000 bracelet, 4587 were sold (+229%). * The permissive and open form of assignment to bloggers increase their creativity and commitment. The campaign became a success, with +272% more social posts from our bloggers in addition to those which were agreed (Manual counted, participants private locked accounts not included). * +2300% higher sales than a regular 3-week period (the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundations own platforms). * +1500% more than usual, chose to round up at the purchase. (Which was also a possibility when paying for your bracelet). * The readers bought, shared and even urged their surroundings to buy the Silverheart from their favourite blogger and thus help her to climb the rankings. The fact that we saw a big commitment are especially interesting when all there was to win was honor. No cash, no ceremony, just the chance to make a real difference.

The Strategy

Barncancerfondens main target groups are women 20-40 years, which was also the target group for this campaign. We focused on the ones reading blogs often since we hade limited budget and since personal recommendations are key when it comes to online purchases; bloggers would reach our target audience in a personal way. We had to invent something new in a media where our target audience spend a lot of time since the budget was low. Normally when reaching out through bloggers, it's just a sponsored post and traditional display ads. By taking advantage of the competitive spirit among bloggers, we could use the fact that it´s important for them to get a good placement on the top lists - but this time they had to sell most to be on top. Women 20-40 generally give money to various charities every now and then, but the Silverheart was unknown to them.