Underneath the Obscurity

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How The Walking Dead is Staying Alive: An Insider Look into a Successful Social Game

With Halloween coming around the corner, that means our favorite zombie thriller, The Walking Dead, is back for its 7th season! Ever wonder what makes this franchise so popular and successful? Well, it’s got to do with the compelling story and gory theme of zombies of course. However, The Walking Dead is also known for its highly popular mobile game, No Man’s Land.

No Man’s Land is a social RPG mobile game that allows users to take part in the story-line of the show and engage with other players and fans. What makes this game so successful are the social elements ingrained within. It includes achievement badges where if you complete certain tasks within the “episodes” (which are pretty much levels), you can earn rewards to help you in the game. You can also join other players in weekly challenges and PvP combat that will earn you more rewards and enable you to chat with other players.  

An interesting element that the game has added recently is the ability to earn exclusive weekly content that directly connects to the live show. An article by Marketing DIVE mentions how this is beneficial in connecting the cable series to the gaming experience to keep fans more engaged. This is a clear example of brand integration with players being able to unlock content, such as new characters from the show and behind-the-scenes video, with the live-viewing of the episode.

This new marketing trend of social games has proved to be effective, at least with No Man’s Land it has. So far, there are 15 million active players. There’s no doubt that many fans love this game and consequentially, The Walking Dead and if we’ve learned anything from this, it’s that social games have great marketing value.

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Does It Ring a (Taco) Bell?: Creating a Successful Brand Profile

If you’re familiar with fast food restaurants and tacos, then you’re no stranger to Taco Bell. One thing that makes Taco Bell one of the leading fast food restaurants is not only its debatably appetizing food, but the efforts it makes in marketing themselves as a “hip, edgy, and personable” brand through social media.

Currently, Taco Bell uses many platforms for marketing, keeping in mind the millennial demographic group they mostly target towards. They especially have an active presence on Twitter and Snapchat. Taco Bell has created this edgy and friendly brand profile through these platforms by engaging with their customers and making themselves more relatable and sociable.

For example, back a few months ago, they utilized Snapchat and created a taco head Snapchat lens that was an instant hit with fans. According to QSR magazine, it amassed roughly 224 million views in just one day and is one of the most viewed Snapchat lens to date. Even recently for National Taco day (Oct. 4th), Taco Bell made strides in interacting with their customer fan base. On their Snapchat they created a “Happy Taco Day” song, in addition to greeting cards, and invited others to celebrate the festivities by sharing the greeting cards to their friends and family.

By using demographic segmentation, creative campaigns, and interacting with the consumers, it’s no wonder that Taco Bell has a high level of brand engagement with their customers!

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Taco Bell’s “Happy Taco Day” song.

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The burrito-ful impact of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

As a consumer, there’s no question that we tend to shop at businesses that are familiar or that we know have a good reputation. When neither of these options apply, we usually try to look for more information or we don’t shop there at all.

These days, social media is the best way to learn about products and get honest opinions from others. It’s also more reliable when you hear it coming from someone you may know. This type of marketing ploy is called Word-of-Mouth (WOM).

One company that has been successful using this marketing strategy is Chipotle. They have, on multiple occasions, come out with great marketing campaigns such as their animated shorts “Scarecrow” and “Back to the Start”. What’s successful is not only the content they pump out but the results coming from it. Many people were onboard with these animated shorts and spoke highly of Chipotle creating positive word-of-mouth.

Another example from this article about Chipotle’s WOM marketing mentions how they got customers to express their creativity by running a contest to tweet the best burrito themed haikus and win free dinner. This not only got people to participate, but it also created a space where many could read these hilarious haikus and create buzz around them. In addition, Chipotle runs a news column on the Huffington Post that creates awareness about the origins of our food and this gives the opportunity for many to think and talk about this issue.

What we can learn from this is that marketing doesn’t always mean spending tons of money on ad campaigns. Sometimes, simplicity and a lot of positive conversation will come a long way.

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Social Media Marketing through Celebrities

Have you ever watched a commercial for a product or service and recognized a celebrity on it? It’d be more of a surprise if someone had said no, considering celebrity endorsements have been used as a tool of marketing for decades.

When it comes to social media, though, how can this type of marketing thrive and sell? It’s easy. Social media helps in allowing fans to be able to instantly connect with their favorite celebs. This article from Social Ape Marketing talks about how brands use celebrity endorsements on social media.

They mention Justin Bieber’s Calvin Klein shoot and how his photos had created conversation about Calvin Klein – they built on that through their hashtag #MyCalvins. It ended up trending and prompted others to share their selfies, therefore, increasing awareness for the brand and permitting fans to interact with Calvin Klein.

Another instance is Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie at the Oscars. Although it was "impromptu”, it brought in around $1 billion for Samsung because it promoted the product inadvertently. Ellen was able to connect to her fans by sharing the photo to Twitter while Samsung reaped the benefits.

Twitter was key in both circumstances because it was a social community that fans and businesses could use. It also incorporated the fifth P of Marketing (participation) because many were able to participate in the dialogue.

There are risks in using celebrity endorsements, too. Celebrities are often found in scandals or make mistakes, most prominently through social media, and this can lead to negative associations with the business.

So, with any method, it’s best to think about the pros and cons before diving in!

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