‘Instagram trumps Facebook for brand engagement’ – Lipton North America exec suggests

Fresh from a speaking slot at eBev 2014 – a conference dedicated digital, mobile and social media marketing that took place in Atlanta, Georgia from October 1-3 – Crespo (who manages the Unilever tea brand in North America) took time out to chat with BeverageDaily, and insisted that ‘insight’ was the ​key factor in digital marketing success.

BD: Thanks for joining us Jaime. What are millennials looking for in a brand experience, and how do you deliver that - particularly in a digital context?​

JC:​ Millennials measure wealth not by possessions but by experiences. They enrich their lives by accumulating experiences from their travels, hobbies, volunteering, relationships...and the stories of those experiences become the new social currency for a target that’s ‘always on’.

That’s why, for millennials, sharing visual artifacts of their experiences is core to the relationships, building their identity. The digital world provides a unique environment to facilitate that sharing with unparalleled access and reach. Brands that are able to integrate seamlessly into millennials’ desires to share and communicate are the most successful. For instance, the Axe #KissforPeace campaign that successfully turned a simple act into a powerful social movement with over 100,000 kisses shared online.

JC: What drove the success of ‘Be More Tea’ – the Lipton campaign that you personally led?​

The key to success was a fresh, compelling point of view for the Lipton brand to ‘Be More Tea’. In an exciting yet demanding world, everyone is absorbed by their responsibilities and as a result, they operate on autopilot. Lipton wants to challenge people to be more present, engage positively with the world, living life the ‘tea’ way.

That’s what Be More Tea is all about. This Lipton point of view does not only resonate strongly with millennials and the experiential culture, but it also fits perfectly with the uplifting nature of Lipton tea.

The Be More Tea Point of View was the key success factor, but it wouldn’t have been successful without an impactful marketing launch plan that used the Muppets as a creative vehicle and the Oscars as a platform to kick off the conversation about the Be More Tea philosophy.

BD: How do you increase a Facebook fan base and make campaigns 'go viral'?​

First and foremost, you need to have the strategic intent to develop the Facebook fan base over other equally interesting opportunities, and as a result you put your efforts and resources towards developing content that will attract new users.

However, it’s not just about the breadth or total number of your fan base; it is also about the quality of the interaction.  Lipton is America’s favorite tea, and our ambition is to translate that strength and presence into the social media world.

BD:​ Instagram is a less familiar channel to some marketers, I imagine, so how can brands harness this as a tool?​

Instagram’s users are sophisticated content consumers and are 59 times more likely to engage here with brand ads than on Facebook (according to a 2014 Forrester’s North American Consumer Technographics Survey), so it’s a valuable platform for bringing your brand to life visually. The platform is widely used not just for sharing images, but for exploring visual content through hashtags. We launched Lipton’s Instagram last year with a ‘Liptagram’ contest, encouraging consumers around the world to share photos of their feel-good moments for a chance to win prizes.

The response was very positive, and the quality of participation enabled us to gain better understanding of how people interpret and visually express different concepts and territories. Since the launch, we have continued integrating Instagram into our social media activities.

BD: How does the ‘Unilever Foundry’ directly help Lipton in terms of your digital marketing strategy?​

Unilever Foundry is a great initiative that allows marketers to experience, pilot and pioneer new methods of marketing by collaborating with startups and innovators. The Unilever Foundry has two objectives: to find new ways to engage with the two billion people that buy Unilever products every day, and to innovate around our global commitment to make to make sustainable living commonplace.

The Foundry is a collaborative space for us to connect with innovators who can help us meet our ambitions. At Lipton, we are using the opportunity that the Unilever Foundry provides to try new things and experiment around collaborating and partnering with innovators.

BD: Jaime – If you had one word to describe what's most crucial to digital marketing success, what would this be?​

If I only had one word to describe what’s most crucial to digital marketing success, that word would be Insight! When your work is anchored on an insight that’s compelling, it will be successful. While it’s important to know how the new digital environment dictates the way to land your message correctly, that’s just the base to play the game.

In order to win the game, one must realize it is not about digital or mobile or social, it’s about marketing, about having a POV that truly resonates with people, that defines their identity or their relationships and that makes their life easier. Once you are rooted in a compelling insight, you can collaborate with your agencies to find a new creative angle, develop an exciting way to bring it to life and strategize the most effective way to launch it. Good insights will always prompt great creative when working with the right partners!