Company: Grasshopper Group
Timeframe: May - August 2009
Budget: $68,103
Grasshopper Group provides 800 and local phone numbers and other services to entrepreneurs across North America. It didn’t always have such a catchy name, though; before May 2009, the company was known as GotVMail. Founders Siamak Taghaddos and David Hauser had long considered that name a liability. “It was hard to spell and it was not a brand name, just a product name that we could never grow with,” says Hauser. The founders talked about the name since starting the company in 2003. “Then we decided, this is it, we have to do a rebrand,” says Hauser.
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| Bugging your audience: Recipients of Grasshopper’s direct mail piece found a culinary surprise inside, along with a link to a video. Photo courtesy Grasshopper Group |
BIG LEAP
Brainstorming sessions in early 2009 yielded the name Grasshopper. Why an insect? “It was a name we could brand, no one had really used in the past and the more we looked into it, a grasshopper was much like an entrepreneur,” explains Hauser. “It’s always jumping forward, and can jump many times the size of its body.” Plus, adds Hauser, “grasshopper” is easy to spell and to remember.
Once the decision was made, the company embarked on an initiative with three goals:
• Generate buzz about the new name.
• Increase awareness of the new brand.
• Inspire entrepreneurs, their target audience.
In May 2009 Grasshopper Group launched what it calls a “multi-sensory” campaign, the major components being a unique direct mail piece sent to 5,000 of the most influential people in North America, with a link to a video about the power of entrepreneurship.
Whoa. Creating a contact list of the most influential people in America? Sounds like a tall order. Jeremy Butler, Grasshopper’s director of marketing, describes the process: “We had interns take every big news outlet there is, and research people who made their front pages or covers,” says Butler. “We’d also target the person who wrote the article, and who took that person’s photo.” Repeating this process led to a pretty big list. “We also sent them to every senator, the president and tons of “celebrity entrepreneurs,” including P Diddy and Oprah Winfrey. Butler adds that they received calls from national security departments asking why they targeted every U.S. senator.
COCO CRITTERS
But how would the team attract the attention of movers and shakers? A FedEx package would be delivered to each influencer. Inside the package would be a smaller package that put the brand name front and center—inside would be five chocolate-covered grasshoppers. Yes, real ready-to-eat grasshoppers ($9.46 per bag).
Butler and the team knew that FedEx packages often sidestep office gatekeepers, who usually don’t open FedEx packages for their bosses—they just put them on their desks. As for the contents, Butler knew it was a gamble. “Some people could be disgusted and offended, but the opportunity to garner buzz was too great not to do it,” he says. The grasshoppers reinforced the brand and were controversial enough to spark conversation, added Butler.
So, a supplier of grasshoppers was found, and Grasshopper the company picked a particular type of green-colored chocolate to coat the bugs with. In May 2009, the packages were sent to the list of influencers. Once opened, targets found a glossy white bag with an attached hang tag. The hang tag had a URL that directed recipients to a landing page, where they could click on a video made to inspire entrepreneurs (see sidebar for more on the video). The copy on the packaging appealed to the “risk-taking” spirit of entrepreneurs, says Butler. It also urged them to take an unconventional risk and try eating the grasshoppers.
BUZZ DOES IT
It was at this point in the campaign where communications came to the forefront. Jonathan Kay, Grasshopper’s ambassador of buzz, went to work reaching out to the influencers, and reacting to people who were already talking about the grasshoppers.
“Balancing my time between the two was really a challenge,” says Kay. Yet finding that balance, he continues, is what allowed Grasshopper to keep the conversation going for months.
MEDIA MUNCHERS
Grasshoppers were sent to every media outlet in the U.S. considered to be influential. Not surprisingly, says Kay, “some ignored it while others really had fun with it.” Kay contacted nearly every ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS local affiliate and “egged them on to have their news anchors eat them,” he says. Kay says seven or eight news anchors ended up eating grasshoppers live on the air.
SOCIAL SPREAD
But it was social media, says Kay, that was most responsible for the campaign’s viral success. Upon receiving the package, recipients did not know who sent it or why, which drove people to start asking questions via Twitter and Facebook like “Did anyone else get chocolate-covered grasshoppers?” or “I just got a FedEx with chocolate grasshoppers—should I eat them?” Entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki and Internet legends Kevin Rose and Jason Calacanis commented on the grasshoppers to nearly a million of their followers.
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Tweets and retweets abounded, as the chatter about Grasshopper increased. Once the company Grasshopper was identified as the sender of the packages, the team began receiving hundreds of unsolicited videos and images of people eating the grasshoppers, says Kay.
WINNING STATS
By any measure, the campaign’s numbers were impressive, including:
• Increase of site visitors from Twitter, May 2009 vs. April 2009: 4,911%
• Increase of site visitors from Facebook, May 2009 vs. April, 2009: 3,286%
• Unique page views of grasshopper.com/idea: 47,000
• Number of times the campaign was tweeted: 1,461
• Number of blog posts/news articles: 119
• Increase of people clicking “How it Works” on Grasshopper.com: 93%
LESSONS LEARNED
While the numbers indicate the Grasshopper team scored well in execution, Kay says there was one strategic oversight: “We didn’t keep our current customers in the loop about the rebrand as much as we should have,” he says. “We were so worried about keeping it a secret, that we did surprise and upset a few of them—I think we could have found a more reasonable middle ground in our outreach.”
Kay also makes a point about brainstorming ideas for viral campaigns: “Think about what is interesting to you, and what you might go home to tell a friend or relative about,” he says. And though it sounds corny, having fun with an idea “is very contagious to the people you’re trying to connect with,” says Kay.
GIMMICK OR BRAND BUILDER?
While the idea of sending grasshoppers to people may have been fun, what did that tactic do to spread the business value of Grasshopper the company? Butler realizes it’s a fine line.
“Without the risky piece to it, people might not have ever had any exposure to the video and our message,” says Butler. “But I’m sure there were some people who, upon realizing we sent them grasshoppers, never even noticed the video or our message.
Hauser makes it clear that the campaign met all of Grasshopper’s objectives. “We wanted to clearly tell the market and our customers that Grasshopper Group equals entrepreneurs or entrepreneurship,” he says. “The messaging was very clear in everything we did with the rebrand, and we’re continuing with that.”
Hauser adds that because of the campaign, orders are up, new products are being launched and the company has greater visibility. PRN
[Editor’s Note: For other “appetizing” case studies, visit the PR News Subscriber Resource Center at prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html.]
CONTACT:
David Hauser, @dh; Jeremy Butler, @jeremyrbutler; Jonathan Kay, @grasshopperbuzz.
Don’t Cut Corners, and Other Key Online Video Strategies
While phone system designer Grasshopper delivered chocolate-covered insects to get influencers’ attention during its rebranding effort, the more traditional video component was key, says Jonathan Kay, the company’s ambassador of buzz. The video, featured on both the Grasshopper site and YouTube drew on the history of entrepreneurship, and suggested that entrepreneurs had the power to serve as innovators. At its peak, the video drew over 8,000 views per day. Here are some key video strategies from Kay:
• Promote the video before the campaign hits. Kay personally reached out to bloggers a week before the packages were sent.
• Make sure your viewers are quickly drawn in. Grasshopper’s video was not just visually appealing. Carly Comando, who has written music for the NBA, wrote music specifically for the video.
• Don’t skimp on the production. The video cost Grasshopper $18,708 to produce; the company considers it money well spent.