The Goal

Agency Bimm’s main objectives were to increase the overall engagement on Cogeco’s Facebook page, increase affinity amongst Cogeco customers within Ontario and Quebec and exceed the average email open rates by 10%.

The Insight and Strategy

The idea began with the notion that Valentine’s Day is one of the most exploited holidays of the year. Expensive flowers, chocolates and overpriced dinners can really add up. Cogeco, a brand that believes in enabling amazing experiences through technology, thought there was a better way to celebrate people’s love on Valentine’s Day. So, the agency gave Cogeco’s consumers the opportunity to demonstrate their love with the ultimate, free Valentine’s Day gift. On February 14th, Cogeco gave up its platforms (Facebook, Instagram) and its own community TV channels to its customers so they could express their love.

The Plan

The team sent out emails inviting Cogeco customers to share their love notes for their loved ones. Customers would post their love notes to Cogeco’s Facebook page, using “#AmazingSerenades.” They then crowdsourced young Canadian talent to write and perform personalized love songs based on those customers’ love notes. On Valentine’s Day, these songs were broadcast both online and offline. Online, both the giver and surprised receiver were tagged so they could see their personal love song. Offline, the songs were broadcast on Cogeco cable channels for all to see.

Technology and Tools

The team used sites like sonicbids.com to crowdsource and cherry-pick bands who lined up with the Cogeco brand values and had love song-writing potential based on their existing songs.

User Experience

Once the Cogeco customer submitted their love note, the team deployed the note to one or sometimes several bands. The bands then wrote, performed and filmed the very personal love song video, which were branded and posted on Valentine’s Day. On Facebook, the original submitter and the receiver of the gift were both tagged in the Cogeco post. As a result, both were happily surprised at the hyper-personal love song created just for them on that special day. Cogeco customers got a free, meaningful gift that will be cherished forever.

The Results

-A 12% higher engagement rate than the average Facebook video
-One in two Cogeco Facebook followers watched a video
-Over 22 hours of organic video was watched
-Email deployment earned a 37% open rate, 50% above the telco industry average