The Situation: A holiday can be a difficult time to break through all of the clutter on social media to bring attention to a new product. A client recently entered the education market with their new, industry-leading 3D printer, and the CB&A digital team was asked to come up with an out-of-the-box idea for Valentine’s Day to educate potential customers about the product. The new printer allows teachers and students to work together learning about design, manufacturing and 3D printing. It also gives teachers the opportunity to encourage students to consider pursuing a STEM-based career.
The Results: By creating an engaging video with unique content on a busy day and supporting it with a targeted advertising campaign, the CB&A digital team was able garner a large number of views, and build engagement with a cost-effective approach.
Planning & Execution: A 3D printer offers many creative possibilities and, after experimenting with a few of them, the digital team devised ways to use the printer to create engaging educational content and cut through the noise on social media. Rather than telling people how the machine worked with a simple instructional video, they showed what the machine could do in a fun, inventive way.
The digital team configured the printer to create a 3D heart and set up a camera to shoot a time-lapse video of the process. After posting it on Facebook, the team received a quick, positive response, confirming the video’s potential. After allocating some of the social media advertising budget to publicize the post, the team watched as the video took off across social media, and consequently published it on the client’s social media platforms.
Outcomes: The video garnered over 19,000 views and reached 47,000 people at a cost of just $0.01 per view. Of the 19,000 views, the video received a 38 percent action rate, showing its effectiveness in provoking a positive viewer response.
CB&A’s digital team was able to deploy a new product in devising an innovative way to create engaging content. The video demo of the 3D printer cut through the clutter on a crowded holiday. Backed by a targeted advertising spend on social media, the social outreach raised awareness of the product and highlighted its educational potential.