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Respectful
Reddit Marketing
Six case studies & an interview
with Jena Donlin of reddit
Created by thepowertoprovoke.com
Introduction, New Belgium Haworth Chairs World Of Warplanes
Brewing ....p.6 .........................p.12 ..................................p.20
With Jena Donlin
Of Reddit*...........p.3
Nissan And Amazon AR500 Armor Newcastle Brown Ale
.................................p.24 ...................p.30 ...................................p.35
Conclusion & Credits...........................................................................p.39
*Disclaimer: The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the
views of reddit. Aside from the introduction, no reddit employees assisted
in the creation of this document.
Introduction,
With Jena Donlin
Of Reddit
In an attempt to understand reddit’s potential as a marketing platform, this report presents
six case studies of brands marketing on reddit. Each case study summarizes the brand initiative,
and then investigates the specific elements that led to that campaign’s success (or, in one case,
missed opportunity).
It’s assumed that the reader has a basic knowledge of reddit and its lingo (e.g. upvote, karma,
redditor, subreddit, etc.). Readers looking for an introduction to reddit should (1) visit the
reddit FAQ page and then (2) visit reddit.com/r/random (which directs to a random subreddit)
a bunch of times.
Jena Donlin, Senior Product Manager of Advertising at reddit, was kind enough to answer
some questions about what differentiates reddit from other social networks, basic ground
rules for marketing on reddit, and the future of reddit advertising:
[-] reedimmer
How does the reddit community differ from Facebook, Twitter, etc.? How can
this differentiation aid brand marketing efforts?
[-] jenadonlin
reddit allows groups of people to organize and surface information. It provides a place
for users to get the most relevant to their interests. It is also a platform about creation and
creativity. The best ideas — and the reddit product itself — have developed out of ideas that
have been surfaced, requested, and tested by the reddit community.
reddit users assume that good content rises to the top, and that when there is a good idea,
users can work together to accomplish that. In /r/IAmA, users can ask some of the most
interesting people in the world — like the U.S. President or Neil De Grasse Tyson — any
question. There is an aspirational element to that experience — like anyone can work with
other people behind their screens around a good idea or piece of content.
Introduction, With Jena Donlin Of Reddit 3
[-] reedimmer
What are some basic ground
rules for marketing on reddit?
[-] jenadonlin encouraging them with these principles
Be transparent and honest in mind to engage with users around
reddit is a community. Users expect anyone comments and questions on ads.
participating as part of this community
have the same “for the greater good” Have a conversation
Is there something you’d like to talk to
mentality. If a user has an agenda or
reddit about? Simply ask. Then be sure to
benefits from their actions on reddit, that
follow up to continue the conversation. In
needs to be really clear. No one wants to
the reddit community, an advertiser is the
feel tricked or cheated. Ads are the place for
store clerk who can help people understand
self-promotion on reddit. Here you can be
and find the right product for them. reddit
shameless and cry from the mountaintops
gives users unprecedented access to ideas
about the value you bring them. You can
and people online — check /r/IAmA for a
tell people exactly what you can offer them
showcase of reddit users interviewing world
and what you think they should do about it.
leaders, celebrities, and scientists. There
Know your audience is an expectation on reddit that the site
reddit isn’t monolithic. There are more than empowers users and allows them to speak
7,000 active subreddit communities. These directly with someone who can answer
are groups of users interested in discussing their questions.
a specific video game, finding photos of
delightfully chubby things, or sharing their Reward the deserving
Has a user offered a great idea? Endorsed
daily moments of genius. Each of these
your products and services? Followed your
subreddits operates under its own set of
guidelines? Give them reddit gold (and let
rules and have their own understandings
them know about it). Offer them a coupon.
of what makes their community run. A
Thank them for the compliment and
good ad recognizes the work, creativity, and
support.
camaraderie of users as a whole and within
specific subreddits.
Be a human
A company can’t talk, but a person can.
You can recognize this by showcasing the
“A good ad recognizes the work,
humans within your organization and creativity, and camaraderie
of users as a whole and within
specific subreddits.”
Introduction, With Jena Donlin Of Reddit 4
[-] reedimmer How do you envision reddit advertising changing over the next year? [-] jenadonlin I think the native unit and programmatic experience on reddit is really going to expand. reddit is both wonderful and overwhelming. We give a lot of controls to users in terms of styling and direction. If you look at the designs of subreddits like /r/gameofthrones or /r/ leagueoflegends, you can see the customization and care that users put into cultivating subreddits. We’re still in the infancy of reddit’s native unit, but I think brands can develop and cultivate some of what is available within subreddits on ad units themselves. [-] reedimmer What’s a popular misbelief about reddit that you’d like to dispel? [-] jenadonlin Contrary to some people’s perceptions, reddit is made up of extremely diverse communities. There are users who love cats. There are also users that are allergic to cats or prefer dogs. We’ve got a huge variety of subreddits — some of which are obvious like /r/sports and some which are very specific like /r/showerthoughts. Each of these subreddits can create their own rules and make the experience really collaborative and exciting. Introduction, With Jena Donlin Of Reddit 5
New Belgium
Brewing
This case study focuses on New Belgium Brewing’s
Snapshot Wheat campaign, which complimented the
intelligence of redditors and sparked an invite for New
Belgium to do an AMA on r/homebrewing.
Snapshot Wheat In early 2014, New Belgium Brewing released its Snapshot Wheat beer, which was accompanied by an interactive map that users could be featured on by using the #SnapshotWheat hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. There are also themed weekly photo challenges (e.g. photos of your pet, photos of your happy place) on the #SnapChallenge hashtag, which give users a chance to be featured on the New Belgium site and beer bottles. New Belgium Brewing 7
In New Belgium’s own words, “We don’t need your help, but we certainly want it — because we like you, and you’re smart, and that Lil’ Jon AMA was awesome.” Image from © 2014 HOOKED ON HOPS
Complimenting And
Collaborating With Reddit
Instead of asking reddit to submit photos to #SnapshotWheat and #SnapChallenge, New Belgium
instead asked redditors to help come up with topics for the weekly #SnapChallenge. This was
a compliment to reddit’s collective intelligence, in that New Belgium trusted the community
to help craft their marketing campaign into something brand-relevant and engaging. In New
Belgium’s own words, “We don’t need your help, but we certainly want it — because we like you,
and you’re smart, and that Lil’ Jon AMA was awesome.” (That last part refers to a very silly AMA
with the rapper Lil’ Jon in February.)
New Belgium Brewing Introduces Snapshot Wheat: Take a picture. It’ll last longer.
Hey Reddit. New Belgium Brewing here. We don’t need your help, but we certainly want it — because we
like you, and you’re smart and that Lil’ Jon AMA was awesome. Anyway, we launched a new beer, Snapshot
Wheat, and (as the marketing-centric name implies) we want you to associate photos with this new beer.
So here’s where you come in; give us your best #SnapshotWheat snap challenge ideas. Examples could be,
“photos that include an unopened safe,” or “photos that prove once and for all who has the best breakfast”.
Anything, really. We’ll select the top voted comment submissions (unless they’re more appropriate for r/
GoneWild) and ask our entire audience to complete them. You’ll see your hive-mind’s will enacted in the
real world; it’ll be great and subliminally indoctrinating. Then, if our mind tricks worked, head over to
http://www.newbelgium.com/snapshotwheat.aspx to see those crazy pics roll in.
You guys are awesome — New Belgium Brewing
Edit: per /u/kittycatdanger suggestion, the snapshot challenge of the week is taking a picture of the most
“important” thing in your pocket or purse
The comments from redditors were overall positive and relevant, and New Belgium’s community
manager Nic responded to many submissions, and even tried to help users improve their
submitted photo challenge ideas.
[–]MR_Rabbit45
I’ve always thought of drinking as a social thing, so why not have the challenge shot be
something social? Like “Who has the best group activity?” You might get group photos from
hikes, bike races, snowboarding, concerts, art classes, etc.
[–]warmshart
Drinking is a group activity.
[–]Nic_NBB
That’s another great idea. Any other ways we could put a twist on that?
[–]MR_Rabbit45
Well, you could make it a stipulation that the activity has to be something the group
has never tried before/adrenaline related. I’m thinking of the look on someone’s face
the first time they go skydiving, makes a great photo.
(continued) Complimenting And Collaborating With Reddit
New Belgium’s community manager Nic liked one idea so much that he instantly made it that
week’s challenge: “I love this idea. How about we make it the snap challenge this week? Gimme
15 minutes and we’ll have it live at newbelgium.com/snapshotwheat.”
[–]kittycatdanger
first, seriously my new favorite beer. second, dat lil john ama.
third, the idea: you should challenge snapshot drinkers to take a picture of the most
important thing in their pockets or bag. it’ll make your drinkers actually consider
themselves in relation to your product, you’ll get a huge variety of different things, based on
how people define importance. it’ll give you a chance to know your drinkers. for example, do
they particularly love keychains? if so -- marketing jackpot. as a drinker and big fan, i would
definitely get into that.
edit: gold whoa!
[–]Nic_NBB
I love this idea. How about we make it the snap challenge this week? Gimme 15 minutes and
we’ll have it live at newbelgium.com/snapshotwheat
New Belgium Brewing 10New Belgium AMA
The conversation also sparked an invite for New Belgium to do an AMA on the Homebrewing
subreddit, which is a sign that the reddit community valued New Belgium’s promoted presence
enough to request them to partake in an organic, community-generated reddit experience.
[–]Masowb8
Just wanted to say, love the new beer. Also loving the can variety packs! We over at /r/
homebrewing would love to have ya’ll drop by sometime.
[–]Nic_NBB
We’d love to do that. Let’s find a way to make it happen.
[–]Masowb8
Awesome! Maybe we can try and set up an AMA or something this week over there.
The AMA occurred on 4/8/14 and was extremely well-received, generating a 90% approval rating
(meaning a 9:1 upvote to downvote ratio). It featured one of New Belgium’s head brewers, Andy
Mitchell, in addition to their community manager Nic.
New Belgium AMA — ask away!
Hey everyone, Andy Mitchell (NBB brewhouse operator, homebrewer and overall 560 poins (89% like it)
pleasant guy) will be joining me to answer all your homebrewing-related questions
at 2:30 p.m. MST. Got questions? Drop ‘em in this thread and we’ll answer them
this afternoon. And thanks to /u/Masowb8 for setting this up!
Let’s talk beer!
New Belgium Brewing 11Haworth
Chairs
This case study focuses on Haworth’s
informative promoted thread about the value
of their high-end chairs for gamers.Thorough Beginnings Haworth’s promoted post targeted computer gaming-related subreddits like PC Gaming, with the headline “If you care about your gaming, you should care about your chair.” Unlike many ads on reddit which drive to external websites, Haworth’s ad instead drove to a discussion thread within reddit. As a result, the discussion thread rapidly grew over 5 months with questions from redditors about the value of these expensive Haworth chairs, and thorough answers from the Haworth community manager. Haworth Chairs 13
“We love reddit,
and we hope reddit
loves us.”
The ad’s body copy provided a strong case for the value of a Haworth chair by highlighting the
chairs’ superior warranty and ergonomics, and also the company’s commitment to sustainability.
If you care about your gaming, you should care about your chair.
If you’re investing in a battlestation, the odds are good that you spend a lot of time in your chair.
Don’t ruin your command center by getting a discount piece of junk. Not only will a Haworth chair
make every moment spent in your chair better but it will save you money in the long run. How, you say?
Let’s start with...
WARRANTY
All Haworth seating is covered by our 12-Year, “bumper to bumper” warranty. This isn’t some shady
warranty that only covers certain pieces and mechanisms, this is the whole deal. We even guarantee that
the seat in the foam won’t break down over time and form to your hind-end. How do we do it? We’re one
of the largest commercial furniture manufacturers in the world, and the only way to do that is to make the
case to a company that our products are business tools. They must result in lower costs ove time and more
productivity. Our products meet the most stringent commercial quality certifications and are designed for
very heavy use. Think of how many low-quality chairs you’ll go through in 12 years; your Haworth chair
will work just as well in 2026 as it does right now.
Oh yeah and we also have desks with a lifetime warranty.
Ergonomics
Our seating is based on the years of research we’ve done with major universities and research-based
entities (like NASA). Our Zody chair is the only chair ever endorsed my the American Physical Therapy
Association. Check out the chairs to see the crazy amount of adjustments and features available on each
model. If you have any questions, pop them in the comments.
Sustainability and Responsibility
All of our seating is made in the USA in ISO14001 certified, Zero Waste to Landfill(our whole company is)
facilities. As an example, our Very Task chair is made from 65% recycled materials and is 98% recyclable at
the ends of its life and is the energy used to make it is offset with green power credits.
We love Reddit, and we hope Reddit loves us. Check out even more cool stuff at store.haworth.com
Haworth Chairs 14Superior Discussion
Management
As expected, redditors had further questions about the value of Haworth chairs that weren’t
answered in the post’s original body copy. Nonetheless, the Haworth community manager was
extremely responsive to further questions from the community, often providing multiple detailed
paragraphs to answer a single user’s inquiry.
[–]Ardey
I’m a hardcore gamer, I sit A LOT at the pc and I’m going to buy a chair soon. I’m very interested in a
DXRacer since they are made especially for gaming and I’ve sat on some and I must say they are great.
Now, please tell me the following:
Can a Haworth chair be used for gaming? (If yes, which one exactly?)
What are the differences between a DXRacer and a Haworth?
And now, tell me exactly why I should buy a Haworth and NOT a DXRacer.
[–]Haworth_Inc[S]
A good gaming chair is good computer chair. There is nothing about gaming that makes it different from
any other type of work at a computer. The whole idea that a chair is “made for gaming” is, quite frankly,
a marketing gimmick. A good chair means a lot of things. I got into more detail in this comment. Which
chair you select will depend on your budget and the set of features you desire.
We specialize in commercial furniture because the stakes are a lot higher for a company trying to make
it’s workers more comfortable and productive. We make our living selling to ergonomists and office
managers who base their purchasing decisions on facts and science.
Some overall differences would be
Warranty Theirs is “Lifetime”. They only cover the chair parts for 2 years and they don’t cover the wear
of the fabric. Our warranty is for 12 years and we cover the natural wear of fabric for 5. That’s a good
indication of part quality and craftsmanship.
Sustainability Our commitment to sustainability is one of the coolest parts about Haworth and one of
my favorite things about working here. All of our chairs are manufactured “locally”. If you buy a chair in
the USA, it will be made in the USA. If you buy a chair in Germany, it is made in Germany. If you buy a
chair in France...you get the idea. DXRacer doesn’t say where their chars are made, that I can find.
Haworth Chairs 15(continued) Superior Discussion Management
Visualized below is commenting activity on the Haworth thread. Each node is a comment, and
comments are strung together based on what they’re commenting on. The blue dot in the center,
and the swarm of blue throughout, are comments by the Haworth account; other colored nodes
are users who commented multiple times; black nodes are unique users who only commented
once. As seen, The Haworth account responded to many comments by users, which often turned
into full back-and-forth discussions being joined in by other users. (Visualization created using
Kawandeep Virdee’s reddit visualization tool.)
Advertiser
Users
Woolio : Now, enlighten me here... Why would I choose a Haworth
chair over a Herman Miller or Steelcase? What would you say?
drydorn : kudos for continuing to follow a thread you started over 3 months ago.
And I only found this thread because it appeared at the top of my /r/all page in
the advertising section, which I rarely look at, but I *DO* care about gaming and
I respect a quality product.
Haworth Chairs 16(continued) Superior Discussion Management Wisely, the Haworth account added links to all these in-depth answers to the initial post’s body copy, so that redditors would immediately understand how committed Haworth has been to helping the community make intelligent purchasing decisions. EDIT Lots of good questions! Why Haworth over Herman Miller or Steelcase? Does Haworth have any promotions or agreements to supply companies with office chairs? Can the chairs handle heavy use? What about a mesh seat? What about international? What is the best position to sit in? Ergonomic theory and our research with NASA Damn these are expensive! How do they compare to the Ikea Markus? CornChowdah sits reclined. What does that mean? How does it compare to the Aeron? How can sitting all day be changed by the chairs? What about for a tall person? How do the chairs compare to Art Design International? (or any grade B chairs) /u/benbulthuis is kind enough to write a Zody review How do they compare to those DX Racer chairs? Haworth Chairs 17
Taking Out The Trash
Within the comments thread there appeared a user complaining that they had been swindled by
Haworth, in that there was temporarily a glitched offer on the Haworth website that offered the
$1,000+ chairs for $0. The user said that Haworth should make good on this offer, even if it was a
glitch. The user then email spammed executives at the company and their customer service team.
In response, the Haworth account explained the situation to the thread, and then poignantly
finished saying that their allegiance was to (1) respectful customers and (2) their dedicated
coworkers, to both of which this unpleasant user didn’t belong.
[–]0ZE
They would do better paying a web developer to fix their broken point of sales system on their
website. Placed an order and they won’t honor it.
[–]Haworth_Inc[S]
Since you’ve decided to hijack the top comment to air your grievance, I will explain the
situation to anyone reading. 0ZE exploited a technical glitch to place an order for thousands
of dollars worth of product for $0. Instead of reporting the glitch nicely like the several
others who experienced it, she placed several orders and didn’t say anything. When our
customer service team reached out with apologies and a discount offer, 0ZE demanded the
gltichy orders be honored (despite our TOS explicitly stating that such instances would not)
and “carpet bomb” email our execs.
Haworth Chairs 18(continued) Taking Out The Trash The thread was in complete favor of the Haworth account, evident by the initial unpleasant user’s comment score of -120, and Haworth’s response having a score of +114. This incident also then found its way onto r/SubredditDrama, which is a gossip community for drama within subreddits. The post noted the scammer’s attempts and then the strong responses from both Haworth and the community. This post then generated even more support for Haworth, with a score of 143 points and a 78% approval rating. Haworth Chairs 19
World Of
Warplanes
This case study focuses on a poorly received ad for
the game World Of Warplanes, in which the
advertiser missed an opportunity to positively engage
with redditors and benefit from their criticism.Enemy Territory Starting in early May, an ad for the PC game World Of Warplanes targeted gaming subreddits with a simple headline: “Now you can fly history’s greatest warplanes in World Of Warplanes. Available now!” The ad drove to a trailer on the game developer’s site. The ad sparked nearly 200 comments in 14 days, although with a negative approval rating (indicating that more people downvoted the ad than upvoted). A bulk of the comments came from fans of a competitor game called War Thunder, whose subreddit of 17k users was one of the recipients of the World Of Warplanes ad. The War Thunder community took the opportunity to criticize the inferior gameplay of World Of Warplanes. One highly upvoted comment hypothesized that War Thunder’s game developer, Gaijin, was actually behind the World Of Warplanes ad, so to jokingly rile the War Thunder community. [–]bloodipeich I am starting to think its Gaijin the ones paying for this ad. [–]Yatta79 Oh look, it’s World of Warplanes back for another beating. Anyone want some popcorn for this event? [–]HTRK74JR Warthunder is better, i alpha tested WoWP, and it is awful. Truly is, it’s muddy, controls suck, and the HP system is not a way to do aircraft. [–]Hotglue89 Dear wargaming The biggest issue I have with WoW is the gameplay. • Awful controls • poor gameplay (fly towards the enemy and shoot, way too simple) • awful graphics Come back when you have fixed those.
A Missed Opportunity Unfortunately, this wave of criticism was only met with silence from the advertiser. World Of Warplanes could have turned these complaints into constructive criticism by responding to commentors and asking them to more thoroughly explain their thoughts, so to turn them into actionable insights. A similar strategy of harnessing negative energy into actionable insights was enacted by Internet Explorer, who had a very poor reputation among the reddit community, but nonetheless requested their constructive criticism about the newest Internet Explorer in hopes of improving it even further. There were indeed many negative reviews from users, but the reddit and Internet Explorer teams were nonetheless positive and responsive, and showed that Internet Explorer did indeed plan to act on some comments from redditors. It’s okay that World Of Warplanes decided to target the War Thunder community, as that is a group that has already demonstrated interest in air combat PC games, but it would have been wise to enter with a clear strategy on how to harness negative feedback into constructive discussions. And to push it even further, World Of Warplanes could have taken out another ad later that thanked the War Thunder community for providing positive feedback (and maybe even distributed some reddit gold to users) like Nissan did in their Versa Note campaign. It would have been wise to enter with a clear strategy on how to harness negative feedback into constructive discussions. World Of Warplanes 22
Nissan And
Amazon
This case study focuses on a joint campaign with
Nissan and Amazon that captured the imagination
of redditors, and which also employed exemplary
community management practices.The First Car On Amazon In September 2013, Nissan announced that its 2014 Versa Note model would be sold through Amazon, and that a few lucky buyers would have the car delivered right to their door (instead of picking it up at a local car dealer, which was the case for the majority of Versa sales on Amazon). Nissan And Amazon 24
What’s In The Box?
A few months later, a redditor posted an image of a very large Amazon box atop a flatbed truck,
with the title “What’s the largest item you can have shipped from Amazon? Because I think
my neighbor just got it.” The post skyrocketed to the front page of reddit, with over 3,900 points
and 4,000 comments. Everyone wanted to know what the heck was in the box, with
comments ranging from micro SD cards to a gun safe that’s supposedly the heaviest item
Amazon will ship for free.
(The stream of guesses, and the pain from not knowing the box’s contents, closely resembled an
earlier event on reddit where a New Zealand man moved into a former drug house to find an
alluringly-unopenable safe. It too exploded into a stream of guesses of what was in the safe.)
Eventually, some smart redditors did their research and found a reference to the Nissan contest
from a few months back.
[–]Faalllccccooooorrrrr [–]iamtehstig
it’s probably just an SD Card or something of equal I remember Nissan was in partnership with Amazon to sell the
or lessor size. new Nissan Versa Note a few months ago. Maybe they bought
one?
[–]shrivel
I hope he didn’t order two of ‘em, because the second one Edit: Looks like I’m right. http://www.autoweek.com/
is gonna arrive in another box of the same size tomorrow. article/20130926/CARNEWS/130929848
[–]timotheophany “Our sister site Automotive News reports that three customers will
“Please rate our packaging”... actually have their orders fulfilled by Nissan, with the cars arriving
in a large Amazon box accompanied by a film crew.”“What’s the largest
item you can
have shipped from
Amazon? Because
I think my neighbor
just got it.”
Image from © 2000-2014 Auto123.com 26Community
Management Gold
After representatives from Amazon and Nissan confirmed that there was a Versa Note in the
box, Nissan promoted a post on reddit thanking redditors for making the box such a huge story,
which produced over 860 points and 900 comments. They also created an illustration using ideas
from redditors about what the gigantic box could next be used for.
Thank you reddit for making our huge Amazon box a huge story!
A couple weeks ago, a redditor posted a photo of our giant Amazon box delivering a Nissan Versa Note to
its new owner in Wisconsin. It made it to the front page and we couldn’t believe how much buzz it got. All
thanks to you, reddit. So before we show anyone else, we wanted to show you guys exactly what we were up
to that frigid day in Wisconsin: http://youtu.be/CyaTIP1NC0A
EDIT: Hey reddit, thanks for sharing with us some awesome ideas on what you would do with the huge
Amazon box. Here were some of our favorites. We had a ton of fun today chatting and we’re going to
give out some gold to celebrate. Thanks again!
Nissan And Amazon 27(continued) Community Management Gold
The Nissan community managers were courteous and humorous — which worked well to
ease the marketing cynicism of some redditors — and gave out reddit gold to positive and
engaging commentors.
[–]kayleighkill
Well.... Do we all win free cars for helping?
If not the cars, we should all AT LEAST get a giant box.
EDIT: HOT DIGGIDY DOG! Thanks Nissan for Gold!! :]
[–]NissanUSA[S]
How about if we give you reddit gold? - Ashley, Nissan Community Manager
All in all, this campaign was exemplary in how it captured the imagination of redditors and then
followed up with positive acts that benefited the community.
Nissan And Amazon 28AR500 Armor
This case study focuses on AR500 Armor, a body
armor manufacturer that’s been building a
straightforward, well-received promoted thread
on the value of their products.Simple And Straightforward The AR500 ad is simple and straightforward: “AR500 Armor - Industry leading manufacturer of affordable and reliable body armor | Made in the USA.” The directness of this ad was praised in the comments, including a highly upvoted comment that thanked AR500 for not using a meme to try and connect with redditors. [–]hobozombie Just wanted to say thanks for making a traditional sort of ad tagline rather than something stupid like “Even Bad Luck Brian [or whatever that meme is] wouldn’t get caught in a bad situation without our body armor.” I’ll keep your business in mind if I’m in the market for some body armor. AR500 Armor 30
(continued) Simple And Straightforward The above commentor was referencing a trend of reddit advertisers to use reddit memes and inside jokes to better engage redditors -- often in styles that would seem off-brand if they were somewhere other than reddit. The risk of such stylization is that redditors may interpret it as exploiting their own language and experience in order to better sell to them. AR500 Armor 31
Quality Commenting
The AR500 account was both frequent and thorough in its responses to redditor questions.
The effect of such a process is a high-quality product information page that’s customized to the
collective desires of reddit.
The purple nodes in the below illustration depict the AR500 account’s frequent participation in
the thread. Nodes are connected to the things they’re commenting on. (Created using Kawandeep
Virdee’s reddit discussion visualization tool.)
Advertiser
Users
AR500Armor : Our level III armor is effective up to a 7.62x51
NATO M80 Ball at any distance up to 2,780 feet per second In
House we test at just 7 yards, standard in house tests include 5
rounds of 5.56 M855/SS109, and 5 rounds up 7.62x51 M80 at a
distance of 7 yards.
timusus : Genuine question : Australian here. We don’t have a gun problem, and
no one I know has been shot. Anyway, what’s your target market? I mean, who
buys these things? Is this for people who like to ride the late night subway and
prefer not to get killed? Police officers? Army people? Aren’t these professionals
supplied with this stuff? I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t buy it or anything
like that. I’m genuinely curious - what kind of people need to buy body armor?
AR500 Armor 32(continued) Quality Commenting
The below screenshot depicts the thoroughness and positive reception (through upvotes and
positive community sentiments) of AR500’s comments. And note the links to more brand
content on YouTube and the brand’s website, which are then accessible to all future thread
visitors.
[–]Dayanx
Unfortunately I can’t justify the expense right this moment, but the prices are amazing.
I easily paid twice that for a 3A concealable vest. What thickness are the plates, and is
there a non-ballistic kevlar layer to catch spall?
[–]AR500Armor[S]
Our level III plates are a little over 1/4”. We don’t use Kevlar; however we do use a spall
& fragmentation mitigation coating from Line-X, their PAXCON series. It’s a special
fragmentation protective coating in their line-up. We just released a Stress Test video
which shows what our body armor is capable of and the frag coating in action. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynu0KIRxVU4&feature=c4-overview&list=UU35anPFZ0jqu
fRh8UhY9uog
[–]Dayanx
Looks like its treated with rhino lining (talk about indestructible). Ive seen a video of
what looked like a half inch thick plate stop a point blank .338 Lapua fmj. I fell in love
with the stuff.
[–]AR500Armor[S]
Our Spall & Fragmentation mitigation is a PAXCON protective coating (a
division of Line-X). It’s a military grade protective coating designed for spall
and fragmentation containment. PAXCON coatings have been used to increase
protection on the walls of the Pentagon. This Line-X coating completely seals our
armor helping reduce spall and fragmentation, and additionally protects it from
chemicals, liquids, and other harsh elements. It takes specialized equipment to apply.
There are products out there using standard truck bed liners. In some cases this
works if it’s thick enough, but the chances of the coating blowing out or peeling off
on impact are high, which is not good.
More details on our frag mitigation coating can be found here - http://www.
ar500armor.com/line-x-protective-base-coating.html
AR500 Armor 33Longevity
The thread’s duration (since October 2013) significantly contributes to its quality, because it
allows the thread to grow in information tailored to the reddit community (with currently
240+ comments). Part of what makes this duration possible is that the thread is not tied to a
temporary campaign or offer. (Haworth Chairs is another advertiser successfully employing
this tactic on reddit.)
Temporary campaigns of course have their place, but brands will benefit from considering a
dual reddit strategy, in which temporary campaigns are paired with an evergreen promoted
thread like AR500’s.
Brands will benefit from
considering a dual reddit
strategy, in which temporary
campaigns are paired
with an evergreen promoted
thread like AR500’s.
AR500 Armor 34Newcastle
Brown Ale
This case study focuses on Newcastle Brown
Ale’s Super Bowl campaign, which exemplified
the benefits of respecting and harnessing the
reddit community’s creativity.
Section Title 35An Open Call For
Ridiculousness
Shortly before the 2014 Super Bowl, Newcastle Brown Ale ran a cheeky sponsored link saying,
“Newcastle Brown Ale wants your love. And money. If we made a Mega Huge Game Day Ad
targeted just at reddit, what should be in it?” This question was an open call for the reddit
community’s ridiculous humor and creativity, and generated over 600 comments about what
Newcastle should include in their video. Upvoted suggestions included bears drinking beer,
flaming cars, and bananas (for scale).
Newcastle Brown Ale wants your love. And money. If we made a Mega Huge Game
Day Ad targeted just at reddit, what should be in it?
reddit, we’re all about refreshing honesty. Shooting straight. Calling bollocks. We didn’t make a big
gimmicky S**** B*** ad this year, because we don’t believe in big, gimmicky S**** B*** ads. (And also, we
don’t have the money to make or even legally mention the S**** B***.) But if we had, it would’ve sold a lot
of Newcastle Brown Ale. We’re talking cases and cases of the stuff.
We’ll be honest, reddit. We’d really like to sell a lot of beer. And we’d like to sell it to you, the fine,
refreshingly honest people of reddit. With all your disposable income and free time, you seem like a fine
target market. So tell us what you’d like to see in your ideal big, gimmicky S**** B*** ad, and we’ll show
you the ad we would’ve made for reddit. We want to make an ad so effective, it’ll make every redditor
empty their wallet and fill it with smooth, refreshing Newcastle Brown Ale. So give us your free ideas, and
we’ll turn them into free marketing. Won’t you help us help you buy Newcastle?
Oh, and completely shameless plug: see the Mega Huge Football Game Ad we could’ve made at
ifwemadeit.com
[–]DasMunch
Everyone is going to say cats. Logical answer. But it’s wrong.
Bears. You need bears. Big bears, little bears, black bears, white bears. Drinking beers. Maybe
with some antlers? And a subliminal mixture of “DEER?” “BEAR?” “BEER?” popping up as
they enjoy an amazingly refreshing beer.
[–]JtheUnicorn
Kittens, beer, flaming cars, and girls in bikinis. And some sort of contest for free beer.
Newcastle Brown Ale 36The Spot A few days after their initial post, Newcastle came back with their reddit-influenced Super Bowl video spot. Indeed, it was extremely low-budget, and redditor suggestions were only included by means of text-overlay and voice over, but the reddit community was pleased overall: Newcastle had listened and acted on their wishes. And it ended with a banana being thrown at a six-pack of Newcastle. Newcastle Brown Ale 37
Campaign Alignment In concurrence with their Super Bowl efforts on reddit, Newcastle ran a larger Super Bowl campaign called If We Made It, which was a series of actual Super Bowl commercials that were ridiculously reimagined and storyboarded by Newcastle -- including a take on the Stephen Colbert pistachio ad where Colbert instead gets eaten by a mutant pistachio. The If We Made It campaign was referenced in Newcastle’s promoted reddit posts, and also within the description of their reddit spot on YouTube. As such, the reddit efforts served as a feeder into the larger If We Made It campaign, ensuring that redditors had the option to further engage with Newcastle if they wanted. Newcastle Brown Ale 38
Conclusion
As Jena Donlin noted in the introduction, “a good ad
recognizes the work, creativity and camaraderie of
users as a whole and within specific subreddits.”
This necessity for brands to respect reddit in order
to benefit from reddit is the key takeaway of this
report, as it continuously reveals itself as the common
thread in successful reddit campaigns: New Belgium
Brewing, Haworth Chairs, Amazon and Nissan,
AR500, Newcastle — they all demonstrated respect,
keen listening and responsiveness.
However, reddit’s democratic makeup means that
reddiquette, the informal expression of redditor values,
is in constant flux, and what was considered respectful
in one campaign may soon be interpreted as a sleazy
marketing tactic. Savvy brands will stay in the know by
checking the official reddiquette document often (reddit.
com/wiki/reddiquette), but also by simply exploring
reddit. “Waste” some time on it, get lost in the links
and references and wit, register the pulse and where its
headed, remember the humans behind each username.
& Credits
Researched and written by Designed by
Reed Immer @reedimmer Ashley Marshall
for Response Marketing @ashlanaf
For more reddit case studies, visit
thepowertoprovoke.com/the-blog/category/reddit
thepowertoprovoke.com
Section Title 39You can also read
