Figure 36. Old Spice Facebook Page with a Link to the Store
In keeping with the social nature of f-commerce, it is the ideal way to create an entirely new kind of relationship with customers. Fun is the operative word here and major brands have used the Facebook page as a place challenge or excite or otherwise engage their customers with all kinds of innovative tools.
Procter and Gamble took advantage of the Old Spice–Mustafa buzz created by their award-winning ad campaign launched just prior to Superbowl XLIV in 2010 by riding on the buzz and setting up an impromptu store to sell Old Spice branded t-shirts and accessories. Figure 36 is a screenshot of the Old Spice Facebook page. You can see on the left hand side the link for the Store, underneath the Wall and Info.
Figure 36. Old Spice Facebook Page with a Link to the Store
How did Old Spice use f-commerce? In early June, the sequel to Smell Like a Man launched to strong reviews from c onsumers and industry experts. Old Spice invited consumers to submit questions via Twitter and Facebook to be answered personally by the Old Spice Guy. More than 2,000 people sent questions and in a forty-eight-hour period, nearly 200 personalized video responses were created and posted to YouTube, including those to Digg co-founder Kevin Rose, Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano, and ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, setting new benchmarks for consumer engagement and sparking another viral hit.
According to P&G, the campaign had a significant impact on Old Spice sales, both for body wash and the overall franchise. Old Spice has month after month strengthened its market position and is now the number one brand of body wash and deodorant in both sales and volume with growth in the high single/double digits. When you click on a product in the store in Facebook, it takes you outside of Facebook to their e-commerce site.
Diapers.com took advantage of something we all do when we shop — we make a list of what we need. Their engagement tactic was to provide a virtual shopping list that you could use over and over. Where did Diapers.com come from? Amazon, wanting to get into the Facebook e-commerce game and add a social element to their e-commerce capabilities, acquired Quidsi. Diapers.com, Soap.com, and BeautyBar.com are all owned by Quidsi. On Quidsi’s sites, members created shopping lists, especially for things that they use a lot.
Members of Quidsi can access their Diapers.com shopping lists by logging into Facebook with their Quidsi credentials. Once logged in they can complete a purchase of all or some of these products without ever leaving Facebook. Amazon also did an integration with Facebook, launching a feature that taps into a customer’s social network for recommendations. Consumers can shop for products directly from the social network on Facebook under a tab called “Shop My List” and can manage their lists on all three sites via that one tab.
Adult Swim’s interaction tactic was to take advantage of knowing that people like to see what their friends like. They used a Facebook button to accomplish this, Figure 37. The Adult Swim properties are part of the Time Warner Company and Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network. Fans can visit AdultSwim.com to view free, full-length episodes of Adult Swim TV shows and play the free online games. AdultSwim.co.uk the website has become the online destination for fans of Adult Swim’s animated cartoon and live-action comedy and action TV programming From that site, when fans hit the shop button, it takes them to the Adult Swim Facebook f-commerce shop.
At the top of the page, it asks fans if they want to see what their friends like. If a fan clicks on the What My Friends Like button, a dialogue box opens that requests your permission to allow the connection to our Facebook page. It then posts what you and your friends like. If a Fan picks a product, they can complete the purchase without ever leaving Facebook.
Figure 37. Adult Swim’s F-commerce Shop