Hollister resorts to tried and true "sex sells" approach

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Posted 19 October 2012 16:43pm by Heather Taylor with 0 comments

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This week on our weekly showcase of The Dachis Group's Social Business Index we've focused on a top clothing brand, charity and concept cars. 

Stephanie Fuller from the Dachis Group has analyzed three well-known brands – Abercrombie & Fitch, UNICEF and Peugeot - to see why they are faring better in the social space this week.

We'll also take a glimpse at the top twenty brands on the Social Business Index, a real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their performance in the social space, to see how the biggest brands in social are faring.

Abercrombie & Fitch 

Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch's California-inspired youth lifestyle brand, created quite the stir on Facebook by following big brother A&F's tried-and-true "sex sells" approach--posting a zoomed-in photo of three lifeguards' abs with a call for fans to write a meme caption for the image. The winning meme would be featured on the Facebook page.

This approach to memes is something that is becoming an increasingly popular social tactic among large brands, capturing the popularity of sites like memecreator and challenge of the New Yorker's comic caption contests in a fun and brand-relevant way. The result was more than 400 shares of the post and 600 comments. And why wouldn't they want to spread the wealth for others on Facebook to ogle over?

To put these numbers in perspective, during the same day this post went live, there was also a 20% off coupon code for all purchases at Hollister. Usually coupons do well in social, but that post was only shared twice! The lesson here is that for Hollister's audience hot guys abs, plus the opportunity to have a witty meme published to Hollister's page can create a massive engagement boost. Sex indeed sells.

UNICEF

On October 9th UNICEF posted their condolences for Malala Yousafzai, a fearless 14-year old activist who campaigned for girls' education rights in Pakistan and blogged about her experience living under Taliban rule for BBC Urdu. Malala was shot by the Pakistani Taliban, and coverage of the incident--in the press and in social channels--has spread quickly.

The sad tragedy created an uptick in engagement on Unicef's social accounts, which linked to a BBC article providing details of the attack. On Facebook alone, more than 2,800 people shared the post, spreading the knowledge of the tragedy, and prompting 525 comments wishing a speedy and full recovery for the inspirational young girl.

Peugeot

Last week's Paris Car Show provided multiple promotional opportunities for Peugeot to discuss their line of cars and motorcycles. In particular, the Onyx supercar had an opportunity to shine as it took the stage at the show.

Peugeot's solicited fans to vote for the car in a contest for best concept car. They also got fans at the car show involved--requesting they upload photos of Onyx to Instagram for the chance to be featured in a series of images featured on their Facebook page. One lucky fan even got his photo featured in the "vote for Onyx" post.

Incorporating fans in this way gave an opportunity to those at the Paris Car Show and those interested in the Onyx supercar to participate in one of the year's biggest automotive events, while simultaneously letting Peugeot reap the benefit of user generated content and increased engagement. 

Editors note: The Social Business Index, a free ranking compiled by The Dachis Group, is based on the analysis of conversations on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social platforms. The index is based on the execution and effectiveness of businesses at driving outcomes such as brand awareness, content sharing, and advocacy.