31 Days of the Dragon WordofMouth Marketing Program

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31 Days of the DragonWord-of-Mouth Marketing
Program
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Buzz Corps - Company Background

• Buzz Corps was started in May of 2007 by
  partners Chris Aarons and Geoff Nelson. While
  working together at AMD on a joint launch of
  Microsofts Windows Vista operating system they
  began working with core Microsoft bloggers and
  influencers.
• The influencers liked the strategy of For, With
  and By the Community to such a degree that they
  suggested the founders help influencers and
  corporations build mutually beneficial
  relationships.
• We took their advice

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WOM is all we do

• Teach WOM and marketing at University of Texas
• Members of the Governing Board of WOMMA
• Geoff Nelson - Instructor at WOMMA University
• Recognized by bloggers Google Chris Aarons or
  Nick White and see what the bloggers say
• Nick White of our Seattle Office ran the
  Microsoft Vista Blog with over 6 million unique
  visitors a month

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31 Days Model

• Campaign Aspects
• WOM
• Contest
• Product
• Community
• Conversation
• Search
• CGM
• Time
• Global
• Consumer Control
• Sales
• Viral

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31 Days Model The Amplifier
Campaign Aspects
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What Is The HP HDX Dragon?

• HPs flagship notebook fully loaded
• 20.1 1080P Hi-def screen
• Intel Extreme Edition processor
• Blu Ray Player
• Prize package valued over 5,500 including
• Microsoft Office
• Corel PaintShop Pro X2
• Corel Painter Essentials
• Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus 11.5
• Symantec Norton Internet Security
• Viva Piñata game
• Microsoft Flight Sim
• Microsoft Flight Sim Expansion Pack
• Gears of War game
• Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Mans Chest- Blu
  Ray
• Pirates of the Caribbean - At Worlds End - Blu
  Ray
• Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black
  Pearl - Blu Ray

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HPs 31 Days of the Dragon

• Why 31 Days Of The Dragon was created
• HP wanted to deepen its commitment to the
  blogosphere and its support of the new media
  initiatives that build strong relationships in
  this unique community of writers, reviewers, fans
  and enthusiasts of every kind.
• Program Overview
• To accomplish this, HP provided 31 HDX Dragon
  systems to 31 selected influencers/bloggers to
  give away to lucky readers on their sites over 31
  days (one per blogger) any way they wanted.
• Why community influencers/bloggers?
• HPs mission was to build and maintain
  long-lasting relationships with bloggers and site
  owners and to support them in their endeavors.
  HP believes these people represent an exceptional
  and dedicated segment of the communications and
  media landscape and that their influence is on
  the rise.
• Also, HP wanted to say thanks to the
  influencers for all their great work, as well as
  to their readers for their participation and
  support of blogs and forums.

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Solution Part 1
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Solution Part 1
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Solution Part 2
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31 Days of the Dragon - Results

• Business advances, sales gains, increased product
  awareness and competitive advantage
• Results from HPshopping.com (month over month
  data)
• 84 increase in sales on the HDX Dragon system
• 14 increase in overall traffic
• 10 increase in overall consumer PC sales
• Sales figures for the month of the program set
  several records
• This is usually a softer month and does not
  include channel sales
• The sales gains are continuing even 2 months
  after the program
• Costs
• Total cost for systems, shipping, software and
  paying to offset taxes for the winners 250K
  (costs shared by HP and partners)
• 0 media spend/we did not pay bloggers

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HP HDX Dragon Sales Results
Giveaways End
HP HDX Dragon had been shipping for 9 months
Giveaways Begin
Data from HPshopping.com
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31 Days of the Dragon - Whats Amazing

• During the promotion, the 31 top bloggers
  promoted the contest, HP, the HDX Dragon and each
  other an unprecedented occurrence that showed
  the collective power of a community banding
  together
• Each blogger was able to create their own unique
  contest , specifically tailored to their
  audiences and goals
• The promotion garnered over 31 days of positive
  discussion on HP and the HDX and was accompanied
  by third-party endorsements that quickly resulted
  in a significant sales increase
• Bloggers also created and shared custom marketing
  materials, including dedicated site, graphics,
  logos, videos, RSS feeds and then cross-promoted
  these items with each other
• We could not have bought the results achieved
  with traditional media

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Website Done By The Bloggers

• This site was created by the bloggers to
  concentrate traffic, Digg results and improve the
  viral nature of the giveaway
• They also shared traffic stats and links with us
  and each other

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Google Results
The giveaway allowed HP to have 100 glowing
results with third-party praise for the HDX on
the first five pages of Google when searching for
the product as well as significant coverage on
important keywords
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Content Generated For The Giveaway

• Readers created videos to enter the several of
  the giveaways
• In one contest, they even created their own
  commercials for the product and HP
• They also created videos to thank HP, as well as
  review, and to show off the product after the
  giveaways
• Together, all of the videos for the giveaways
  were watched by well over 10 million consumers

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Content Generated For The Giveaway
Showing the power of consumer generated content,
word-of-mouth marketing and social media all at
once, influencer Chris Pirillos numerous videos
were watched by over millions of consumers and
included viewers praising the HDX and HP in his
scrolling comment window.
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What The Influencers Got

• Traffic 150 to 5000 increase
• New readers stuck Average 50 increase holding
• Deeper relationship with HP

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Comments From HP

• Buzz Corps consistently delivers results.
  Through their keen understanding of how to
  harness the power of Google search and strong
  ties with the blogging community, Buzz Corps
  delivered record HP Home and Home Office Store
  traffic, conversion and sales for the HDX series
  during the 31 Days of the Dragon promotional
  period AND into the following months.  Nearly
  double the performance of traditional paid Web
  ads and at a fraction of their cost BRILLIANT
  marketing!  
• Scott Ballantyne, HP Vice President GM Consumer
  Computing
• By recognizing the influence of our partners in
  the blogosphere and tapping into the creative
  thinking of Buzz Corps, the 31 Days of the Dragon
  program achieved outstanding unit sales and great
  exposure for our first HP HDX series notebook. 
• Bruce Greenwood, HP Vice President North America
  Channel Development Marketing

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Comments From HP

• The amazing thing about 31 Days of the Dragon
  was that Buzz Corps program took a shipping
  product with average sales and turned it into a
  halo product with phenomenal sales. This gave
  the HDX Dragon series the shot of adrenaline and
  exposure it needed via in-depth influencer
  reviews, community feedback, super-creative
  contest entries and overall lift in Google search
  results that worked when nothing else did!
• Dana Harrold, HP Product Marketing Manager
• Unleashing the blogging communitys creativity
  by giving them the freedom to promote and
  merchandise the HP HDX series has yielded
  fantastic results!  The community did not stray
  from the products key selling points and drove
  exposure well beyond our expectations. 
• Michele Kennedy, HP Advertising Manager
• "Designing a program that drives awareness and
  demand for our products by collaborating WITH the
  bloggers rather than one FOR them was very new
  and exciting to me. The enthusiasm, creativity
  and buzz generated by the 31 Days of the Dragon
  program exceeded my expectations ten fold.
• Tom Augenthaler, HP Worldwide PR Manager

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Select Comments From Readers (unedited)

• This is one of the best contests I've ever heard
  of or participated in, before the 31 Days of the
  Dragon I didn't even know about this machine.  HP
  really knocked it out of the park I think, plus
  it's fun watching all of the contests that people
  come up with. )
• I LOVE HP now even I dont win all 31 of
  these, Ill probably buy a tx2000 from them.
• in light of that, this might be one of the best
  directed audience advertising campaigns ever
• This is so good for all parties involved. Props
  to HP for doing this thing. It really makes me
  like that company more so than I already did. All
  the big computer companies should be doing the
  same thing. Even if I dont win, Ive still
  gotten something out of all this - it has
  introduced me to a bunch of cool sites Ill be
  visiting from now on.
• This is a great promotion from HP and to get the
  word out on this product. Hopefully other
  companies can follow suit with this strategy.

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Select Comments From Readers (unedited)

• Wow. Benefits for all!  You guys get heavy
  traffic, plus better interlinking between blogs,
  and hence better Google rank,  The HP Guys get
  free publicity, and is cheaper for them than
  actual advertising. 31 blog readers, one of them,
  probably me ), very satisfied! )
• Cheers to EXCELLENT marketing!
• This is sheer genius! I wish I would have
  thought of this. Kudos to all involved. I now
  think far more of HP.
• Wow this is an amazing opportunity. HPs are
  amazing machines. Currently I am writing this on
  an HP computer bought last November and it is
  probably one of the best computers I have ever
  owned.
• Hey That Hp is Great It Looks So Wicked also the
  style of it is class and with someone getting a
  chance to Win it thats even better who gets that
  is going to be over the moon I think it class it
  sounds Fast good Memory ) Hp Should Get a Medal
  For giving this away thanks Hp.

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Key Takeaways

• The community can work in ways traditional media
  cant or wont
• Influencers drive sales
• A holistic program such as 31 Days of the
  Dragon forces competitors to become reactive to
  your marketing

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Thank you for your time!Questions?chris_at_buzzc
orps.com 512.573.3222geoff_at_buzzcorps.com
512.560.0196