Minneapolis-based agency, space150, partnered with Director Nick Losq, (Double-Wide) to help Be The Match, the world’s largest bone marrow registry, reach their most elusive donor targets, millennial males. “With millennials,” says Losq, “the key is authenticity. Their BS meters are very well tuned.”
Something must have worked. The resulting social media campaign, Be The Guy is now nominated for a 2017 Webby Award for Best Cause Related Campaign. (https://lnkd.in/gDk5Ft4) It not only created 212 million media impressions, Be The Guy also led to increased donor enrollment by 280%.
“We knew that everything we did had to be looked at through the filter of authenticity. From the choice of camera to framing for the various social media formats, everything had to have that ultimate authenticity. A lot of our cast wore their own clothes.”
To find their authentic cast, Losq and team put out casting calls searching for ‘anyone with a special skill or talent.’ “The hairy guy was a camp counselor who saw the casting ad and said to himself, I’m hairy, I’m going to go down there and shave chevrons into myself,” says Losq. “That was totally his idea, and he went back to his camp that way because he thought the kids would get a kick out of it. That’s real, and that’s why it worked.”
Losq and DP, Munn Powell, found themselves going through a process of undoing all their training and experience. “Our instincts were to make everything pretty. Should we add a key light here, use that filter there? Then we reminded ourselves that it all had to feel authentic to social media, to this audience or it would not work. Everything you’re trained to do, we had to undo, but it so paid off.”
“Everyone wants to reach millennials, but if you’re not actually from that demo, it’s hard for a lot of people to know how. I’ve done a lot of work aimed at millennials, and this is really what I’m proudest of. Together with the agency, space150, not only did this campaign speak to that audience in a truly authentic voice, it managed to actually help save people’s lives. You don’t get to do that too often in our business.”
BE THE GUY social media campaign: https://reel.io/__4DElZ
REPRESENTATION
- East Coast: Brandon Pico, brandon@hapa.tv
- Midwest: Maureen Butler, mobutlerreps@gmail.com
- West Coast: Toni Saarinen, toni@saarinen.tv
