#Fearless4Friday: Four Must-Know Companies in the Digital Space

The scene: A digital strategist, a tiny cat and a lovely speech pathologist pack into a 20-foot U-Haul.

The stage: I-80 West.

The challenge: An 850-mile trek from Zeno Chicago to Zeno New York.

 Nearly 2.5 years had passed, living in downtown Chicago and spending my days at 200 E. Randolph with some of the finest people you'll ever meet. My colossal cross-country commute gave me ample time to reflect on some of the cutting edge, innovative teams I’ve partnered with for a variety of digital executions.

 Here are four must-know companies:

1.      Brander

 Who they are:

Brander is to Instagram as agents are to celebrity talent. They have a vast influencer network with a key emphasis on the car, auto and sports vertical, able to mobilize them quickly and efficiently to support your brand with customized, sponsored content.

 These aren’t your Instagram celebrities with 500k+ followers; these are mid-tier influential users who have a base of 20k-150k people with an affinity towards a specific vertical.

 What we did:

We partnered with Brander for Turtle Wax, as they enlisted 50 Instagram influencers to create customized #Reflectie photos. This led to over 800,000 engagements on their specific photos, a slew of new entries to the program via Instagram and an increase of 134 percent followers for the Turtle Wax Instagram handle.

 2.      UBER

 Who they are:

Everyone knows UBER, the mobile app that connects passengers with drivers for hire.

What we did:

Bud Light challenged us to think outside the box and ensure people drive safely during Super Bowl Sunday as part of their CSR program for the big game. By partnering with UBER, Bud Light hosted an interactive app via FB allowing users to redeem free rides. This effectively positioned the brand as ensuring fans get home safely during Super Bowl Sunday.

 UBER constantly rolls out new features and functionality for branded integration. I’d recommend reviewing their blog for the latest and greatest around the mobile app.

3.      Extreme Reach/BrandAds:

 Who they are:

BrandAds, recently acquired by Extreme Reach, is a best in class video seeding company that specializes in hyper-targeted amplification, featuring a custom video player.

What we did:

DieHard and Sears Auto Center approached us with a fantastic video, taking advantage of the immense online conversation and excitement for the undead. Our approach of seeding the video into relevant online and social destinations prominent with auto and zombie fans, timing it with the season premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead and incentivizing content sharing led to an influx of earned media placements/views.

Our approach helped the video reach 1.7MM views and a cost per view of 1c (industry standards is 25c). Near the conclusion of the program, we were ecstatic to learn that the video was turned into a :60 TV spot, airing during Thursday Night Football on the NFL Network.

4.      OfferPop

Who they are:

OfferPop builds engaging customer experiences, with a key emphasis on customization around digital contests, sweepstakes and promotions.

What we did:

We partnered with OfferPop for Turtle Wax, building a custom microsite that aggregates entries we received for our #Reflectie contest. Their technology pulls in user photos from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and direct upload, and essentially lives off of TurtleWax.com.

 For Phase II of the program, the OfferPop technology allows us to seamlessly display the top ten entries we receive and open up the selection of the grand prize to community voting. They handle the rules/regs, legal and interface development. If you’re looking to build and host a user-generated content submission program, look no further than OfferPop.