Sony Pictures & Jameson’s go social for ‘The Social Network’

Sony Pictures India, in association with Jameson’s Whiskey, has launched a social engagement campaign for the movie about Facebook ‘The Social Network’, kicking off with a campaign on contestdhamaka.com. The contest site offers Facebook connect, wherein users can log in using the popular social network and participate in the contest, which can then be shared on their social graph.
People who visit the microsite are given a customised experience, which shows the entries, winners and also ties it in with Sony’s e-commerce efforts, linking to the company’s online store to sell ‘The Social Network’ at a discounted rate. The campaign, which started off at the start of April, allows people also comment on entries, and the winners chosen each week are based on a popular vote, which has led, according to Contest Dhamaka, to maximising of the engagement of users on the site.

Vinish Kotian, Assistant Manager, Marketing, Sony Pictures India, said, “Running an online contest on ‘The Social Network’ is to engage people not only for increasing their social network but also to encourage them to think like an Entrepreneur irrespective of some enemies you make on your way. Since this film has got an Oscar, it’s a perfect movie to highlight the power of online marketing.”

Dippesh Jain, New Business Development Manager, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, said, “The movie ‘The Social Network’ is based on the power of social media, associating this with online marketing, we are also trying to explore the untapped market of the online world. The cost effective and highly trackable tools that are available only on online marketing make it a must to be present online.”
The campaign, which is still live, has already generated over 5.5 lakh brand impressions, and in interactions, has generated near 1,500 votes, and almost 3,000 people have played the game, with 500 people having ‘liked’ it on Facebook.

Harpreet Bhatia, Co-founder and CEO, BrandAppz, which implemented the campaign for Sony Pictures India, said, “When working for a brand, we at BrandAppZ, always try to come up with something new, something that has not yet been done by anyone in Social Media, at least not in India. We implemented the same logic to the Social Network Movie Contest as well. It is a text contest in which the tag line of the movie is discussed ‘Can huge success be achieved without making enemies?’.”

“The new elements are that it is a viral campaign built outside Facebook, yet leveraging all the viral features of Facebook like comments, likes, news feed, wall posts etc. In addition we added some more viral components and made the microsite into a mini Facebook (in terms of look and feel and navigation). Last but not the least; we integrated ecommerce inside the contest, giving flat 25 per cent off on the DVD,” Bhatia concluded.

Sony representatives confirmed that the campaign has been successful for them and that they are looking to carry out more online projects to best leverage the brand online.