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Liberty Fillmore, the Cart Whisperer
http://www.nomoreabandonedcarts.com
MarketingSherpa Summary:
Ask any eretailer: abandoned shopping carts are a challenge. And nobody
cares more about that challenge than Liberty Fillmore, the Cart Whisperer.
Internet infrastructure provider VeriSign created a series of fun videos
featuring the fictitious Liberty Fillmore, who teaches that website
shopping cart abandonment is preventable. The campaign included submissions
to YouTube, a MySpace page, a Facebook page and a website for Fillmore's
poetry, videos and contest. The videos delivered a heap of blog coverage
and more than three million views on YouTube.
Agency: McCann Erickson
Client/company: VeriSign
Brand campaign was conducted for: Extended Validation SSL (site security for shopping)
Launch date of campaign: Feb. 25, 2008
Target audience/demographic: IT retail
Campaign Goal:
Create awareness of how visible site security can prevent online shopping
cart abandonment, essentially rescuing carts. Additionally, we wanted to
connect the ubiquitous image of physical abandoned shopping carts to
virtual carts.
Creative:
A character, Liberty Fillmore the Cart Whisperer, was created to help tell
the unique story of shopping cart abandonment. Through a series of viral
videos, traffic was driven to a site that Fillmore created himself
(with some help from a tech-savvy cousin). There, users could do the
following: watch the videos, browse and submit (UGC) photos to the album,
learn about Fillmore, read his poetry, enter a contest by finding a nomadic
shopping cart on the site (its whereabouts changed every day), link to his
MySpace and Facebook pages and learn about his sponsors who are helping to
save online shopping carts.
Seed Strategy:
The campaign launched by seeding the video on YouTube and in media player applications
and widgets on Facebook pages and various blogs. Additionally, a teaser video banner
ran on sites to drive our core target audience to the campaign.
Buzz Generated:
Thanks to excellent coverage in the blogosphere, site traffic is sustaining
itself without new videos, seeding or paid media. An abbreviated list of
quality mentions:
Aquila Online: The cart whisperer:
http://www.aquilaonline.co.za/2008/04/the-cart-whisperer/
Spark Effect: Overstock.com and VeriSign try a little subtlety:
http://www.sparkeffect.com/2008/04/overstockcom-and-verisign-try-little_13.html
AdRants: Abandoned carts have feelings too. Also, they talk. Also, this guy's INSANE:
http://www.adrants.com/2008/03/abandoned-carts-have-feelings-too-also.php
The Buzz and Viral Marketing: The Cart Whisperer:
http://kgerringer1.blogspot.com/2008/03/cart-whisperer.html
Cutting Digital Teeth: The Cart Whisperer:
http://claretownhill.typepad.com/weblog/2008/03/the-cart-whispe.html
Viral Blog: Viral Friday: Food Fight:
http://www.viralblog.com/2008/03/14/viral-friday-food-fight/
Nobody Asked...: The Cart Whisperer…:
http://www.nobodyasked.com/2008/03/08/cart-whisperer/
iMarketer Blog: The Cart Whisperer: A YouTube case study:
http://www.4syndication.com/mdv_communications_online
_marketing_blog/the_cart_whisperer_a_youtube
_case_study/30386/v.do?rssView=true
Future Now: The fight against shopping cart abandonment:
http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/03/05/verisign-cart-whisperer-campaign/
Specific (Goal-Related) Campaign Results:
So far, the videos have been viewed collectively almost 3.3 million times
on YouTube alone (seeding was done at the top 12 video sites). The site has
seen 88,804 unique visitors with the average site visit growing over time
to 4:13. The photo album continues to be the most popular section of the
site. Users have submitted 61 photos to date.
The Shopping Cart Evolution video outpaced the launch video. Results were
almost instant. Site traffic took a considerable dip without any paid
seeding or traditional banners, but it is now rebounding on its own.
Biggest Lesson:
YouTube views do not equal site visitors. We knew this going in, but wanted
to close the gap over time. We played with various calls to action at the
end of the videos and saw an increase. If we were back at square one, we
would have launched three videos - one every four days for 12 days to try
and monopolize two weeks and a month of the Most Viewed categories. Viral
success is so fleeting, and that means your launch has to sustain its
momentum, at least for longer than two days on YouTube.
Surprise: How eagerly viewers welcomed a whacky campaign from a brand
that's known to be staid and conservative.
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