In an effort to promote Energy Sheets, a brand of caffeine-laced breath strips, last week Walmart launched a Facebook contest to send American rapper/Energy Sheets spokesperson Pitbull to the store location that received the most new Facebook Likes before July 15th. Walmart recently launched individual Facebook pages for each store location to increase regional and local engagement. The main page for Walmart currently has 17,638,725 fans.
David Thorpe and Jon Hendren of Something Awful took the Walmart contest to a new level by starting a #ExhilePitbull campaign to send Pitbull to the most remote Walmart in America, which is Walmart #2711 in Kodiak Island, Alaska. With the help of Twitter and Reddit, the campaign quickly spread. Walmart Kodiak’s Facebook page now has over 71,000 likes. This is nearly 10 times the population of the entire island.
Pitbull and the Energy Sheets promotional team do not seem too bothered that their contest was hijacked. Pitbull has been tweeting jokes about #ExhilePitbull and is more than willing to take the 3 planes and a boat to get to Kodiak. He has even invited Thorpe to join him.
While the contest did not run as originally planned, the Facebook contest arguably reached a larger, more engaged audience than it would have without the #ExhilePitbull campaign. One downside to note is that even though the Walmart Kodiak page received an impressive increase in fans, most will not be in the Kodiak area to shop at the Walmart. However, the fans are now more aware of Walmart’s overall strategy and may find their own local Walmart Facebook page.
STATS
#exhilepitbull
Twitter Volume
Facebook:
- Pitbull’s Facebook currently has 21,703,747 likes and 909,655 people talking about the page
– Pitbull’s page has a “My Local Walmart” tab on which fans can search for their local Walmart and like the page to win a visit from Pitbull
- Walmart Kodiak currently has 71,127 likes and 18,345 people talking about the page
– Posts pertaining to Pitbull have acquired 2,726 likes, 568 comments and 555 shares
Twitter:
- @pitbull currently has 5,808,543 followers
– @pitbull has a Klout score of 80, indicating a significantly high level of influence over followers and extended network
– Since the Energy Sheets promotion began, Klout score has increased by +2 pts
– Pitbull is utilizing #exilepitbull on his own Twitter account and retweeting others who post the hashtag
– @pitbull has seen a 4% increase in followers since 6/29
*Thanks to Rebecca May for writing this!
Hijacked Contest Sends Pitbull to a Remote Alaskan Walmart | Moxie Pulse.
