Marc Jacobs Fragrances' Daisy Daze included social sharing-ready touchpoints. Image courtesy of Sweden Unlimited
U.S. fashion label Marc Jacobs’ experimental Uber activation for its Daisy fragrance resulted in more than 61 million social media impressions.
In spring 2016, Marc Jacobs launched the “Daisy Daze” campaign and took to the streets of New York in a branded Uber. Daisy Daze, which leveraged design, strategy, marketing and content creation, recently earned the digital agency behind the awareness-generating effort, Sweden Unlimited, the “Best Campaign by a Beauty Brand” trophy at the Glossy Awards June 15.
"Today, when a clever tweet or a social media misfire can make or break a brand, it’s both challenging and terrifying to create an activation that delivers a sense of surprise," said Leja Kress, CEO and co-founder of Sweden Unlimited, New York. "But without the unexpected, it’s difficult to be heard.
"In that kind of environment an out of home experience, done right, can really move the needle because it has the potential to deliver a brand to consumers in a totally unique way—like an Uber full of daisies—and that gets noticed," she said.
A daisy grows in New York
Aligning with the first week of spring in 2016, Daisy Daze took place on Saturday, March 26 and was exclusive to the New York market.
Uber users living below 59th Street in Manhattan, Brooklyn’s Williamsburg, Greenpoint and DUMBO neighborhoods could hail a ride in a car covered with daisies.
Users had to opt in and request the car though the Uber application using the promo code “MJDAISY.”
The Daisy-branded Uber car featured a custom soundtrack and free full-size bottle of Daisy Marc Jacobs fragrance.
Additional branding included car seats decorated with artificial daisies, daisy leis and sunglasses to inspire user-generated content. Daisy Daze was the first time a brand partner opted to decorate the inside of an Uber vehicle (see story).
LVMH-owned Marc Jacobs was also the first fragrance brand to partner with Uber.
Marc Jacobs branded the interior and exterior of an Uber for Daisy Daze in March 2016. Image courtesy of Sweden Unlimited
Marc Jacobs’ partnership proved successful for Uber. The ridesharing app’s Daisy Daze participation resulted in the highest promotional offer applies and its highest-ever overall campaign engagement, measured by total requests and social impressions.
Uber’s work with Marc Jacobs also saw an increase email open rate of 47 percent, compared to the 40 percent average.
In total, Uber saw 5,459 ride requests from users during the six-hour Daisy Daze promotion. Uber promo applies, meaning the promotional code was used, totaled 4,836.
Just more than 200 trips were completed in the Daisy Daze Uber.
On social media the campaign was vastly successful as consumers spread the word and shared snapshots from the backseat of the Daisy Daze Uber.
The #MJDaisy hashtag resulted in more than 61 million social media impressions and reached 11 million followers of the Marc Jacobs Fragrances account.
Instagram posts shared by influencers and editors earned Marc Jacobs more than 278,000 likes. Marc Jacobs also saw more than 1,200 new followers on the Marc Jacobs Fragrance Instagram and more than 2,500 new friends on Facebook.
The campaign also yielded more than 153 million media impressions, with headlines in Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, InStyle and New York magazine’s The Cut, among others.
Marc Jacob Daisy Daze Uber Campaign from Sweden Unlimited
Continuing to bloom
Marc Jacobs also worked with Sweden Unlimited to extend the #MJDasiy campaign through its digital channels.
The “evergreen element” included a custom message generator in celebration of spring on the Marc Jacobs Fragrance’s Web site.
Marc Jacobs’ messaging effort was accompanied by a short #MJDaisy video that paired blooming paper flowers alongside the three Daisy scents: the original, Daisy Dream and Daisy So Fresh.
Web site visitors were able to share springtime messages with friends. As an example, Marc Jacobs used the phrase “bloom bright,” which was accented by small paper flowers inside each letter and a miniature bottle of Daisy serving as the period.
#MJDaisy messaging example. Image credit: Marc Jacobs Fragrances
Consumers could also enter a phrase of their choosing and select from four color themes. If yellow or white was selected, the period mark was Daisy, while the blue represented Daisy Dream and pink Daisy So Fresh (see story).
Based on Marc Jacobs Fragrance's success with Daisy Daze, high-end brands should embrace out of home activations that leverage the Uber platform.
"Uber was a great partner for this campaign and there is no doubt that other brands can benefit from partnering with such high-profile companies," Sweden Unlimited's Ms. Kress said.
"But what's most important for brands is that the details of the campaign delight and engage the audience in some way or the activation will fail to capture people’s imagination and ultimately fail to create engagement," she said.