Social Media Campaign Review: Park Avenue Soongh-A-Thon Contest

Come summer and everyone wants to smell fresh and cool and that’s probably why the Park Avenue Soongh-A-Thon contest, currently underway on Facebook, is a well timed one. Park Avenue is owned by J.K. Helene Curtis Limited. The Park Avenue grooming range includes fragrances, shaving systems, body care and hair care solutions for the grooming needs of the modern man. This contest moves away from the brand's preference for TVCs and takes on social media in a refreshing way.

Objective

The contest puts the spotlight on the new Park Avenue Classic Range of deodorants.

Execution

The contest is hosted on Park Avenue Grooming's Facebook page through a dedicated app. You have to 'Like' the page to participate. The app requests for permission to access your public profile, friend list and email. What follows is pretty simple - all you have to do is answer 9 questions based on the 9 deodorants from the new range. Clues about the deodorants are in the question so it’s not really rocket science but then again, the answers are not very obvious either.

If you go wrong, you have the option to try again, which is nice and keeps you motivated. After you’re done with the 9 questions, your score pops up on the screen and you are just one slogan away from submitting your entry for the contest. Think up something cool and crisp and you are done!

Positives

The app is well designed; navigation is smooth. The questions are not too easy and not very difficult either, which encourages participation.  Considering that a new range of deodorants is being introduced, floating a contest that revolves around the same theme is a good idea. It not only focuses on the new range but also lets people have fun while they discover each fragrance and its underlying tones. At the same time,  describing a fragrance is not easy, simply because a fragrance is best experienced rather than explained. The copy written for the application however manages to capture the essence of each fragrance and the emotions associated with it.

The end of game, throws up the Call To Action, “Feel like Trying these Deos? Buy now!", which strategically aims to drive sales. Also, the game gives users a chance to play again and improve their scores, keeping them coming back instead of feeling defeated if they don’t get it right.

Scope for Improvement

An offline endeavour to support the campaign by testing the new fragrance at stores could probably have encouraged more people to participate.  After all, you only know how a fragrance is once you spray it on your skin or actually smell it, right?

Supplementing the Facebook campaign with tweets and a YouTube video could also have been worth considering.

Conclusion

The Park Avenue brand has been one that has had a strong preference for televised and print advertisements. With this endeavour on Facebook, it has sought to use social media as a platform to introduce its new range, which is good. The brand’s overall strategy has been one that has worked towards becoming the most preferred brand in men’s grooming care. Through the Soongh-A-Thon contest, the brand has widened its net to reach out to young, working professionals across social networks.