This past Saturday featured the third no-hitter in Major League Baseball during the 2015 season, as Cole Hamels o the Philadelphia Phillies held the Chicago Cubs hitless on a steamy afternoon at Wrigley Field. It also saw another activation from Domino’s Pizza and MLB with their digital #DomiNoNo campaign that gets brought up any time a pitcher nears a no-hitter and activated when one is completed.
Here is how it works: When a no-hitter is thrown, the first 20,000 users to register their account on MLB.com (either through email or Facebook) receive a promotional code that can be redeemed for a free medium pizza, when redeemed within five days from the no-hitter. Between their lucrative MLB.TV and At-Bat mobile app and their ubiquitous #whiff Twitter campaign all season with Head & Shoulders, their online video activation, and even their oh-so-perfect partnership with Penske moving truck rentals of their @MLBRosterMoves Twitter feed , Major League Baseball Advanced Media consistently does well to activate their corporate partners on Twitter and, to a lesser degree, Facebook and Instagram.
The #DomiNoNo season-long campaign is another effective activation that lasts all season long, offers ample opportunities for mention, and spans Twitter and Facebook and, sort of, Instagram. While there is a surprising lack of integration between MLB’s social media feeds and MLB Network (there is some, but not very salient, promotion on MLB.com), there is much to love with MLB’s social media activations. Given the recent #DomiNoNo from Hamels, here are 5 reasons the #DomiNoNo campaign is a home run:
- It reaches the right audience. While it is well-known MLB overindexes in older fans, especially among its season ticket holders and game attendees, in general, their digital footprint is strong, active, valuable, and, yes, young. The fans following MLB’s social and mobile channels do fit the younger demographic and, obviously, represent a segment that enjoys following live sports. This audience of live sports fans is the ideal audience Domino’s wants to reach and MLB’s digital channels opens that ability. Which leads to the next point…
- It captures customer data. In a fully integrated world, Domino’s and MLB would be tracking every fan that interacts with any #DomiNoNo post or posts the hash tag themselves, but, even absent that, this campaign delivers Domino’s reams of invaluable fan data. Information about and communication channels to potential Domino’s customers. By requiring users to sign up to receive the promotion code, they are getting permission to market to them and reaching fans that want that free pizza, and therefore are identifying themselves as pizza fans. This also delivers data that can be used to build tailored and custom audiences for advertising on Facebook and Twitter.
While this may be a more precise, easier way to collect fan/customer data, they are perhaps missing out scaling to the max, by capturing fan data upon code redemption at the point of sale and letting MLB give out the code publicly on social media and through mobile alerts. A perfect segue to…
- It engages and reaches mobile and digitally savvy fans. Naturally, given this is a digital and social-only initiative, Domino’s is reaching that millennial and younger, digitally native demographic that consumer brands covet so much these days. Estimates say over 70% of social media usage comes via mobile devices and it is these fans Domino’s sees through a dollar-signed plated lens, who will be receptive to, and ripe for, mobile push alerts, ordering via emoji, amenable to beacon offers, and ideal for remarketing and evangelizing. Which leads to the line drive in this campaign…
- It is memorable and shareable. Sure, the partnership wasn’t contingent on a catchy name, but #DomiNoNo perfectly aligns with the short-hand for no-hitter, “No-No.” And, with such repeat exposure over the long season and its thousands of games, becomes almost second nature to MLB fans to think of #DomiNoNo, and Domino’s, any time the idea of a no-hitter enters their minds. It also perfectly piggybacks on the type of FOMO content inherent in live sports, in this case the near-obligation of fans to share with their friends and followers that a possible no-hitter is in progress. And, a smooth turn around third base heading toward home…
- It inherently has a big and engaged reach. It doesn’t take a social media ninja or analytics guru to divulge that content around no-hitters garners predictably high reach and engagement. This is the first step for a foundation upon which to activate sponsors within the engaging content so many fans are enjoying and sharing anyway in the moment. Domino’s is consistently entering a conversation of emotion, excitement, anticipation for a climax and payoff, and one that screams ‘share me.’ Live sports remains so valuable because fans are attentive and engaged in the moment and Domino’s is activating in the moment within the moment in which fans are engaging and sharing at peak levels.So there you have it. There are positive points with many of MLB’s social media partnership activations and this is just one of them, delivering great value for their pizza partner. MLB knows what drives fan engagement and activity and tailors sponsorship to unobtrusively integrate with content, all while adding value for the fans and ROI the business.
So next time you see MLB and Domino’s tweet a pizza emoji and the #DomiNoNo watch warning, remember all the strategy behind it. There is great ROI in the social and mobile space. And we’ve barely left the batter’s box.
Posted by Neil Horowitz
Digital and Social Media Sports 