Fila, the iconic Italian sports brand associated with 1970s style and fashion, has produced a slick and humorous British gangster style viral with cult actors Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan to promote its Centre Court pre-distressed trainers. The Fila ambassadors play two South London hitmen who are summoned for a job to see the big boss. Their “mission” in the short film, shot at The George Tavern in East London, is to find, break and beat up some Italian troublemakers.
The viral, produced by Red Bee Media and directed by Marcus Jones, aims to attract cult fans of the actors and the brand as well as spreading the word to a wider audience. Fila has seeded the viral video on several channels including men’s style titles, music and film titles, national news sites, networking/fan sites of Dyer and Hassan and their films, trainer fans and Fila fans.
How to use UGC and social networks to boost website traffic? Just look at the smart social media strategy of online eyeglass retailer EyeBuyDirect.
Traffic at EyeBuyDirect.com has increased between 10% and 15% since the online discount eyeglass retailer added a social networking hub to its website about five months ago. The new feature is now the main engine driving traffic to the site, ranking above search and other marketing efforts, says EyeBuyDirect CEO Ron Hessel.
About 20,000 consumers have added pictures of themselves sporting nearly 500 different styles of eyewear to EyeBuyDirect.com’s Wall of Frame social network. Here, friends, family and strangers can offer feedback on photos.“We’re finding that people love monumenting their activity on the site or their purchase with a photo that others can see,” Hessel says.
EyeBuyDirect.com, launched in March 2006, allows visitors to upload photos of themselves and virtually “try on” different frames before making a purchase. Hessel says the social network was added after visitors asked for a way to share photos.
