The United States Marine Corps wants to engage multicultural Milennials around the 2014 World Cup. This is why it created “The Marines Minute”, a custom integrated solution with several key partners.
The concept was created within MLS and adjusted to more closely align with The Marines’ initiatives through feedback from the Marines media buying agency Mindshare. Multicultural Advertising Agency Uniworld ensured that the final product included brand integration that exceeded The Marines standards. The involvement of MLS Digital Properties shows that while media buying agencies use DSP’s and programmatic buying to reach consumers on mass awareness campaigns, for more targeted efforts like the Marines Minute, there is more of a focus on content providers such as MLS. “During each weekday of the World Cup, we produce a 60 second recap of the most pressing news stories that soccer fans need to be apprised of in order to intelligently participate in the World Cup conversation. Recognizing the consumption habits of the intended audience, we’ve designed the series to be a quick hit packed with key information that can be easily consumed and shared,” says Tom O’Connor Director of Sales Development, Media Partnerships at MLS. The Marines Minute is English language only but it can be accessed through our Spanish language sites in addition to our English language sites.
The Marines Minute is a collaboration between The Marines’ AOR JWT , media-buying agency Mindshare in Atlanta, multi-cultural agency Uniworld Group, and MLS Digital Properties.
The campaign is supported by banners on the same page the video is displayed which drive users to the Marines’ site and YouTube channel where they can engage with the brand through content that features the core values of the U.S. Marines: Pride, Knowledge and Courage. The primary goal for the campaign is messaging engagement. This could be in terms of completed video views, interaction rate, and completion rate. Exposure to Marine Corps is a secondary measure which is quantified with impression delivery.
What Language?
Hispanic marketing for the U.S. Marine Corps is typically done on English-language sites since the Marines target audience (potential recruits) must be able to read and write English. Additionally, research shows Millennials are less likely to differentiate between English and Spanish language content when consuming media.
Distribution
An important piece in Online Video Marketing is to get enough distribution partners so that enough impressions are provided to the advertiser. In the case of the Marines Minute campaign, the videos were shown at MLSSoccer.com, Goal.com, MedioTiempo.com and SB Nation. All these are properties which are either owned by MLS or MLS has sales representation agreements with. O’Connor adds that “as we continue to find and convert fans of all demographics, we’ve established relationships with a variety of premiere content distribution partners, each of which bring their own unique audience to the table. With the Marine campaign looking to focus on 18 to 29-year-old Hispanics as well as general market Millennials, we worked with our distribution partners to place the Marines Minute series in relevant areas to maximize views with their target audience.”
Soccer’s Cross cultural appeal
The beauty of content around soccer, even more so around the Soccer World Cup, is its global and cross cultural appeal. According to the MLS’s O’Connor, “one of the advantages of working within the soccer landscape is the global appeal and built-in multicultural fan base, placing MLS Digital Properties with the highest comScore index among professional sports league sites against the Hispanic Millennial. With The Marines Minute we’ve utilized this advantage to allow the Marines to reach their target audience through our platforms in both English and Spanish.”
Castrol and Tabasco, too
The World Cup brings an incredibly heightened awareness to soccer. Other major brands besides the Marines have used MLS properties to focus on both the Millennial and Hispanic audience, they’ve used both English and Spanish language creative throughout MLS to reinforce their message as a compliment to sponsorship positions such as the Mexican Player Spotlight sponsored by TABASCO on Goal.com and the Castrol Brazil Bound video series on MLSsoccer.com.
DOWNLOAD Portada’s 2014 Soccer Marketing Guide compiled in partnership with Soccer.com and AC&M Group.
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