THE CREATIVE FIELDBOOK / SNS MEDIA TECH

Campaign studies

1778 source-led reads, 12 per page. These numbered pages work without JavaScript. Search every study and lesson →

853
Cloud software / student community / 2012DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

The Great Dropbox Space Race

Dropbox

Make collective progress reward a useful first product experience, with clear limits and an honest end date.

Dropbox launched the Great Space Race on 15 October 2012. Its announcement invited eligible school communities to earn additional storage through participation. Registration and installation contributed points, while completing the getting-started guide contributed more. As a school reached successive levels, registered participants received more storage. The announced campaign lasted eight weeks, and the extra capacity was time-limited rather than a permanent expansion of every account. Identify a small action that lets a newcomer experience the product’s purpose. It should be achievable without surrendering unnecessary data or involving unwilling contacts. Observe whether people understand the action before adding points to it. If participants complete a checklist only to unlock a reward, the onboarding has not necessarily succeeded. Compare later appropriate use with immediate completion, and allow people to stop without social punishment.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Shared progress
854
Marketing software / 2007DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

Website Grader: A Useful Diagnostic as the Invitation

HubSpot

Give a prospect a useful, explainable answer before asking them to consider a larger product.

HubSpot’s contemporary October 2007 announcement described Website Grader as a free tool and referred to its February launch. The early version combined several website-related criteria into a comparative score. A later company post explained that the tool also offered basic improvement advice and was intended to generate interest, links and leads for HubSpot’s marketing software. This is a historical account of the original programme, not a specification for today’s product. Choose an assessment whose inputs and recommendations can be explained in ordinary language. Show enough evidence for someone to understand why a finding appears and when it may not apply. A diagnostic should reduce uncertainty, not replace it with an unexplained number. Test the advice with people who use different business models so the tool does not penalise a sensible choice simply because it differs from the vendor’s preferred setup.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Explainable value
855
Enterprise software / education / 2014DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

Trailhead: Guided Learning as an Adoption System

Salesforce

Turn a large body of product knowledge into a supported sequence of useful actions, without confusing completion with mastery.

Salesforce’s 2015 developer account states that Trailhead launched at Dreamforce 2014 through collaboration between its Developer Marketing and Documentation teams. It describes guided trails made from modules and short units, with assessments that could involve questions or hands-on tasks. Points and badges provided visible recognition. The programme addressed a familiar adoption problem: extensive documentation can exist without a newcomer knowing what to learn first. Choose a concrete outcome a beginner can recognise, then identify the minimum concepts and actions needed to reach it. Explain prerequisites and provide an alternate route for people who already know them. A well-ordered path should reduce unnecessary searching while preserving access to reference material. Test the sequence with newcomers, because experts often overlook the small assumptions that make an apparently simple instruction confusing.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Guided adoption
856
Education / entertainment / 2022DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

High Valyrian Lessons: Turn Fandom into Practice

Duolingo / HBO Max

Choose a partnership in which using one product makes the other experience more rewarding.

Duolingo announced its partnership with HBO Max on 19 July 2022, ahead of the House of the Dragon premiere. It updated an existing High Valyrian course with linguist David Peterson rather than inventing the language or launching language learning for the first time. The announcement described new vocabulary and sentences, outdoor advertising, and a presence at HBO Max’s San Diego Comic-Con experience. The campaign gave fans a way to practise a language from the story world. Two brands can reach similar people and still have little reason to collaborate. Identify an activity that becomes more meaningful when both products are present. Explain the relationship in one sentence without relying on a celebrity or giveaway. If the experience is equally coherent after removing either partner, the partnership may be decorative. Test that question with people who know one brand but have little familiarity with the other.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Useful partnership
857
Entertainment / 2023DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

Streamberry: An Invitation with a Consent Cost

Netflix

When audiences enter a story, make the real-world terms clearer than the fictional joke.

In June 2023, Netflix promoted Black Mirror’s sixth season through Streamberry, the fictional streaming service featured in Joan Is Awful. Contemporary reporting documented a mock streaming interface, temporary changes to selected social accounts, and a connected You Are Awful experience. Participants could provide a name and photograph to create a personalised landing-page image. This was a promotional experience, not a new competing streaming subscription or an actual television series automatically produced about each visitor. A person may want to see a playful image privately without wanting it displayed in an advertisement. Treat those as different choices in the experience design, subject to appropriate legal review. Explain where content may appear, who may use it and how long it may be retained in language that can be understood before upload. Do not infer public-use permission merely because someone enjoys the preview or shares it with a friend.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Story participation
858
Publishing / professional network / 2021DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

Raising Profiles: Rebuild the Route to a Known Customer

The Big Issue / LinkedIn

Digital access works better when it preserves a useful relationship and includes the support needed to participate.

Raising Profiles brought The Big Issue and LinkedIn together during the pandemic, with public campaign material dated February 2021. Vendors received coaching on profiles, connections and posting, alongside support for getting online. A LinkedIn participant’s contemporary account explains that customers could find vendors and buy through a digital route. The One Show credits FCB Inferno and describes vendor-specific subscription links, making the commercial mechanism more concrete than a general appeal to follow a social account. Identify what people value about the existing exchange before moving it online. Recognition, trust and a familiar conversation may matter as much as payment convenience. Design the new route so customers understand whom they are supporting and what they are buying. Test whether the seller can explain the process clearly, including how proceeds are allocated, rather than assuming that a technically functional checkout preserves the original relationship.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Relationship continuity
859
Design software / community / Date not verifiedDEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

Design Challenge: Give a Blank Canvas a Bounded Brief

Canva

A useful creative prompt can make product practice more approachable, provided recognition does not become unpaid speculative work.

Canva’s Design Challenge programme uses a recurring brief to prompt people to create with its design tools. Its official page describes themes, a public hashtag submission route and a showcase of selected entries. Archived examples include an avatar, a postcard and a process-diagram poster. These are treated here as iterations within one programme, not separate campaigns added to the case count. The opened records do not establish a reliable original launch year. Define one practical design problem with enough constraints to help someone begin. Keep the task small enough to complete without specialist equipment or an unreasonable time investment. Offer guidance that explains decisions rather than requiring participants to imitate a model. A good prompt lets people make different valid choices and understand what they learned, even if they never post the result publicly.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Bounded practice
860
Sports sponsorship / 2023DEEPER STUDY · 5 MIN READ

Dreamcaster

Michelob ULTRA / AB InBev

Demonstrate inclusion by helping a qualified person perform a real role, rather than merely depicting them in an advertisement.

Live basketball information is often presented visually, creating barriers for some blind and visually impaired audiences and commentators. Ask the intended user which information is missing, when it is needed and how they currently compensate. Do not begin with a technology and search for a person who can make it look meaningful. Co-design the workflow, pay contributors for their expertise and let them reject features. The campaign’s central demonstration should reflect their priorities rather than an outsider’s preferred story of overcoming a barrier.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Accessibility
861
Technology and cultural access / 2023DEEPER STUDY · 6 MIN READ

ADLaM Display: An Alphabet to Preserve a Culture

Microsoft / ADLaM community

Support a community’s existing creation with usable infrastructure, then tell the story without taking ownership of its achievement.

A writing system needs usable digital tools as well as recognition to support everyday communication. Map existing creators, maintainers and teaching efforts before defining a brand intervention. Ask what is missing and who has authority to make design decisions. Do not frame a community as inactive until a sponsor arrives. A useful brief identifies the specific contribution the organisation can make and the expertise it must obtain, compensate and acknowledge to make that contribution responsibly.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Cultural access
862
Sport / 2022DEEPER STUDY · 5 MIN READ

Runner 321

adidas

Turn a recognisable symbol of inclusion into a specific request that event organisers can implement.

Neurodivergent athletes can be underrepresented in mainstream sporting visibility and participation. Look for a routine allocation that could express a commitment: a slot, invitation, role or piece of equipment. Specify the change in a way that an organiser can understand and implement. This is more useful than a generic request to support inclusion. Check whether the choice is genuinely within the organisation’s control and whether changing it creates unintended barriers elsewhere.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Inclusion
863
Food and retail / 2023DEEPER STUDY · 5 MIN READ

OreoCodes

Oreo / Mondelēz International

Place a relevant offer on an object already present at the consumption occasion, without requiring new packaging.

People who buy milk do not necessarily add cookies to the same purchase occasion. Map what customers already have in hand when the product becomes relevant. It might be a ticket, ingredient or maintenance record. Look for an honest connection that can explain the offer immediately. Avoid treating any scannable surface as an opportunity simply because recognition technology exists. The interaction should make more sense in that context than a conventional coupon would.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Contextual commerce
864
Health-brand environmental programme / 2023DEEPER STUDY · 5 MIN READ

The DiversiTree Project

Claritin / Bayer Consumer Health

Connect a category concern to an upstream environmental choice, while keeping the intervention’s scientific limits visible.

Allergy communication usually begins with symptoms rather than the design of shared outdoor environments. Map the system around the category and choose one decision that can be influenced responsibly. Clarify who owns it, who maintains the result and which specialists must be involved. A brand can support better practice without claiming to solve every cause of the problem. Select a contribution that remains useful even if the campaign receives little publicity.

Evidence note
No verified quantitative outcomeRead the documented execution and evidence limits in the study. No numeric result is claimed.
Read study, data & creative direction →Upstream intervention
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