Exito: Flossbook

Exito: Flossbook

Over the last year or so I have seen numerous brands use the basic website functionalities of Twitter and Pinterest to reach out and engage with their audiences.

In this example, Sancho BBDO from Colombia creates a “banner” that promotes Exito dental floss by taking advantage of the Facebook Timeline. In the case video below you can see how the banner behaves like dental floss, sliding between pictures of food posted on restaurant fan pages.

The campaign reports that the Exito website received 30% more traffic and that the banner collected more than 200,000 likes across restaurant fan pages.

A banner that borrows the feed’s own grammar

The idea works because it treats the feed as the medium, not as a placement surface. Instead of shouting for attention, the unit inserts itself where the problem actually happens. Between the food and the teeth.

How the mechanism works

The execution uses a Timeline-format ad unit designed to appear between consecutive image posts, creating the visual metaphor of floss moving through a meal-heavy feed. It is still advertising, but it behaves like an interaction with the stream rather than a block sitting next to it. That matters because when the ad uses the stream’s own sequencing, the metaphor reads instantly and needs less explanatory copy.

In social platform marketing, the most durable executions are the ones that act like native feed behavior instead of interrupting it.

Why it lands

It lands because the metaphor is immediate and the placement is earned. If you are scrolling through indulgent food photography, you are already in the mental space where “maybe I should floss” makes sense. The banner does not have to convince you with copy. It just has to show up in the right gap, in the right moment, with a visual that explains itself.

Extractable takeaway: When a platform has a strong, repetitive content pattern, design your unit to exploit the “gap” between posts. The gap is where attention resets, and where metaphors can do more work than claims.

The business intent behind the trick

The real question is not whether a banner can get seen, but whether it can make its relevance obvious in the exact moment people are already primed for it.

This is efficient attention engineering. It makes a low-involvement product feel relevant by tying it to a high-frequency behavior. Scrolling food photos. That linkage is what turns a standard banner into a feed-native reminder you actually notice. Here, feed-native means the ad works inside the platform’s normal flow and spacing instead of fighting it.

What oral-care brands can lift from this

  • Start with the platform pattern. Identify what people repeatedly do and what they repeatedly see.
  • Build a metaphor that uses placement as part of the idea. Here, “between photos” is the point.
  • Keep the unit visually self-explanatory. If it needs instructions, it loses the feed moment.
  • Target the most relevant content contexts. Food imagery is the natural trigger for oral care.
  • Measure beyond clicks. Engagement and downstream site lift can be the real win for a feed-native format.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Flossbook” in one sentence?

A Facebook Timeline-format banner that visually acts like dental floss by appearing between food photos in the feed.

Why is the Timeline placement essential to the idea?

Because the meaning is created by the gap. The banner becomes “floss” only when it sits between two posts like something threading through them.

What makes this feel native instead of intrusive?

It uses the feed’s own rhythm and spacing. The unit behaves like a piece of the stream, not an unrelated rectangle alongside it.

What is the biggest risk with “platform mechanic” ideas?

If the platform changes the format, the idea can break overnight. These executions need contingency planning for UI shifts.

How can other brands apply this without copying the metaphor?

Find the repeatable content pattern in your audience’s feed, then design an insertion that only makes sense in that exact pattern and moment.

Cape Town Tourism Facebook Holiday

Cape Town Tourism Facebook Holiday

Cape Town Tourism wanted to promote the unexpected side of Cape Town. All the small communities, never-heard of places and unearthed gems that can’t be found on Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet, Expedia, or even Google.

Since everyone could not be sent to Cape Town, people were allowed to send their Facebook profiles instead. Through a Facebook app users were given a virtual, tailor-made Cape Town holiday that exposed them to all the unexpected places. A few lucky winners even got to experience their Facebook profile’s holiday for themselves.

Why this idea fits tourism marketing right now

This is a smart twist on an old travel problem. Most destination marketing ends up showcasing the same highlights, using the same guidebook shorthand. Here, the hook is the opposite. The campaign is built around what standard lists miss, and it uses a person’s own Facebook profile as the input to make the recommendation feel personal. This is the right strategy for destination marketing because it turns generic discovery into personal discovery. That matters because using a person’s own profile as the input makes the destination feel more relevant before any trip is booked.

Extractable takeaway: When the audience becomes the input, discovery feels less like promotion and more like a recommendation built around personal relevance.

The pattern to steal is simple

For tourism brands trying to move beyond the same predictable shortlist, the challenge is making discovery feel personally relevant. The real question is how to make overlooked places feel worth exploring before someone ever books. If you want people to care about a place, product, or experience, give them a way to picture themselves inside it. This campaign does that in a very direct way. It takes something people already maintain daily, their Facebook profile, and turns it into a personalized route into discovery.

It also helps Cape Town Tourism promote the long tail. By long tail here, that means the lesser-known communities and hidden gems that do not show up in the usual places. Those places can finally get airtime because the experience is not optimized for the “top ten.” It is optimized for relevance.

A similar proof point from last year

Similarly last year, Obermutten a little and lovely mountain village from Switzerland was put on the world map through a very simple Facebook campaign. Check that out here.

What to steal for destination marketing

  • Let the audience be the input. Using a Facebook profile as the starting point makes the output feel personal, not promotional.
  • Sell the long tail, not the postcard. A personalised route gives “small communities and hidden gems” a real chance to surface.
  • Create an output people can compare. “Your Cape Town holiday” invites sharing because it is inherently personal and discussable.
  • Add a real-world payoff for a few. A small number of winners makes participation feel consequential, not just entertaining.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Cape Town Tourism Facebook Holiday campaign?

It is a destination marketing idea that used a Facebook app to turn a user’s Facebook profile into a virtual, tailor-made Cape Town holiday.

What problem was Cape Town Tourism solving?

They wanted to promote the unexpected side of Cape Town. Smaller communities and hidden gems that are not easily found on mainstream travel platforms and guidebooks.

How did the Facebook profile app work at a high level?

Users submitted their Facebook profiles through the app, and the experience generated a personalized “holiday” that surfaced unexpected places based on that profile.

What made it shareable?

The user is part of the idea. The output is framed as “your” Cape Town holiday, which naturally invites comparison and conversation.

What is the broader takeaway for digital marketers in 2013?

Personal data can be turned into a story engine. When the audience becomes the input, relevance increases and discovery moves beyond the same predictable highlights.

Hyundai i30: Light Drive Test Drive Game

Hyundai i30: Light Drive Test Drive Game

To launch the new generation i30 in South Africa, Hyundai reinvented the test drive with the Hyundai i30 Light Drive. It is a virtual racing game projected onto the i30’s front windscreen, played from inside the car.

Instead of waiting for people to visit a dealership, Hyundai took the experience to South Africa’s hottest nightspots in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Anyone, at any time, could step in, experience the car’s slick dynamic features, and compete for the top spot on the leader board.

A test drive that behaves like entertainment

The mechanism is smart because the “drive” is no longer a polite sales ritual. It is a game with stakes, progress, and a score. Two-man teams work together on the track to collect icons. Each icon represents an i30 specification, and collecting them powers up the car and boosts the team’s score.

That turns feature education into gameplay. Specs are not listed. They are earned. The i30’s story is embedded in the rules of the experience.

In experiential automotive launches, product education lands best when features are translated into gameplay mechanics that people can learn by doing.

The real question is whether your product education can be designed as a loop people want to repeat in public.

Why it lands in a nightlife setting

Nightspots are where people are already in a social, competitive mood. A leader board gives instant status. A queue becomes part of the atmosphere rather than a frustration, because everyone can watch and anticipate their turn. Hyundai amplified that social energy with HD cameras streaming the live test drive to a large screen outside the car. The crowd can watch the teams compete in real time, which makes the experience feel bigger than the physical footprint of the vehicle.

Extractable takeaway: In social environments, make learning visible. Use a score people can chase and a spectator view people can watch, so the product story spreads while the line forms.

Facebook Connect turns players into publishers

Hyundai linked the i30 Light Drive to Facebook Connect, turning participation into a shareable identity moment. Photos of the teams are posted instantly onto their timelines, extending the experience beyond the venue and turning “I played” into “I was seen playing”.

Even the waiting time is engineered. People queuing to play are educated and entertained with a touch screen brochure on the i30’s rear windscreen. It is product information, but delivered in an interactive format that matches the energy of the activation.

The intent: make the i30 feel modern before anyone compares price

The business intent is clear. Hyundai wants the i30 to feel like the next generation. Not just in features, but in attitude. By turning a test drive into an interactive spectacle, the brand signals innovation, tech confidence, and social relevance. The car becomes an event.

Moves to borrow from Hyundai i30 Light Drive

  • Move the experience to the audience. Take the product out of the showroom and into high-traffic social contexts.
  • Teach through interaction. Turn product features into game mechanics so learning is part of play.
  • Design for spectators. Live screens and streaming make the activation bigger than the footprint.
  • Make sharing native. Identity-based posting works best when it is built into the flow, not bolted on later.
  • Use the queue. If people are waiting, give them interactive content that reinforces the product story.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Hyundai i30 Light Drive?

It is an in-car virtual racing game projected onto the i30’s windscreen, designed to turn a test drive into an interactive competition.

How does it communicate the i30’s features?

Teams collect icons on the track that represent i30 specifications. Those icons act as power-ups, so the specs become part of the game’s reward loop.

Why target nightspots instead of dealerships?

Nightlife venues provide a ready-made social crowd. Competition and spectacle fit the context, and the experience spreads through observation and sharing.

What role does live streaming play in the activation?

HD cameras stream the gameplay to a large screen outside, turning players into performers and the crowd into an audience, which increases participation and energy.

What is the key takeaway for experiential launches?

Design an experience that people want to play and watch. When product education is embedded inside a compelling interaction loop, attention follows naturally.