Power of Online 76 | SunMatrix Ramble

SAS: Up for Grabs on Facebook

To promote a million-seat fare sale, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Crispin Porter + Bogusky Stockholm ran a Facebook competition where fans could “grab” a free trip. The ask was visual and dead simple, and it turned participation into the media.

Fans changed their profile picture into a custom “Up For Grabs” image, then posted a matching photo on the SAS Facebook wall where they physically “grabbed” the trip. Every entry looked like an ad, and every ad looked like a friend.

The mechanic that turns fans into distribution

The campaign’s mechanism was a two-step loop. First, replace your profile image with a branded frame that signals you are “in”. Second, publish a playful photo on the brand wall that demonstrates the concept, grabbing the prize. That wall then becomes a live gallery of social proof, with each new post re-selling the fare sale in a more human way than a banner ever could.

In airline marketing, promotions that convert participation into shareable images can outperform price-only fare announcements.

Why it lands

It turns an abstract offer into a physical gesture. “Grab a trip” becomes something you can perform, photograph, and show. The profile-picture switch is a light commitment that broadcasts intent, and the wall post is a public performance that invites imitation. The momentum comes from visibility, because the more entries you see, the more “normal” it feels to join.

Extractable takeaway: When you need scale fast, design one participation artifact that doubles as an ad unit, and make the action easy enough that people will copy it without instructions.

What the shutdown reveals about the strategy

The campaign was reportedly against Facebook promotion terms, and it was shut down. That ending is part of the story, because it highlights the tightrope of social-first promotions. The creative is built on a behavior Facebook historically restricts for contest entry, asking people to publish specific content as a condition of participation, even if the idea is clever and the buzz is real.

The real question is whether the participation mechanic can spread the offer without depending on a platform behavior that can be switched off overnight.

The stronger strategic read is that the creative idea is right, but the distribution mechanic is too dependent on borrowed platform rules.

What to steal for your own launch

Make the entry format the message. If the entry itself demonstrates the offer, you get free repetition of the proposition.
Use a low-friction first step. Profile-picture frames and templates work because they are fast and socially legible.
Design a single visual trope. “Grabbing” is a trope anyone can reproduce, and that consistency creates a recognizable feed.
Build compliance in from day one. If the mechanic depends on prohibited platform behaviors, plan a compliant alternative before launch.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea of Up for Grabs?

A Facebook contest where fans change their profile picture to a branded frame and post a “grabbing the trip” photo on the SAS wall to compete for a free flight.

Why does the profile-picture step matter?

It turns participation into persistent visibility. The frame signals “I am in”, and it spreads through everyday browsing without requiring an additional media buy.

What made the campaign travel beyond the SAS page?

Each entry was both participation and promotion. When fans changed their profile picture and posted a matching photo, the fare sale moved into personal networks instead of staying inside brand media.

Why was it shut down?

It was reportedly closed for violating Facebook promotion rules by conditioning entry on specific platform actions, such as posting photos on the wall.

How do you keep the upside without the platform risk?

Keep the visual template and the “grab” trope, but move the submission mechanic to a compliant entry flow, then allow optional sharing that is not required to participate.

Fey & Co: Lullaland

Around the world, people say good night on Twitter, often with #goodnight. Jung von Matt/Elbe collected those tweets for mattress manufacturer Fey & Co and turned them into a daily, shareable sleep ritual.

Every good night tweet automatically became part of the campaign. With a simple retweet, users were invited to www.lullaland.net, where short tweets were converted into melodic “lullatweets” for the world. Fey & Co positioned itself as an ambassador for good sleep inside the bedtime behavior of a digital generation.

How Lullaland turns tweets into lullabies

The mechanic is a tight translation loop. Capture tweets containing the hashtag. Convert the letters into tones to generate a simple melody. Store and present the results as a browsable collection, so each new tweet becomes both content and invitation. That works because the system turns an existing bedtime signal into branded content without adding effort.

In consumer categories built on comfort and routine, attaching the brand to an existing nightly habit is a durable way to earn repetition without forcing a new behavior.

Why it lands

It respects the moment. “Good night” is already intimate and low-energy, so the idea stays lightweight and fits the mood. The conversion from text to sound also makes participation feel magical without requiring people to do anything beyond what they already do, tweet.

Extractable takeaway: When you want to own an emotional territory, do not only advertise the feeling. Embed the brand into a recurring micro-ritual, then turn real audience behavior into the content that keeps the ritual alive.

What the brand is really buying

This is not a mattress demo. It is salience at the exact time the category is most relevant, right before sleep. Each contribution expands the library, each retweet can recruit new contributors, and the campaign accrues credibility because it is built from real messages rather than brand copy.

The real question is how a sleep brand earns a place in the bedtime habit before the purchase decision is even active.

What to steal from Lullaland

Use an existing verb. Build on a habit people already perform daily, then add one small layer of transformation.
Translate data into emotion. Turning text into music creates feeling fast, even when the input is mundane.
Make participation automatic. Lower friction by letting normal behavior qualify as entry.
Create a browsable archive. A growing collection gives the idea longevity beyond a launch spike.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Lullaland in one sentence?

A campaign that collects #goodnight tweets and converts them into short lullaby-like melodies, linking Fey & Co to a nightly digital ritual.

Why does converting tweets into music matter?

It turns a familiar social action into an emotional artifact, which makes the participation feel more meaningful than a normal hashtag post.

What makes this effective for a mattress brand?

It shows up at bedtime, uses real “good night” behavior, and reinforces sleep as a cultural moment rather than a product feature list.

What is the main risk with ritual-based campaigns?

If the experience is slow, confusing, or repetitive, people do it once and stop. The conversion has to feel instant, and the output has to feel varied enough to revisit.

What should brands copy from this idea?

Start with a recurring user behavior, add one simple transformation that creates emotion, and make the output easy to browse or share so the system keeps renewing itself.

Desperados: YouTube Takeover

A takeover that pulls social identity into the video

In digital video marketing, the most ambitious takeovers do not just run before content. They try to become the experience people came for. Here, a “takeover” is an interactive branded viewing layer, not just a pre-roll slot. Desperados’ execution is a clean example of that intent.

Here is a pretty cool and ambitious YouTube takeover. It is one of the first ones I have seen that also integrates the Facebook Connect functionality as part of the experience.

How Desperados built the takeover experience

The YouTube campaign was created by Dufresne Corrigan Scarlett and MediaMonks for beer brand Desperados.

The takeover let you interact with the story as it unfolded and also let you bring your Facebook friends into the party by pulling in photos on the fly.

In European FMCG video marketing, social identity layers only earn their keep when they turn an ad unit into a shared moment.

Why bringing friends into the story changes attention

Standard video asks for passive watching. This approach creates viewer control and personal stakes because pulling in familiar faces turns a generic narrative into social self-recognition. The real question is whether your experience can borrow the viewer’s social world without making the login step feel like the main event.

Extractable takeaway: If you can make the story reflect the viewer’s real relationships, attention stops being rented and starts being owned, which makes staying and sharing feel functional rather than promotional.

The business intent behind the social layer

The intent is to move beyond reach and toward participation.

By using Facebook Connect and on-the-fly photos, the campaign tried to turn viewers into co-owners of the experience. That increases time spent, lifts recall, and creates a natural reason to invite others, because the party becomes better when your people are in it. Brands should add this kind of social layer only when it materially changes what the viewer sees and does next, otherwise the friction is wasted.

Steal the pattern for social-identity takeovers

Make interaction serve the story. Viewer control works when it changes what happens next, not when it is a gimmick.
Personalization is strongest when it is social. Pulling in friends can create instant relevance and emotion.
Design the invite loop into the experience. If friends improve the outcome, sharing becomes functional, not promotional.
Choose the platform feature that matches the idea. When identity is the hook, social login becomes a creative tool.

To experience it yourself visit: www.youtube.com/desperados.

A few fast answers before you act

What was the Desperados YouTube takeover?

An interactive YouTube campaign that integrated Facebook Connect so viewers could bring friends’ photos into the unfolding story.

What was the core mechanism?

Viewer control within the takeover experience, paired with a social login layer that pulled in photos dynamically during playback.

Why does Facebook Connect matter in this context?

It makes the experience personal and social. When the content includes your friends, it feels more relevant and more worth sharing.

What business goal did this support?

Increasing time spent and participation by turning a brand film into an experience that feels co-created and socially expandable.

What is the main takeaway for brands?

If you want people to stay and share, give them control and a way to bring their world into the story.