Category: Social Media

Tic Tac: Likes Matt

Tic Tac France recently reached one million fans on Facebook. To say thank you, they published a video where the CEO personally thanks the one millionth fan, Matt, with the message: “If you like us, Matt, we’ll like you back”.

In the video, the whole company is totally obsessed with Matt, and his picture shows up everywhere. It is a simple, funny way to celebrate a milestone, and it is worth watching even if it is in French.

A milestone video that turns one fan into the headline

The mechanism is playful personalization. Here, playful personalization means taking one real fan and making that person the center of the joke so the thank-you feels specific rather than generic. Instead of thanking “everyone”, the brand picks one real milestone moment and builds a mini story around it, with the CEO as the voice of gratitude and the office as the exaggerated stage. That mechanism works because naming one person gives the audience a concrete character to remember and retell.

In FMCG social media marketing, milestone celebrations work best when they feel genuinely personal rather than corporate.

Why it lands

This works because it converts an abstract number into a human. “One million fans” is easy to scroll past. “Matt” is specific, memorable, and funny. The obsession gag also gives viewers a reason to share, because the content has a punchline, not just a thank-you line. This is the right way to celebrate a social milestone because it earns attention without sounding self-congratulatory.

Extractable takeaway: When you need to celebrate a community milestone, do not amplify the number. Personify the moment with one concrete protagonist, then build a simple story people can retell in one sentence.

What the brand is really doing

The real question is how to turn a milestone post into something people want to share, not something the brand wants to announce.

The video is not only gratitude. It also signals attentiveness. The brand is implying that individual fans matter, and that the page is a place where recognition can happen, not just another broadcast channel.

What to borrow from this milestone format

  • Make the milestone tangible. One named person beats a generic “thanks everyone”.
  • Use leadership sparingly. A CEO appearance can add weight when the message is short and human.
  • Build a repeatable format. You can repeat the pattern at future milestones without it feeling forced.
  • Give it a share trigger. A clear gag or twist increases forwarding and comments.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Tic Tac Likes Matt”?

It is a Facebook milestone thank-you video where Tic Tac France celebrates one million fans by thanking “Matt”, the millionth fan, in a humorous, highly personalized way.

Why focus on one person instead of the whole community?

Because a single protagonist makes the milestone concrete and easier to remember, and it gives the audience a story to share.

What role does the CEO play in the idea?

The CEO acts as an authenticity cue. The message feels less like a standard post and more like a direct acknowledgment.

What is the main lesson for community teams?

Milestone posts should earn attention with a simple narrative device, not with bigger graphics or bigger numbers.

How could another brand adapt this?

Pick a real milestone moment, identify a specific “hero” of that moment, and build a short, human thank-you story around them.

LEGO France: Creativity Forgives Everything

A child gets caught mid-creation. The scene looks like trouble at first glance, then the line flips the judgement: “We forgive everything to their creativity”. LEGO has recently launched this campaign in France around that exact tension between mess and imagination.

Click here to watch the video on AdsSpot website.

Turning “naughty” into proof of imagination

The core mechanism is a simple reframe. Instead of defending play as “educational”, the work leans into the moments parents normally correct. The child’s act is still a transgression, but it is also a creative act. The signature gives parents permission to smile first, and judge later.

In brand advertising for physical toys competing with screens, the fastest way to win attention is to make imagination look like something happening right now in the room.

Why the line sticks

“Creativity forgives everything” works because it treats creativity as a social contract, not a product feature. Here, “social contract” means an unspoken trade-off: parents tolerate the mess because it signals imagination at work. Parents recognise the micro-drama instantly. You want boundaries, but you also want your child to be bold, curious, and inventive. The campaign positions LEGO as the tool that triggers that boldness, even when it comes with collateral damage.

Extractable takeaway: If your category is crowded with functional claims, choose a human tension your audience already lives with. Then write a line that resolves the tension emotionally, and let the product become the enabler of that resolution.

What LEGO is protecting

This is brand defence disguised as humour. The real question is how LEGO stays culturally distinctive when screens can deliver endless entertainment without leaving any real-world evidence. It keeps LEGO out of a specs battle and away from “learning toy” cliches. By celebrating the messy edge of creativity, the brand claims a territory that is hard for digital entertainment to steal. Real-world play that leaves evidence.

What brands can borrow from LEGO here

  • Use a permission-giving signature. A great brand line does not just describe. It authorises a feeling or behaviour.
  • Stage recognisable “caught in the act” moments. When the scenario is instantly familiar, the audience supplies the backstory for you.
  • Make the brand the ally. The work does not lecture parents. It makes them complicit, which is more persuasive.
  • Let the theme travel across formats. This idea naturally fits film, print, and outdoor because the tension can be captured in a single moment.

A few fast answers before you act

What is LEGO’s “Creativity forgives everything” campaign?

It is a LEGO France brand campaign built around the idea that adults can forgive children’s small “misbehaviours” when they are clearly driven by creativity and imaginative play.

What is the core idea in one sentence?

Reframe mischief as imagination, then position the product as the trigger for that imagination.

Why does this positioning work for LEGO specifically?

Because LEGO is a physical system for building anything. The campaign connects that open-endedness to real, observable behaviour rather than abstract “learning” benefits.

How do you adapt this approach to another category?

Identify a daily tension your audience recognises, write a line that gives emotional permission, then demonstrate the product as the enabling tool inside that tension.

What should you avoid when copying the pattern?

Avoid moralising. The power comes from empathy and recognition, not from telling the audience how they should behave.

Recruitment: Pirates and Cyber Warriors

Since 2010 I have covered how different agencies around the world have been innovating with their recruitment campaigns. Now here are the latest two to join the list.

Two modern filters for hard-to-hire talent

Both ideas avoid broad “we’re hiring” noise. Instead, they place the offer inside the candidate’s real behavior, then use a simple mechanism to separate curiosity from capability.

The better recruitment move is to screen for behavior before you screen for polish.

The real question is not how to attract more applicants, but how to surface people whose behavior already matches the role.

Pirate Recruitment

Young web designers often need expensive application suites to create, and many end up downloading them from illegal pirate websites. Ogilvy Brussels uses that insight by uploading a file that appears to be the “wanted” application suite.

When designers download it, they do not find the software. They find a stronger offer: a job opportunity, delivered right inside the moment of intent.

In competitive digital talent markets, the hardest problem is not reach but signal.

Why this one works

The delivery is the targeting. If you are not the kind of person who looks for pro tools, you never see it. If you are, the offer lands as a wink that proves the agency understands your world. Because the message appears inside a live tool-search moment, it feels relevant instead of interruptive.

Extractable takeaway: Put the offer where the target audience already goes to solve a real problem. The closer your message sits to a “work moment”, the higher the relevance and the lower the waste.

Cyber Warriors Challenge

Wieden+Kennedy wants to recruit community managers for its client Old Spice, so it creates a deliberately crazy set of challenges. Candidates get five days to complete one or more tasks and submit proof of their exploits.

Cyber Warriors Challenge

Why this one works

It forces the right kind of effort. Community management is not just “posting”. It is speed, judgment, creativity, and resilience under ambiguity. A challenge-based entry filters for people who can actually do the work, not just describe it.

A small, time-boxed demonstration of the craft makes the screening signal stronger than a generic application form.

What to steal for your own recruitment

  • Recruit inside real behavior: distribute where the audience already acts, not where recruiters usually post.
  • Make the first step self-selecting: the wrong candidates should bounce naturally.
  • Keep the proof simple: “show me” beats “tell me”, but it has to be feasible in limited time.
  • Respect the audience: clever targeting works when it feels insightful, not exploitative.
  • Optimize for quality, not volume: fewer applicants can be a feature if they are better matched.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “pirate recruitment” in one line?

A job offer is packaged as a fake software download on pirate sites, so the right web designers discover the recruitment message at the moment they search for pro tools.

What is the Cyber Warriors Challenge?

A time-boxed set of tasks used as a screening step to recruit Old Spice community managers by requiring candidates to submit proof of real-world exploits.

Why do these tactics outperform standard job ads?

They target behavior, not demographics. Both approaches reach people in-context and require a small demonstration of motivation or capability.

What is the biggest risk when copying these ideas?

Trust and ethics. If the tactic feels deceptive, unsafe, or disrespectful to the audience, it can damage the employer brand faster than it attracts applicants.

How do you measure success?

Not by raw applicant volume. Track qualified applicants, interview-to-offer ratio, time-to-hire, and early performance or retention of hires sourced through the mechanic.