Silver: Best Campaign on a Budget (Under $250,000) 2015

To boost its presence on social media, Mike’s Hard Lemonade took personalization to a new extreme: It renamed the brand after its millionth Facebook fan.

The promotion was in keeping with the brand’s contention that its primary target audience of 21- to 34-year-old men seek products that exemplify their own distinctive personality and tastes. The company felt that the best way to reach these Millennial consumers was via digital media, so it converted its entire traditional-media budget to social and other digital efforts.

Working with agency Trisect, Mike’s promoted the campaign via its website, Facebook, and other social media. But once Paul Siano of Orland Park, IL, became the company’s 1 millionth Facebook follower, the campaign was still far from over. On June 19, 2014, Mike’s Hard Lemonade became Paul’s Hard Lemonade for a day, complete with new logo and bottle labels, as well as reskins of its website and social media accounts. Paul’s Hard Lemonade was even featured on a Times Square billboard.

Mike’s filmed the entire rebranding process for a video that it posted on Facebook and YouTube; it also filmed the celebration at Siano’s office, where delivery staff wearing Paul’s Hard Lemonade shirts presented him with custom six-packs of Paul’s Hard Lemonade as well as a lemon-shape caking featuring the new logo. To maintain the momentum of the campaign—and to thank those who had been fans even longer than Paul—the company gave away branded prizes every hour via social-media sweepstakes.

The nine dedicated Facebook posts in the run-up to Siano’s becoming the millionth follower received 3.5 times more likes and 5 times more shares than the average post. Nearly 15,700 people entered the social-media sweepstakes, and the campaign generated 6.5 million impressions. Shakespeare was onto something when he asked, “What’s in a name?”