Two years ago, Extra Gum released a new commercial on television. It was a 30-second spot titled “Extra Gum: The Story of Sarah and Juan”. If you haven’t seen it by now, watch it below. It was and is amazing and beautiful.
That is the 30-second TV version. They did a great job with it. They used American Idolstar Haley Reinhart for the song. They promoted it heavily. But it didn’t catch. Extra Gum’s sales were decreasing leading up to the commercial’s release. The decline continued throughout the fall. This happened for seven months. The company was scrambling to figure out the issue. So what did they decide to do? They released the full version of the commercial on social media.
The full version is two minutes long. Watch it below, then read what happened next…
So they released the full commercial on social media, and it absolutely blew up. The YouTube video has been viewed almost 20 million times. On Facebook? A few hundred million!!!
According to Gary Vaynerchuk, their business has been up double digits every day for the last several months!
Why Did This Happen?
When Extra Gum released the full version of the commercial on social media, it allowed the company to tell the whole story. The 2-minute spot is a lot more compelling and emotional than the 30-second spot. Social media is inherently shareable. We all know this. You can’t do anything with a TV commercial. On social, you can share it with everyone, tag your friends, Snap it, and more. And you can take action and buy the product right away too, since you’ve already got your device in hand. In terms of the actual video, it’s no surprise to me that the 2 minute version did better than the 30 second version. It shows what happens when you try to cram 2 minutes of story into 30 seconds–it doesn’t resonate! They had the footage. They had extra scenes they had to cut out. Why couldn’t they release a longer version right off the bat?
I recently wrote how TV advertising dollars are shifting towards Snapchat Ads. This is a trend that’s not going to stop. It makes more sense to advertise on social media. It’s more trackable. It’s more effective. It’s more targeted. Better ROI. On and on and on.
Ready to get going with a campaign of your own? At Wallaroo, we specialize in social advertising management. Contact us today to learn more!
