Dive Brief:

• Japanese carmaker Honda began a targeted social media campaign for people to acknowledge their friends' achievements and nominate them on Facebook or Twitter for personalized awards videos, such as "biggest armchair quarterback" or "best undiscovered singer," according to an announcement shared with Marketing Dive.
• The effort promotes the carmaker's 2018 Honda Accord and builds on past TV creative where trophies came to life. The company is using "three layers of targeting" on the social platforms to reach consumers interested in the Accord model and will deliver one of 76 contextually focused nomination videos, as well as six broad audience videos throughout the campaign, which ends in March. For every custom trophy video created by users, Honda will donate $1 to a charity related to the associated award.
• In the effort's first week, Honda saw about 550 nominations submitted. Facebook has averaged 74 nominations per video and engagement has exceeded core engagement rate benchmarks. On Twitter, the campaign has surpassed core engagement rates by 543%, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Marketers should take note of the high engagement levels that the campaign has seen in just its first week, pointing to consumers' positive responses toward messaging that is personalized, positive and builds community. This comes as consumers continue to respond to and expect individualized content and brand experiences, with 43% of U.S. consumers reporting that they're more likely to make purchases with companies that use personalization in their marketing. By encouraging users on social media to nominate someone for an award, the campaign drives community, an approach that is becoming more important following a recent announcement from Facebook that it would downplay brand posts in favor of content that promotes positive interactions between users. 

With this effort, Honda is capitalizing on the popularity of a series of awards-driven events taking place this winter — including the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the Oscars — as well as the insight that people love to see their names in lights. Honda created the award categories for the highly targeted and personalized effort to cover the wide spectrum of demographic and psychographic insights, including music, sports and innovation, it's gathered from customers to give them an opportunity to see their name on an animated trophy for an award like "biggest vinyl collection" or the "happiest person in Philadelphia," which launched right after the Super Bowl. 

With its customer insights, Honda is able to tap into key moments, such as upcoming award shows, to encourage Facebook and Twitter users to nominate a friend for an award, aligning itself with the annual awards season. Linking the campaign to a charitable fundraising drive is another way to boost engagement levels and potentially compel more consumers to participate if it means doing some good. Nearly 40% of consumers say they like it when brands donate to charity and encourage their social media followers to do the same, a Sprout Social survey found.

Short video ads are becoming a tool of choice for marketers looking to hold the attention of millennials whose attention spans for ads is about five seconds long. A successful short video campaign involves creating and re-targeting multiple short videos to consumers who previously interacted with other parts of a campaign, signaling their potential interest in a brand or product message. Yoplait, for example, saw a 1,461% increase in brand interest following a 60-second TV and online spot and 32 six-second video ads customized to a user's online behavior.