Challenge
Michel Combes, Sprint’s incoming CEO, had zero digital presence. We needed to launch his account to build a foundation of employees and customers for him to engage with.
Solution
We used the outgoing CEO, Marcelo Claure’s Twitter profile, with its 250K+ followers, to introduce Michel, and then quickly established Michel’s base with paid+organic support.
Results
– 60K followers in the first 18 months
– 25% lift in paid growth with a $2.50 average CPF
– Well-oiled content machine to provide timely, relevant mix of personal tweets and Sprint-related content.
The Situation
Sprint’s CEO, Marcelo Claure, wanted to focus on other projects, so he transitioned to Executive Chairman, and then-CFO Michel Combes was tapped to step into the CEO role. However, Michel’s only digital presence was a few interviews he’d done years ago – he had no Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other digital presence whatsoever – hardly even a headshot.
As the leader of the 4th largest wireless carrier in the U.S., it was vital that Michel have a social platform to engage with employees, customers, and influencers. This profile would also serve as a digital outlet for various Sprint news, updates, and announcements.
The Solution
While Michel had no presence, Marcelo had a large following – over 250K on Twitter alone – that we had helped him amass as CEO. The two were well-known for cruising from meeting to meeting at Sprint’s Kansas City-based HQ on branded golf carts, so I knew that would be a great way to “pass the torch” and use Marcelo’s established authority to introduce and affirm Michel’s new role.
Working closely with Michel and Marcelo’s support staff, along with YellowFan studios – Sprint’s in-house creative agency – me and my team created the “Keys to the Cart” launch campaign.
At the same time, we launched a paid campaign for Michel that targeted people using Twitter on a Sprint device. This allowed us to highlight his profile and content to an audience that was pre-disposed to follow him, and to get value. It also built a solid foundational audience for Michel, which provided a strong base of engagement for his content.
The Results
Michel’s Twitter account had 3.6K followers in the first month, and 20K six months later, growing to 60K+ within the first 18 months of being live. 60% of his audience was using a Sprint device to access Twitter, proving that we did a good job of targeting ads and content towards employees and customers.
His tweets averaged 1M+ impressions/month and ~25K engagements/month, indicating that his content was resonating well with his target audience. Michel himself was also pleased with the performance and daily content, and we earned a place in his top-of-mind presence, as he would frequently send us photos/video clips during his day to post. For a guy who previously basically didn’t exist on social, this was a big mental shift that my team counted as a strong qualitative success metric.
3 Keys to Success
1. Use existing assets – without the initial boost from Marcelo, it would have been extremely challenging for Michel’s new account to gain traction. The “Keys to the Cart” launch campaign was a fun, engaging way to introduce Michel and pass the baton. Both executives also enjoyed the idea and video shoot, so it positioned my team well in the eyes of our executives, as well.
2. Build your base– we were very strategic and focused in how we built Michel’s audience. By specifically targeting Sprint employees and customers, we were able to lay a foundation that would pay off later with increased engagement and reception to Sprint-related news and announcements.
3. Share your success – in addition to our own internal metrics, my team made sure to send Michel and Marcelo daily updates for the week following Michel’s introduction, to highlight especially fun/positive responses from followers and key metrics around video views and ReTweets. Ensuring that our executives were aware of the success of the campaign helped us earn a spot in their minds, and paved the way for future campaigns that were slightly more “out there”.
Ricky Cadden 