BuzzFeed Presents
The Oscar Mayer hot dog Wedding
just a second… let me start with my role at BuzzFeed.
I worked on the Brand Planning team, as a Group Creative Director. My unique role was to architect innovative brand collaborations that used the massive, multifaceted BuzzFeed ecosystem to its full potential. Innovation was at the core of my position. I lead pitches every week for nearly two years that
integrated BuzzFeed teams, platforms, and products that had never found synergies before
that required creative solutions that clients had “never seen before from BuzzFeed”
and found fresh ways to offer value, beyond passive engagement, for the savvy, ad-skipping BuzzFeed audience.
This campaign was all three and marked a first for BuzzFeed. The Oscar Mayer wEdding quickly became an internal blueprint for integrated brand collaborations.
It brought together the BuzzFeed Editorial Team, Tasty Team, Creators Team (BuzzFeed’s In-Network Influencers), and the IRL Team for the first time, which broadened the campaign narrative and lead to incremental scale, reach, and engagement. The program also gave the BuzzFeed audience an active role in how it played out, effectively answering the single most important demand of online audiences today: “what’s in it for me?”
THis wasn’t a brand stunt. It was a very real wedding, attended and planned by the internet, for two hot dog lovers.
Oscar Mayer came to BuzzFeed looking for a way to celebrate those who unabashedly love hot dogs, which is a lot of people, so we decided to focus our efforts on two. Our pitch was to have BuzzFeed and Oscar Mayer throw a small IRL wedding in NYC that would be co-planned by the internet and have a URL guest list of millions. Here’s how we built the plan to consider the value for the BuzzFeed audience at every stage:
Ensuring engagement relied on building a smart relationship between URL and IRL. No, this didn’t mean filming the event and calling it “content.“ (Can’t stand that stuff.)
We personalized the experience from the first touchpoint, which helped establish an emotional connection that would sustain interest and engagement throughout the campaign. Using BuzzFeed Quizzes in a way they had never been used before, we asked the internet to help us plan the wedding for two deserving people.
Then we democratizing the wedding experience itself, so that it wasn’t just a passive viewing experience. IG Stories sat the internet front row and offered different ways to engage with the experience as it was happening. Then, the wedding’s custom catering was turned into Tasty recipes that could be made at home.
But None of it would have been valuable for the audience, if they didn’t believe in the authenticity of the couple.
We found two people who really liked hot dogs, really loved each other, and were really down with the internet planning their big day. Over and above, Colin and Allie both stressed they always wanted their wedding to make a great story one day.
Prior to this program, BuzzFeed had never used it’s popular post formats to affect the real world in this way.
A BuzzFeed Quiz introduced the audience to Colin and Allie, two super real people who needed their help. This authentic ask for an authentic couple lead to hundreds of thousands voting on everything from the decor to the nuptials.
Those who engaged in the planning phase, plus millions more across social, were served save-the-dates for the big day on Instagram.
We made the internet plus-ones and it broke an internal BuzzFeed record for viewership of an IG Story.
OVER ONE MILLION unique guests tuned in to watch Colin and Allie tie the knot - a record for branded IG content at BuzzFeed. There was certainly an “is this for real” appeal to the wedding, but another major factor in the success of the IG Stories was one of the VIP guests, Alix Tragger. She’s one of the most beloved stars BuzzFeed’s Tasty and has massive cross-over appeal on BuzzFeed.
ABOVE:
The internet joined Alix on the BuzzFeed Tasty handle. She sat them front row for the ceremony, showed off the custom, personalized hot dog buns, AND highlighted the results of the BuzzFeed Quizzes that helped plan the wedding’s details (P.S. the little caricature versions of Colin and Allie won as the cake topper over personified hotdogs. Good choice internet ;)
BELOW:
Alix also posted an IG Story from her own handle, in her own voice, giving the night incremental reach. Thanks @majortraeger
Alix was also the bridge between the big day and the Tasty Content That Followed.
A big decision early on was to have Tasty contribute unique recipes to the event’s catering menu. Don’t get me wrong, the Weinie Crostinis were a hit IRL but the bigger appeal came post-wedding when Alix taught millions how to make them at home through Tasty recipe videos.
Every piece of content in the campaign, drove to the next touchpoint.
We built a cyclical connections plan that moved the audience around the BuzzFeed ecosystem, i.e., a post written by a BuzzFeed editor who attended the wedding linked to the Tasty recipes and the wedding recap video (below).
The campaign was a success because authenticity was at its core.
We really meant it when we asked the BuzzFeed audience for input AND we listened to them. We sent real BuzzFeeders to the wedding to tell their own versions of the story, not some polished brand version. And we married a real couple that now have a crazy story to tell - just like they wanted :)
