How to use the ‘photobomb’ concept successfully
Sparking global discussion recently is a woman named Kelleth Cuthbert, better known as ‘The Fiji Water Girl’.
Kelleth was hired by Fiji Water as a promotional model. She was tasked with carrying a tray of Fiji Water bottles among the celebrities and guests at the Golden Globes. Once out on the floor, Kelleth spectacularly ‘photo-bombed’ celebrities, holding her tray of Fiji Water bottles in front of her for the cameras to capture.
After these photos were released to the public, Kelleth was coined ‘The Fiji Water Girl’. Her photo-bombing efforts became an internet sensation and continue to be shared on many social media platforms. Local radio station Hit106.9 Newcastle even came up with the #WaterGirlChallenge, based on Kelleth’s efforts at the Golden Globes.
Since the Golden Globes, ‘The Fiji Water Girl’ has made appearances on radio, news and talk shows, wearing her signature blue dress and carrying her iconic tray of Fiji Water bottles. A twitter account has also been made in her honour.
Kelleth’s efforts have resulted in a spike in followers for the Fiji Water Instagram account, as well as her own – an increase of over 158,000 followers in total. This is obviously a fantastic result for Fiji Water, but how can you replicate this for your own business?
While we don’t recommend you just photobomb people with your product in hand, there is a marketing approach that Kelleth was using, that we recommend.
Reach your audience multiple times – not just once.
One photo of a celebrity with ‘Fiji Water Girl’ in the background is not nearly as effective as over 20 photos. This is exactly the same in any marketing.
You want to make sure that you get your brand, product or service out there as much as possible. Have multiple touch points with your target market: different social media platforms, email, flyers, storefront (…or multiple photos with celebrities).
This strategy will help turn a cold audience to a warm audience and produce customers.
Note: A cold audience is one that is not aware of your brand, product/service or organisation, while a warm audience is one that is aware of your brand and may consider purchasing from you.
Think about how many touch points you would want from a company before you purchased from them.
Would you purchase from a company you hadn’t heard of before after seeing one Facebook ad, for example? No, because you are a cold audience. If you had seen multiple ads, maybe received a flyer in the mail and then you happened to walk past their store, you would be more likely to go in.
Promote it yourself – making sure people are seeing what you are doing
Fiji Water has been posting edits of Fiji Water Girl photobomb in different locations, movies and scenes since the Golden Globes. Why? Because they want people to continue to be aware of it. So it’s not just about finding the quirky way to get some publicity, it’s about promoting it yourself as well.
