To illustrate how ‘2 is better than 1’, we decided to spend a day trying to persuade Kanye West to make ITV2 only his 2nd ‘Follow’ on Twitter, as to that point he only followed 1 person. It would give us an opportunity to create bespoke content across our social feeds in a cheeky, irreverent and fun way, in parallel to the way the rebrand had changed the behavior on screen, and to align ITV2’s Social and on-screen presence.

Our team of 10 were based in the ‘Kanye West Wing’ for the day, with content meticulously planned out from the first tweet at 6am till midnight, but allowing room to be reactive when the right ideas arose. Starting slowly, so the activity appeared organic, and building throughout the day, we asked Twitter to help us #GetKanyeToFollowITV2 and rewarded them with interactions, follows, content and cheeky humour. We created branding and templates that unified the ITV2 look on air and in social, but always with a fun comedic slant. We wanted it to live on social, not just our feeds, and to feel like an event in itself. We heroed content that people made themselves, reacted to their suggestions, made a Kanye West collage using the profile picture of everyone who interacted. The narrative culminated with the ITV2 feed being followed by a twitter user called ‘Kenny West’.

The activity trended throughout the day and created the largest number of interactions, replies, comments, and impressions than in any other day in ITV2’s social media history. The bespoke video content alone reached over 4 million people, and we gained record numbers followers on Facebook and Twitter It received write-ups in various industry publications. Brand love and brand recognition grew significantly, and the newsroom campaign has become the template for large launches across the whole of ITV.