When Woolworths launched their first social media campaign titled 'Woolies Love Birds' they didn’t expect a key web address to be taken hostage by Yuppiechef.com, one of their competitor brands. The ransom was simple: Woolworths would have to match the public’s donations to Soil for Life, a charity championed by Yuppiechef.com. The move grabbed the attention of the online community and quickly spread to traditional media. Our challenge was to negotiate with the hostage takers, reclaim the web address and release the ‘Woolies Love Birds'. Considering the nature of the ransom and Woolworths’ spotless reputation, their reaction would need to be both eloquent and gracious. Having convinced Woolworths to meet the ransom, we leveraged major social media channels to place emphasis on the reaction, sparking off intense online and offline discussion. We then used that momentum to shift the spotlight onto Woolworths’ massive socially responsible activities, further elevating their positive brand perception. The campaign established a clear online personality for the brand, gaining them a significantly increased following. For Woolworths’ first step into social media, it was a giant leap in the right direction.

At all points, both online and offline, we emphasised Woolworths’ playful and honourable response to the hostage-taking competitor, Yuppiechef.com. Compelling evidence of Woolworths’ widespread involvement in other corporate and social responsible activities, particularly with regards to their support of charities across the board, was delivered to the channels that counted most, the people behind them and the audience involved.

Apart from turning a negative publicity campaign on its head, we substantially increased the Woolworths social media presence and established a clear brand character and voice. On key social media channels, we achieved our goals of tripling audience volume (Twitter: 484 to 1,462 followers; Facebook: 702 to 2,206 fans) and completed the campaign with over 2,000 active players at the original campaign’s website.