A Shining Example of How Successful Rent a Crowd Marketing Can Be – On The Beach and National Bikini Day
It was a sunny day in which a hired crowd of over 30 promotional staff brought the beach to the city. On The Beach, the well-known and growing online beach holiday retailer launched their summer marketing campaign in Manchester, complete with a man-made beach for the day. But why was it a success?
1. It got people talking
The bikini, the two-piece swimsuit that comes in all shapes, sizes and styles, was the brainchild of Louis Reard. Launched in 1946, the bikini is now 73 years old and is the subject of its very own celebration day – #NationalBikiniDay held annually on 5th July. Bikinis and beach holidays go hand in hand and so 35 bikini-wearing promotional staff made sense.
2. People shared online
But it wasn’t just about National Bikini Day or bikini-clad women to promote a brand. There was another message and it came in the shape of On The Beach’s hashtag #thisbikinican. Many women feel pressured to have the perfect beach body – remember those adverts that suggest we all needed to have a beach-ready body and if you weren’t stick to the one piece suit? – and so this experiential marketing assignment was about celebrating women of all sizes, shapes and colour to enjoy their bikini at the beach, the pool, anywhere in fact.
On The Beach clearly had a tight social media marketing strategy in place that saw women share photos of themselves in their bikinis and well as celebrities enjoying fun in the sun in a bikini (please use sunscreen!). It was a strong message and it worked.
3. It hit an emotional chord with many women
It worked because the campaign hits an emotional chord with women. For too long, women were told what they could and couldn’t wear, when they could and couldn’t wear something and also, what they could and couldn’t wear depending on their size or shape.
#thisbikinican was the hashtag being used by hundreds of women (a figure that is sure to grow over the coming weeks of the campaign), empowering them in that they are, and always have been, beach body ready.
4. It was fun!
As well as making a strong emotional connection, backed by a robust marketing strategy, the event was fun.
The 35 promo girls were chosen to fit the brief from the On The Beach team. They were a diverse mix of women, all wearing different styles of beachwear. Attracting attention from people in the city centre, the promotional team also shared photos far and wide of the event on their own personal social media too, the tweets and posts of which were picked up the On The Beach team for sharing too.
It was a great start to a great campaign that sympathetically deals with a sensitive issue but also supports the growing message that women of all shapes, sizes and ages, can wear a bikini. And it certainly raised the profile of On The Beach in the meantime too!
