What’s in this article:
- Fiverr’s first-ever Super Bowl ad was created in complete sync with its Relationship Marketing
- Head of CRM at Fiverr, Rinat Halifi, gave us the inside look: “this Super Bowl ad and the campaign behind it are 100% speaking the same voice and values that we care for as well here, on the Relationship marketing team.”
- “As for further marketing activities following up the Super Bowl ad, we took the story and the values from the Super Bowl ad and created a direct continuation to it on our site by saying to visitors, ‘hey you, saw that ad? Here’s how you TOO can do THAT with us’.”
- Read more to learn what it looks like when a company really understands that basically, all marketing is relationship marketing
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Budweiser will not be advertising in this year’s Super Bowl. Last time they did not own a spot during the biggest dance, Richard Nixon was President.
But it’s not that they skipped the party entirely. On the contrary – they have an entire campaign around the fact they do not have a Super Bowl spot in 2021. It’s just that they understand that by now – for brands their size – the Super Bowl spot is what taking the trash is for getting outside the house: an excuse.
“A campaign around the Super Bowl advertising fiesta is so much, much more than the one or two tv spots during the game. It’s the teaser leading up to it, the follow-up, it’s what you do with it on social, it’s the real-time marketing that comes with it. There’s so much around it that will determine the success of the initiative.”
And if you recognize excitement in her voice, then your Spidey senses are spot on!
That’s Rinat Halifi, Head of CRM at Fiverr. The online marketplace for freelance services had an incredible 2020 – stock skyrocketing from around $25 at mid-January 2020 and peaking a year later at a record value of $267. Yup, that’s almost 11X. Your math is sound. And the reason we spoke to Halifi earlier this week about Super Bowl ads is that Fiverr is going to be on it this year, for the first time ever.
What a Perfect Timing Looks Like
Talking about that success and the timing of this campaign, her colleague, Duncan Bird, VP, Brand Marketing and Digital, added context when he told AdAge that people at Fiverr “have been very humbled by what’s happened in the last year with the pandemic, and the effect that it’s had on small businesses and on people being able to get freelance opportunities and work remotely.”
“We’ve been talking about and planning around moving towards our brand representing the future way of working and leveling the playing field for people, and what we’ve seen really was a gigantic acceleration in that movement during this period,” said Bird. “And so, we – as many brands did in the past year – refreshed our marketing direction. And it feels like the absolutely right moment for our company to make its debut on the Super Bowl”.
And so, yes, Budweiser is not the only major, traditional Super Bowl advertiser who’s sitting this one out – you can count Coca Cola, Pepsi, Hyundai, and Audi on that list, too – but that’s not the only reason there was an opening on the lineup for Fiverr (and plenty other debutants).
But while it makes perfect sense for Mr. Bird – the branding guy – to be talking to AdAge, here on PostFunnel we are deeply concerned with the CRM Marketing side things. How does such a major (branding-first) campaign affect and consider the Relationship/Customer/Retention Marketing aspects? And there was literally no one better suited to speak with us about that than Halifi.
CRM as Strategic Discipline
And we were pleased – and not surprised – to hear from her that “here at Fiverr, the CRM team played an integral role in the task force behind the Super Bowl campaign. Obviously, it is lead by Branding. It’s totally their domain, of course. But the process has been completely visible to us. We’ve been asked for our takes, from the early days of this project – with discussions about its content, the values it would portray. There is a real understanding here that we should all be speaking the same values, the same language, the same voice, throughout all customer-touchpoints. From seeing an ad to becoming a customer and everything in and around it.
“It was incredibly important for everyone here to make sure that this campaign is showing how Fiverr – especially during the hard, challenging times of the coronavirus lockdowns and economic downturn – how Fiverr was enabling so many people to continue making their living despite everything that’s happened in the last year. How we’ve become something people rely on. That there’s a real, robust, and engaged community of sellers and buyers here. This is the main thing about this campaign – and as you can probably understand, it plays right into the hands of us here on the CRM team. Celebrating how Fiverr is playing an essential role in people’s lives and highlighting the community – is strengthening precisely the kind of values that are obviously crucial for our Retention marketing efforts.
“And of course, as our CRM efforts rely on lots of rich content for these communities, from events to business guides and so much more – this Super Bowl ad and the campaign behind it is 100% speaking the same voice and values that we care for as well here, on the Relationship marketing team.”
A Super Bowl CRM Follow Up? OF Course!
When I asked if the CRM team is planning a specific follow-up to such a colossal branding effort is, Halifi seemed confused. “Obviously,” she said. But the reality for us here at PostFunnel is that it’s not obvious at all. Plenty of brands still operate with too many barriers between strategy, branding, and relationship marketing. But Fiverr is a modern, sophisticated brand. And in that kind of environment, maybe it is totally obvious.
If you wonder how it actually looks like, here’s Halifi again: “as for further marketing activities following up the Super Bowl ad, we took the story and the values from the Super Bowl ad and created a direct continuation to it on our site by saying to visitors, ‘hey you, saw that ad? Here’s how you TOO can do THAT with us’.
“We talk about the tools we have, the content we provide, lots of actionable content to follow up the Super Bowl ad with, and really show people how that can also be doing what they saw on the ad.
“For example, we created an actionable, check-list style of content to help people that will visit us after watching the ad. They’ll come with a certain concept in mind – having watched the ad. They now know that Fiverr is the place where people like them are achieving X or Y, so they too can do that. The next thing they do, they come onto our site. But what now? Where do they begin? And that’s where we connect the dots. Taking the story and continuing it with actionable content to help them start their journey, on their way to achieving that thing they saw on the ad.”
I would guess most CRMers reading this will be at least a little envious. But Fiverr is not alone. More and more companies understand how critical it is to build consistent multi-touchpoint user experiences that speak the same language.
We’re Telling You: All Marketing is Relationship Marketing
“It used to be that a company would have a couple of people doing email, no one even called it ‘retention,’ and these efforts were not strategic. When you take it seriously when you understand the importance of retention, your actions are speaking for themselves – I believe plenty of companies realize that retention efforts are integral to all marketing efforts.
“Nowadays, everyone must understand that the relationship of a customer with a brand is the accumulated result of all of their interaction with the brand – from the first time they hear about it, ‘the first date,’ and the advertising, to the first experience with the product, to customer support, social media – It all works towards determining what that customer will think and feel about the brand and what kind of relationship they will have with it. Determines the chances of a second date – or of a breakup. And even of what kind of a breakup – on good or bad terms.
“Every meaningful, impactful company meeting should have someone from CRM on it,” believes Halifi, “and this is pretty much the case here at Fiverr. Today we’re already incredibly integrated with Product processes. But on almost every important meeting or process, every collaboration or product initiative, people here make sure to have CRM play a part in it. To me, that’s a critical key to success.
“Eventually, the customer is one. On our side, there’s plenty of us. And we all ‘talk’ to them one way or another. So, the motto is one customer, one voice. As long as we’re aligned, cooperating, leaving our egos aside, and understating the customer – we’ll be on the right path.”