Compare the Market / Meerkat - when Social Media takes off

When the third most followed Twitter-celeb Stephen Fry got stuck in a lift last night coming back from the Paramount Club (see his Twitter feed if you have not already) it caused quite a bit of news.

What you might not have known was that our lovely Aleks was stuck with him (not looking too amused as you can see...)

This was uploaded (not by anyone related to the campaign I hasten to add) to Aleksandr Orlov's Facebook group first thing this morning. It's now on TwitPic (have a read of the comments, especially about the man in the blue tie front-left...) Not only did it made me chuckle over my toast and marmite, it also brought home to me that interesting creative ideas take on a life of their own when they emerge in the Social Media world.

Aleksandr has over 80,000 fans on Facebook after 4 weeks and over 2,000 followers on Twitter, but our Aleks Social Media success metric is not just about scale but more about the depth of engagement. We were interested in tending an active community of participants, not passive observers. Have a look at the Twitter and Facebook communities and you will find a joined-up conversation occuring. People tweet their questions to Aleks and get into conversations not only with him but also with other meetkat-friends. It is genuinely funny. On Facebook fans are uploading their own customized pictures of Mr Orlov and starting petitions to get cuddly toys made. But above all the quirky, opininated character of Aleks and his love for all things Shania Twain, Titanic (the movie, not the boat) and his bespoke smoking jacket shines through.

And of course from a business perspective, what is it doing for the business of Compare The Market. These web trend stats speak for themselves, the blue line is Comparethemarket.com and the red comparethemeerkat.com
These are stats from the clever folks at Hitwise UK: Since Aleksandr the Meerkat and founder of comparethemeerkat.com televised that his site was not the ‘cheap car insurance’ website comparethemarket.com visits to both sites have increased significantly. According to Hitwise UK visits to Compare the Market have increased by 86% since the week ending the 27th December, as the chart reveals this corresponds with the traffic to Compare the Meerkat’s traffic. 21% of the people visiting Compare the Meerkat went directly to Compare the Market.

I have always said that Social Media is not a replacement for a great creative idea or for a TV commercial. TV adds mass awareness and acts as a catalyst for the Social Media activity, but its on the likes of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook that in my opinion the real fun and conversations are occurring.

This is Alek's latest ad (which was launched to all of his friends Twitter and Facebook before anyone else) in case you have not seen it yet, enjoy!

Simples.

Comments

[Holycow]

Brilliant - pioneering and inspiring. Shall be following this one with great interest.

Well done Amelia and the guys @ VCCP.

Best

Mark

[Doug]

I miss english ads.

living in NY and having Tivo I actually go looking for UK advertising.

Is that sad?

[Simon]

Great campaign, love it. The only negative to this post is the inclusion of marmite. Grim.

[Victor Houghton]

With his status as an internet meme already assured, Aleksandr hasn't been hanging around any film sets with Christian Bale, has he?

[Tim]

Brilliant

[James Devon]

With all these people confusing Aleksandr's site with the one for car insurance, I'll bet it's not too long before he goes all "Christian Bale" and completely flips out.

There's a viral I'd like to see. Anyone?

[Adam]

Great ad campaign - but why has the voice changed !?!?

[amelia]

same voice, same meerkat...

[run your car on water]

wow this is so good.

[Mikej]

the guys at my work and I are loving it

http://thingsdonotchangewechange.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-cant-it-be-media-evolution-not.html

[Van Leasing]

I visited this blog first time and found it very interesting and informative.. Keep up the good work thanks..

[MR YIP]

try www.carinsurancemegastore.co.uk much cheaper

[Charlene Boucher]

Its the best advertising campaign on the box! Just Brilliant.

[Social Bookmarking]

good job
keep it coming

[Logo Design]

Thanks for sharing such a great stuff, i was just passing by to this post. This blog is really great, i love it.

[funny t]

Whatever your taste, this is a great story!  Bingo!