It may have seemed odd to you when I first announced the merger and subsequent rollout of Walk West. Why would a lobbyist and public affairs practice want to make this move? And why would a digital marketing agency want to as well?
#DontSayVelcro
This campaign for Walk West client, Velcro Companies, is a great example of why merging the two wasn’t such a far-fetched idea after all. Educating and engaging citizens and decision-makers at any level requires good messaging, compelling reasons to act, and sometimes, the ability to make a complicated and boring issue exciting, thought-provoking, or entertaining. Our work at Walk West does just that.
Why It Matters
It’s our job to educate on an issue and give people a reason to care about the problem at hand. This is the same thing we must address every day when we have an issue that we need lawmakers or other decision-makers to act upon. Further, we don’t always have the luxury of needing to influence only 170 lawmakers in Raleigh, or other state capitals. We often must engage the citizens. Sometimes there are constituencies who are or could be impacted by our issue. Sometimes we need the help of citizens who don’t have to care but we need their help just the same.
We’re a community after all. We help each other out. But you have to give people a good reason to engage in today’s demanding society. Fortunately, the days are over of having to wait for someone else to share your message. You can go straight to the masses (or the highly targeted masses) and ask for yourself.
This is exactly why I wanted to bring the team at Walk West to you. We’re walking west, into the new frontier of communication and advocacy. We hope you’ll join us as pioneers. Stick with us (with VELCRO Brand® hook and loop fasteners, of course), and we won’t lead you astray.
How We Do It
As our Director of Growth says, “Data always wins.” The #DontSayVelcro campaign we wrote, directed, and produced for Velcro Companies achieved 5 million views globally after only 36 hours. We didn’t just post the video on social media and press the imaginary viral button, we developed the centerpiece video using our S.M.A.S.H. formula and developed a full campaign around it. In addition to the video launch, Walk West orchestrated a social media takeover with on-site songwriting and video production in response to social media comments with incorrect usage of “Velcro.”
To give you a glimpse into how we work on-site during a video shoot, we captured two great behind the scenes videos. And to see more of the campaign, follow @VelcroBrand on Twitter and Facebook.
