Engen – EngenXperiences

The DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival is a music festival for food lovers, and a food festival for music lovers. The 2-day annual event takes place in Johannesburg and is a celebration of local and international talent, from pop-up stalls and food trucks to acclaimed music and food talent across 3 different stages.

In 2019, Engen debuted its sponsorship with the festival and Avatar was tasked to leverage the sponsorship in the digital realm. Our objective was to utilise Engen’s sponsorship to increase brand awareness and affinity. Before we could let our hair down and indulge in the festival’s fun activities, we had to put in a bit of work. Habashwe!

First off, we created the unique hashtag #EngenXperiences. This not only coincided with the festival’s official hashtag, but provided longevity for Engen across all events to come. It also assisted us in monitoring the conversation online. A social media plan containing pre, during and post-event content was created for Engen’s social media properties, as well as the festival’s own social media platforms. This content would be scheduled and promoted to maximise reach.

4 influencers were selected to amplify Engen’s coverage of the event on social media. These influencers were required to attend the event and were briefed to retweet, share and create bespoke content around Engen’s activity at the festival. A simple “retweet to win tickets” competition was set up on Twitter and our influencers helped spread the word by sharing it on their platforms. We also partnered up with M&N Brands-owned Zkhiphani.com, an urban entertainment news website to provide event coverage around Engen’s activations at the festival. This content would go live on their official website and social media pages.

A microsite was developed for #EngenXperiences. This was frequently updated with relevant information about the festival and online users were directed to the site to purchase tickets as well as learn about the Engen activations taking place, view artist line-ups and much more. Pre, during and post-event chatbots were setup on Engen’s Facebook page to assist users with any queries concerning the festival and Engen’s activations. Once we got a little admin out the way, we could finally bask in one of the most talked-about events of the year. Azishe!

Avatar attended both days of the DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival, and what a jol it was. Images, stories and status updates were uploaded to all of Engine’s social media properties throughout each day of the festival. Recap videos highlighting Engine’s activities during the festival were produced and release within 24 hours, lengthening the online conversation long after the festival had ended.

So how did we do? Well, remember that simple little “retweet to win tickets” competition? We received over 3400 entries in just 5 days, without any promoted media. Just 1 week prior to the launch of our digital campaign, we were sitting on only 149 online brand mentions, 1 week after the launch we had accumulated over 85 000 online brand mentions, that’s a 57 046% increase in mentions online. Positive brand mentions increased from 148 to to 3922, a 2742% increase.

When 8.6K people used the #DStvDelicious hashtag online, it was accompanied with our #EngenXperiences hashtag, 8.5 thousand times. And lastly, during the week of the actual event, we didn’t only get the official event hashtag trending for the very first time, but we got our hashtag #EngenXperiences trending above it. Halala!

You know the saying “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”? Well, with a big idea, a little strategy and a lot of fun, we took a chance and collected all 3 birds. Avatar managed to successfully leverage Engine’s involvement in the event, made it go viral and launched Engine’s long-term sponsorship engagement strategy in the digital realm.