WeCHAT CAMPUS MARKETING PROGRAM

The goal? Help WeChat, a social media platform with enormous popularity in China, gain U.S. traction through a test program aimed at college students that would help determine best practices for a larger rollout nationwide.

I led the team at The Regan Group that picked UCLA as the optimum test campus – with a highly social student body projecting huge influence across other schools, and where incoming freshmen are highly-disposed to trying new social and assimilation tools. Our tactical mix?

  • Recruiting student influencers with large social footprints who knew campus life, and were members of at least one large social group
  • Retailer promotions: a “WeChat StudyBreak” promotion awarded a huge pizza party through a local restaurant partner, and a $100 gift code for a local boutique for WeChat downloaders
  • Partnering with UCLA’s undergrad advertising/promotion internship program enlisted another 40 brand ambassadors
  • A “WeChat Jeep” made the rounds on campus
  • The program created broad WeChat brand awareness, authentic user buzz and incremental WeChat downloads across key UCLA student groups, including dorms, fraternities and sororities
  • Set up a model for cross-promotions and partnerships for those subsequent executions

WeCHAT