Brammo · Shocking Barack
Brammo was a fledgling electric motorcycle company with no marketing budget. So we built a brand experience fueled entirely by social media, Shocking Barack, and turned it into 17 million media impressions and a meeting with the U.S. Energy Secretary, on zero ad spend.
Our client had built America's most energy-efficient vehicle, the Brammo Enertia, and almost no one had heard of it. There was no advertising budget to fix that. So we made the internet do the work instead.
We retraced the infamous journey of the Big Three auto CEOs, who flew private jets from Detroit to Washington to ask for bailout money. Only we rode there on electric motorcycles, on about five dollars of electricity, to hand-deliver President Obama a homegrown answer to the transportation crisis. We called it Shocking Barack.
Overview
The role
Art Director on a social-first brand experience for Brammo electric motorcycles at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Brand, site and content for a campaign with no advertising or media spend.
Define
No advertising budget, no media spend, and a brand nobody knew. The only asset we had was a genuinely better story, an American-made electric motorcycle that could cross the country on pocket change. The job was to make that story travel on its own, powered by the people who heard it.
The idea
Ride an electric motorcycle from Detroit to the White House and give the President America's most energy-efficient vehicle. Shocking Barack.
Create
The nerve center was a live blog at shockingbarack.com, broadcasting the trip 24/7 with real-time GPS. Traveling 700 miles on zero budget meant we needed help, so we asked for it out loud. Supporters shared power outlets to recharge, offered couches to sleep on, and signed the bike, offline and online, until it became a rolling petition from the people to the President. The Twitter feed doubled as a recruitment tool, a social community and a springboard for activism, all created, produced and published in real time.
The result
A brand launched entirely on social media, with no advertising or media spend, that earned more than 17 million media impressions and coverage from 150+ news organizations including the AP, CBS News, MSNBC and the New York Times. It ended where it set out to: Brammo's CEO was invited to the White House to meet with the U.S. Energy Secretary and push the case for green transportation.
Featured & awarded
Recognized by The Andys, Cannes Lions, the Clio Awards, CA, Ad Age and Contagious, and covered across Adweek, Forbes, cnet, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, HuffPost, the LA Times, MSNBC, NBC News and the New York Times.
Credits
Justin Evergreen
Art Director
Steve Capstick
Director
Michael Gersten
Editor
Jeff Teicher
Assoc. Experience Director
Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Agency
Brammo
Client