Presentation from Sharpie's Susan Wassel (PR Manager, Sanford Brands/Newell Rubbermaid) for the 4/21/09 GasPedal conference call on learning social media & word of mouth. Learn more at http://gaspedal.com.

1. Sharpie & Social Media
November 2008 – April 2009
Susan Wassel
susan.wassel@sanford.com

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Sharpie Situation
SHOW INSPIRING NEW WAYS TO USE SHARPIE MARKERS
Showcase
breadth of
existing
portfolio
Introduce
new
products
INCREASE PORTFOLIO RELEVANCE

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Leverage power of social media to showcase
new and existing Sharpie products
What We Did
The Social Media Landscape
▪ You Tube ranked #2 search engine (Google #1)
▪ 30 mm photos uploaded on Facebook daily
▪ 640% Twitter growth since November 2007
▪ 4 out of 5 bloggers post product reviews
Three in four US online adults now use social tools to
connect with each other compared with just 56% in 2007
500 fastest growing companies in the US were all reported
to have presence in online social sites in 2008

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Target: Bold Impression Makers

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How did we get there?
Social Media

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Sharpie and Social Media
» 2008
October 2008:
Sharpie and Social Media…

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…and now!

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Social Media – Rules of Engagement
 Listen to the conversation online
 Engage with consumers and online influencers
 Participate in the conversation already taking place

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Listening: “Research”
Informally identified
Sharpie groups on
Facebook, YouTube, Flickr
Did not do any
“conversation mining” to
determine what was being
said about Sharpie online.
Believed most/all was
positive
Conclusion: Sharpie is
being talked about – let’s
join the conversation

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Engage: The Sharpie Blog

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Sharpie Blog http://blog.sharpie.com
The Plan
 Showcase content from real users to inspire and encourage use
 Build community of Sharpie users, advocates
 Give Sharpie brand a “human” voice
Celebrate Sharpie fanatics
 Who are they:
 Passionate “über users”
 How they use Sharpie
and what they have
to say about the
product is inspiring

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Participate

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@sharpiesusan on Twitter

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What We Accomplished

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Blog Visits
TOTAL: 60,169
Week 3: 66
Week 4: 361
Week 5: 959
Week 6: 507
Week 7: 913
Week 8: 2,967
Week 9: 1,161
Week 10: 1,774
Week 11: 916
Week 12: 1,172
Week 13: 1,199
Week 14: 1,173
Week 15: 2,480
Week 16: 2,519
Week 17: 2,545
Week 18: 2,562
Week 19: 5,516
MONTHLY BLOG VISITS: Nov 08 – March 09
COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT DRIVES TRAFFIC BUT CONTENT IS KING
Oscars Email Blast
Obama Address:
Sharpie Pocket
9,313 views
2,913 views

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Google Friends
Currently no rewards
90 Google Friends

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Twitter Followers

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zapposi was just admiring the stainless
steel sharpie the other day, someone
sent me a pic of it :)6:06 PM Feb 18th
Zappos CEO – one of the most talked about and
followed Twitterers – 130,000 followers
Highly Engaged Tweeters

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DPZRAMON@sharpiesusan
http://www.vimeo.com/2895941 WWE
Wrestling autograph session done
w/sharpies,event I sponsored in Chgo
1.19.09
Dominos Pizza
Highly Engaged

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mike_miley@sharpiesusan thanks for the
Sharpie Pen which is key to my current
training. http://twitpic.com/1jy5r9:23 AM Feb
18th from Tweetie in reply to sharpiesusan
Apple Computer Trainer
Highly Engaged

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roogie@sharpiesusan Here is how
we use Sharpies at a large Freight
company, to ID the direction of
trailer leg cranks!
http://twitpic.com/1lhqb
Fed Ex Trucker
Highly Engaged

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@sharpiesusan thanks for
the study tools!
http://twitpic.com/1l67h
Highly Engaged
Student

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Highly Engaged Celebrities ; )
» JanefondaPlease reach out to
@keyinfluencer. That would be great. I
appreciate you sending me tweet8:11 PM
Mar 3rd

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Participation alone
can drive buzz
Sharpie and Social Media Make News

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What We Accomplished
60,000 blog visits since October 2008
1,600 Twitter followers
90 Google Friends
40,000 You Tube Visits (Becks video)
Traditional Media Impressions > 1mm
ALL WITHOUT
 Traditional communications support
 Budget!

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What We Learned
 Social media lets you talk direct to consumer with product news
 The more you can talk, the more consumers you can engage
 Soft sell
 Social media builds relationships – loyalty, advocacy, ambassadors,
friends
 Supports Sharpie biz objective:
 Expose people to the full breadth of Sharpie’s portfolio
 Share creative ways to use the product
 Have fun, be real while doing it

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Need to Better Define, Understand Measurement and
Business Impact

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Applying the Learning
 Social media is an opportunity that can be leveraged by many of our
brands:
 EXPO, Prismacolor, Paper Mate, for starters
 Education is key:
 Educate and empower other brands to engage in social media
 Brand passion is key
 Minimal hard cost investment / intensive human resource
 Human resource: avg. 10 hrs/week – plus OT!
 Opportunity to engage consumers and build loyalty over time
 Long-term proposition – SM not going away
▪ Pave path for receptivity to any branded message

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Social Media is Global – Sharpie is Global
 Social media will play a large part in our brand building efforts
globally
 Asia Pacific will account for 35% of global social networking
users by the end of this year, followed by Europe, the Middle
East and Africa with 28%, North America 25%, and the
Caribbean and Latin America 12%.
 Need to understand and activate now in key regions

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millic @sharpiesusan I ordered some
personalized Sharpies today for my chef
husband!! 25 minutes ago from web
in reply to sharpiesusan
millic @sharpiesusan I DID! because I saw
you Tweet about it. Chefs LOVE Sharpies,
in the kitchen. I liked fun colors, but he
likes black 19 minutes ago from web
in reply to sharpiesusan
Social Media Sells Sharpies

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…and a few more
thanks for the customized sharpie idea
- we're giving out 750 of them.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-
deals/908761/ :)
troy redington / troyredington 1mm monthly visitors

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The Budget
Blog theme: $ 20
Masthead: $1,000
eLance dude: $ 895
SHARPIE BLOG: PRICELESS

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