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Tide Launches Stellar Partnership (and More Content Stories of the Week)

This week, we’re talking about dirty laundry in space, a not-so-crazy chicken brand on social, and a #ProudParent moment that went big.

Tide’s NASA partnership puts dirty laundry on blast

Procter & Gamble laundry detergent brand Tide is partnering with NASA to explore how to clean astronauts’ clothing, according to CNBC.

Right now, astronauts need 160 pounds of clothing shipped to the space station every year because they can’t wash their clothes. Their used clothes can be returned to Earth in a disposable capsule that burns in the atmosphere. And that process won’t work well on missions much longer than the space station.

That’s because Astronauts live in an environment where water is scarce and all water-based output, including breath moisture, is captured and recycled into drinking water – and that would include any laundry. So new Tide detergent must operate with much less water and be fully degradable, Fast Company explained.

For those reasons, Tide’s product development also could work well on Earth for parts of the world where water is scarce.

Image showing the ISS National Lab Nasa Tide logo. The first-ever astronaut laundry solution.

WHY IT MATTERS: We think Tide doing product development in space is cool, and we’re interested in the content marketing opportunities that arise from the stories of astronauts and their laundry issues.

In just the announcement, the audience learned a lot more about something they probably hadn’t thought about but is a component to making a mission to Mars possible. Now, audiences want to know more – how do you go about creating a space laundry detergent, what other criteria do they have to consider, what do the “failures” look like, etc.

And that’s where we want the P&G content marketing team to hit their content out of this world.

The Tide-NASA partnership also is a good reminder to talk to the product developers in your company – you never know what cool stories you might find.

.@Tide is on a mission to clean up dirty laundry from @NASA – and maybe save water back on Earth. Read about this and other #ContentMarketing stories of the week via @CMIContent. #WeeklyWrap Click To Tweet

El Pollo Loco hatches a better product based on social feedback

In an interview at MediaPost QSR Brand Insider Summit, CEO Bernard Acoca says the company spent less than 3% of its media budget toward digital in recent years. Today, it’s spending 50%.

And it’s listening better too. “We were always (listening to our customers), but the power of social is that you’re able to do it in real-time,” Bernard says.

He shares the story of a recent launch of a vegetarian product. El Pollo Loco’s customers took to social media to tell the company that the product’s sauce contained an egg enzyme, so it wasn’t vegetarian or vegan. The company then changed the sauce and had the new product certified as vegan with the American Vegetarian Association.

“You can go to market with alacrity and speed in a way that you just simply couldn’t go to market before,” Acoca says.

WHY IT MATTERS: The task of listening often is delegated to the social media team, but the implications are companywide. It’s essential to set up an internal communication system that allows those who do the real-time listening to connect with the non-marketers, such as the product development team.

How closely do you listen to customers on #SocialMedia? When customers talked, @ElPolloLoco listened – then made a meaningful change via @CMIContent. #WeeklyWrap Click To Tweet
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Use Social Media Monitoring as More Than a Listening Tool

Twitter tells tale of OREO’s sweet success

A Twitter-produced case study details the big stuff of OREO’s success in the 2020 #ProudParent campaign. Focused on reaching the Twitter community, OREO partnered with National Coming Out Day and PFLAG. The centerpiece of the campaign was a film about a woman who brings her partner home to meet her family for the first time.

The Twitter campaign led to a 2,846% increase in brand mentions and a 34% jump in positive sentiment for OREO and #ProudParent. The campaign included:

  • A one-day takeover in which OREO’s #ProudParent message was swapped for the traditional Twitter top of page in users’ feeds
  • A conversation button with a CTA to tweet support as a #ProudParent or an ally

  • Tweets with shorter clips of the video to drive people to www.OREOProudParent.com (The site now redirects to a general corporate page.)

  • Extended reach through Twitter Amplify, pairing OREO’s video with quality content published in other brands’ channels
  • Giveaway campaign encouraging user-generated content with OREO’s limited-edition rainbow cookies as prizes

WHY IT MATTERS: OREO transformed its powerful 3-minute video into a multifaced campaign on Twitter and off-site, producing powerful results for OREO and #ProudParents everywhere. It’s also an excellent reminder to take a single piece of content (in this case, the film) and break it into smaller parts to make the most of your team’s work and make consistent messaging easier.

We’re a little disappointed that OREO didn’t see fit to redirect the campaign microsite, OREOProudParent.com, to a page that features or mentions its commitment to the LGBTQ community.

Watch and learn how @OREO used a sweet video to support the #ProudParent campaign from @PFLAG via @CMIContent. #WeeklyWrap Click To Tweet
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: User-Generated Content: Let Your Fans Do Content Creation Work for You
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing Institute Team

Content Marketing Institute Team

The Content Marketing Institute team byline indicates this article reflects the collective work of the CMI team. CMI is a global marketing education and training organization dedicated to advancing the practice of content marketing. We create and curate content experiences that teach marketers and creators from enterprise brands, small businesses, and agencies how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multichannel storytelling. Global brands turn to CMI for strategic consultation, research, and training and certification, and send teams to Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing-focused event, the Marketing Analytics & Data Science (MADS) conference, and CMI digital events every year. Follow @CMIContent on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and use the hashtag #CMWorld.