Working with Zoetis, the world's largest animal health company, Cambridge agency, OST (OSTagency.co.uk) developed an innovative social media and digital marketing programme to inform farmers about the importance of early vaccination in beef calves and dairy heifers.
To maximise awareness of the campaign, OST launched a Twitter account and developed a range of images and infographics to convey the core messages to a wide audience. Through a systematic programme of Twitter engagement and advertising, this content was amplified across the UK's farming community, reaching hundreds of thousands of people.
Over a four month period, from October 2015 to January 2016, the Plan to Produce campaign delivered:
- 300% increase in website traffic
- Over 10,000 engagements with farmers on Twitter
- Engagement with scores of key industry influencers, such as Kate Humble (TV presenter, 5,100 followers), Jill Franklin (Red Tractor, 4,431 followers) and Fiona Graham (dairy farmer, 4,990 followers).
After this initial trial period, the programme has been expanded, with more channels and content being launched in 2016.
Adam Coomber of Zoetis said: "Our main outcomes were to connect with farmers, to understand how they are using social media and to deliver engaging and relevant content relating to a specific topic that would help them with the productivity of their herds. The support and insight that OST delivered enabled us to do this in the most up-to-date way and has given us the confidence to expand our online & social activity through 2016".
Luke Brynley-Jones, Managing Director of OST said: "We are particularly pleased to win an award because, traditionally, pharmaceutical companies have struggled to deliver success through social media. The regulatory environment increases the challenge, but we've developed a set of techniques that enable us to over come these and develop game-changing campaigns".
For more information about the VMA Awards, visit their website.
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