Innovative Campaign Spans Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Giphy and Snapchat, Producing Record-High Social Results With Over 44 Million Impressions in Only 5 Days

An innovative, multi-platform social campaign from social and digital marketing agency GLOW helped the Westminster Kennel Club set records in attracting and engaging a millennial audience for its annual dog show. The social campaign for the 2018 show last month capped five years of expanded platform presence and successful, sustained growth among millennial dog lovers.

Through strategic social efforts and key partnerships, GLOW and Westminster grew the audience for the second-oldest sporting event in modern history by more than 15,244 new social followers, while maintaining the dog fancy core audience. Fifty-three percent of Westminster’s Instagram audience and 34% of Westminster’s Facebook audience are millennials. The Westminster Giphy page alone has received more than 106 million views.

“GLOW has been the driving force in helping us bring the excitement and passion that is Westminster to dog lovers globally. Their understanding of the social landscape, and ability to manage and turn a very complex and dynamic live event into such stellar results, has positioned Westminster well for even more future growth,” said Gail Miller Bisher, Director of Communications for the Westminster Kennel Club.

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GLOW provided an all-access digital pass to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. This year’s accomplishments follow GLOW’s development and launch of a major initiative for Westminster audience expansion, which won a 2017 Shorty Award in the Pets & Animals category. GLOW has been the Westminster Kennel Club’s social media agency of record since 2013.

The agency created, captured and distributed real-time, shareable competition information and social content; promoted ticket sales to events at The Piers and Madison Square Garden; provided opportunities for attendees to share their experiences across platforms as social advocates; and drove tune-in to Fox, Fox Sports, FS1 and Neo Geo Wild broadcasts.

GLOW’s community management team worked around the clock to develop hundreds of pieces of real-time social creative content on-site from the event, leading to over 44 million impressions in five days and unprecedented engagement rates for the Westminster Kennel Club.

“We are proud of our continuing role in helping the Westminster Kennel Club expand the excitement of its time-honored dog show. Working closely with Westminster and broadcast partners, our team offered compelling second-screen experiences for younger fans to connect with the show and celebrate special moments for the dogs and their handlers,” said GLOW President Howie Kleinberg.

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Sarah Pine, GLOW Associate Director, Social and Digital Strategy, who led the Westminster campaign, added: “Our team collaborated with our client and partners to develop and carry out a robust combination of social activations, reaching younger fans across multiple social channels. It was rewarding to have a tangible impact – for Westminster, as well as dog lovers new to the show.”

Some of the results include: 

• Average engagement rates this year were 9.7% for Facebook, compared to 6% in 2017, and 4.8% for Twitter, up from 2.5% last year.
• Instagram engagements jumped to 70,000, from 11,000 in 2017. Instagram impressions reached 1.3 million, up from 900,000 in 2017, with daily Instagram Stories producing a combined 190,000 impressions.
• Westminster-related topics trended on Twitter in the U.S. and New York both nights of the judging – including Feb. 13, when Flynn, the adorable bichon frisé, won “Best in Show.”
• #WKCDogShow had a total of 45,500 mentions on Twitter and Instagram.
• The #BestAtHomeContest, in which users shared images and videos of their dogs at home, drew more than 4,000 entries, and it produced 3,800 mentions on Twitter and Instagram, up 510% from 2017.
• Through a 10-year partnership with Fox Sports, GLOW worked hand-in-hand with the FS1 team to coordinate on-air social integrations in the FS1 live prime-time broadcast.

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