When Febreze reached 1 million Facebook fans globally, we wanted to show our appreciation to the fans by doing something that had never been done before – the world’s first ever live thank-a-thon on Facebook. Everyone wants to feel appreciated, and there is no better way to express appreciation than by simply saying “thank you” so Febreze celebrated this 1 million fan milestone by literally saying “Thank You” one million times live on Facebook. Our fans were integral to the event as real-time interactions affected what was happening live. All this was to be done with no paid media dollars.

With zero media dollars, Febreze needed to breakthrough its fans’ cluttered Facebook newsfeeds. To do this, we set out to create an event that was unique and could spark media attention to attract people to the Febreze Facebook page without paid media support.

Our idea is simple. Say thank you to each and every one of our Facebook fans. Literally say “thank you” one million times. For 31 hours, members of the Febreze Brand and Agency teams said “thank you” around the clock. Fans watched the first-ever thank-a-thon, commenting and liking throughout the event.

The event plan was flexible to allow for seamless fan interaction, and fans were able to participate to influence what was happening in the broadcast. Throughout the event, fans were asked what stinky items should be brought into the room with the 'thankers' to see if a spray of Febreze could keep the 'thank yous' going. Fans were given personal 'thank yous' for their suggestions live from the Febreze team, rewarding them for the real-time participation.

Our goal was to stand out among other Olympic advertising, and we did with 273,901,525 media impressions, including a feature in The New York Times. The campaign reached over 800,000,000 people. The online videos were seen 53% more than the average seeded campaign, and total engagement on the Febreze Facebook page grew by 550%.