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.

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 live feed, commenting and liking throughout the event.

The event was the first ever Facebook live thank-a-thon and was flexible to allow for seamless fan interaction. 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.

The fans loved it, and they joined in on the fun by telling us what odors to put in the room and interacting with us in real-time. The live video feed streamed to 8 countries where people spent 292,463 minutes watching. The Febreze Facebook page got 32,632 new fans during the 31 hour event. That’s a 769% increase over the previous three day period. The press took notice, too, and the campaign garnered over 500 million media impressions in only 2 days, including articles on Mashable and Yahoo. All of this was done with zero paid media dollars.