Steri Stumpie is a quirky, iconic brand of flavoured milk in South Africa with a cult-like following. The brief was to unite Steri Stumpie fans and harness the potential of its cult-like status using social media to grow existing loyalty.The Solution: We did this by creating content across Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and a blog that embraced the quirky, tongue-in-cheek tone that fans use when talking about Steri. We decided to put consumers at the centre of the Steri Stumpie activities by giving them ongoing incentives to create Steri-inspired content in return for Steri-inspired paraphernalia, aka Steriphernalia.The consumer-generated campaign content was seeded to local bloggers and online personalities, and spread through South Africa’s online communities. The end result was the creation of the largest facebook fan group of any local brand (22,758 fans*); over 85 posts by bloggers on the campaign; 200+ pieces of user generated content; hundreds of tweets and comments and best of all a sales increase of 22%.

*To contextualise: Internet usage in SA is relatively small, at only 8.6% of a total population of 48,687,000 (source World Bank, 2008)

First, a unique, papercraft look-and-feel was created. We then skinned a wordpress blog, opened a twitter account and a facebook fan page. We then designed and created unique Steri Stumpie memorabilia aka Steriphernalia, to be used as a reward for engaging with Steri Stumpie. We then put out a call for ambassadors through all channels, and kept the blog content fresh by putting out small consumers challenges. The reward for ambassadors was a visit from a Steri Stumpie marching band at their place of work or study. We also created an ongoing programme of product and steriphenalia drops with online noisemakers including underground bands, bloggers and other web personalities.The campaign culminated in an on-pack promo to launch 2 new flavours: Marshmallow and Raspberry, which was supported online and on radio. We worked with prominent local bloggers to spread the content, as well as collaborating with LEVI'S s and up-and-coming local designers to create limited edition Steri Stumpie-inspired T-shirts.

The end result was the unification of local Steri Stumpie fans by the creation of the largest facebook fan group of any South African brand; over 85 posts by bloggers on the campaign; 200+ pieces of user generated content; and as a total bonus, a sales increase of 22%. Highlights included: A Steri Stumpie song and video by The Brothers Streep: http://steri-stumpie.co.za/2009/09/the-brothersstreep-steri-stumpie-song-video/ Steri Justice comic strip by Dominic Kay http://steri-stumpie.co.za/2010/01/taste-steri-justice-perp-scum/ Steri advert (433 views) by James Lane http://steri-stumpie.co.za/2009/11/ambassador-nomination-of-the-week-2/ Steri Fashion Shoot by Robyn Hobson http://steri-stumpie.co.za/2009/12/robyn-youre-steri-fic/ Andy Warhol style steri artwork by Rouen Smit http://steri-stumpie.co.za/2009/07/julys-official-unofficial-steri-ambassador/ Wedding DJs photo booth http://steri-stumpie.co.za/tag/wedding-djs/