Technology and the humans who develop it have the ability to give you a holistic view of how a brand or topic is being discussed across both traditional and social channels in real-time. On Oscar night, this ability was harnessed with the creation of the Lincoln Command Center, an intelligent system designed to create meaningful content from real conversations (big data) in real-time.

The system itself provided a physical nerve center for the team to collaborate in data monitoring and live activity through a nine-monitor custom system, powered by five Mac Minis. This allowed the team to work together to make sense of online conversations, leading them to develop insights and generate impactful content in the moment.

Taking advantage of the large volume of existing social conversations around the Oscars and the Lincoln movie, the Lincoln Command Center system used strategic partnerships with best-in-class content and data analysis vendors to monitor buzz and trending topics around the event. These tools helped the team, in collaboration with the Illinois Office of Tourism, create responsive content in the voice of “Mini Abe” Lincoln throughout the awards show.

The Lincoln Command Center team included clients and agency partners who were in the room. As the awards show played out, the team analyzed data and synthesized key topics and trends through the command center system. The team included a copywriter, creative director, analyst, producer and community manager. As trends were spotted online and key moments observed on TV, ideas were formed, shared, debated and chosen. At that point, creative elements were created on the spot in the form of six-second Vine videos, Instagram photos and clever quips from “Mini Abe.” The result was an engaging commentary on the awards that reminded audiences and followers of President Lincoln’s strong ties to Illinois.

The efforts were a success with audiences reaching over 55,000 existing 'Enjoy Illinois' fans on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The Lincoln campaign prompted over 3,300 total social media engagements, over 131,000 YouTube video views, and 17,918,100 traditional media impressions through placements in Mashable, Slate, The Guardian, and TV affiliates across the country.