Facebook Marketplace is a social platform that connects sellers and buyers through unique goods, from home decor to fashion. With ‘Yes, Couch!’, we set out to promote the magic young adults can find on the platform while simultaneously driving them directly to it to explore. We utilized Facebook’s massive reach and promoted the Marketplace listing across their organic socials. With this activation we not only had thousands of inquiries and increased traffic to Marketplace, we had the whole world talking about it. We utilized the very platform we were promoting, but in a way that extended its reach WELL beyond.

On January 4th, Calvin Klein released its Spring 2024 Campaign featuring actor from "The Bear" Jeremy Allen White. Jeremy’s recent rise to A-List stardom saw him become culture’s latest sex symbol. So needless to say, when Calvin Klein’s ad dropped featuring him lounging on a red corduroy couch on a New York City rooftop, the internet got talking. Within just 48 hours it generated $12.7 million in earned media. But, people weren’t just talking about Jeremy’s abs – they wanted to know more about the red corduroy couch. As Facebook Marketplace is often used for selling used furniture and one-of-a-kind items, this was a perfect moment for the social platform. By sourcing the actual couch from the CK shoot, listing it on Marketplace, Facebook managed to turn Calvin Klein’s internet breaking campaign into a marketing triumph for itself. Every media dollar Calvin Klein earned and spent became earned media dollars for Facebook.

Facebook has a relevance problem among young adults. They know what it is, but they don’t find it useful. Our brief was to change that. We realized in a world where social platforms keep you stuck in a scroll, we repositioned Facebook with a new brand strategy, showing young adults that the people on Facebook can give them perspective, helping them explore their interests beyond the scrlol and into real life action. We call this social discovery. Our long-term objective for all marketing is to get young adults to consider Facebook for social discovery. The short-term objective for this effort was to get the attention of young adults in a disruptive, non-traditional way that centered Facebook in a cultural moment.

With ‘Yes, Couch!’ we created a viral social activation that embedded Facebook into a cultural moment the whole world was talking about. When Jeremy Allen White’s Calvin Klein campaign took the internet by storm, Facebook reacted by sourcing the exact couch from shoot, listing it on Facebook Marketplace, and promoting it via social and PR. Within minutes, everyone was talking about it. Thousands of inquiries flooded the inbox, but even better than that? Thousands of people had shared and posted the listing. This couch went from Facebook Marketplace to TikTok, the New York Times, TMZ, the Drew Barrymore Show, and beyond. We had successfully embedded the Facebook brand into a viral cultural moment while directing traffic straight to the Facebook app all while reminding the world of the magic found on Facebook Marketplace.

How do you drive young adults to Facebook when they see it as irrelevant to their lives? You embed Facebook into the very things they love the most. As part of ongoing strategy to drive young adults to see Facebook as a utility for social discovery, we piloted real-time brand acts that put Facebook at the center of things, moments, cultural events they care about, while simultaneously showing how they can further explore their interests in the app. And if there’s one thing young adults care about right now, it’s Jeremy Allen White. So when Calvin Klein's ad featuring the actor took the internet by storm, Facebook seized the moment, and swiftly reacted by sourcing the couch from the CK shoot and listing it on Facebook Marketplace. By harnessing this moment, we showed young adults that culture, utility and Facebook are all intrinsically linked.

To make Facebook relevant to young adults, we had to become part of the cultural conversations they’re already having. So when the world was buzzing about Jeremy Allen White’s Calvin Klein campaign, we saw the perfect opportunity. A couple days later we sourced the couch from the ad and placed it on Facebook Marketplace. The listing read “FREE — Red corduroy sofa from famous ripped chef shoot” accompanied by pictures of the sofa on an NYC rooftop. Within minutes the listing went viral. Thousands of inquiries flooded the inbox, and thousands more were sharing and reposting it. Every publication covered, from People to Hypebeast and NYTimes. We harnessed the attention and reached out to the queen of couch convos herself – Drew Barrymore - to give it away to our deserving recipient on her TV show.The couch - and Facebook - were centerpieces across TWO episodes with millions of eyeballs

Within minutes of listing the couch on Facebook Marketplace - IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE. We set out to get the attention of young adults, and they did us one better - by spreading the word themselves. Some of their TikToks sharing it got up to 2 million views. The press coverage was never ending - from NYTimes to TMZ and beyond. Among the thousands of inquiries begging for the couch, we selected one and then tapped Drew Barrymore to do the honors of giving it away on her talk show - centering the couch and Facebook in TWO episodes with millions of eyeballs watching. With $0 spent on media, production or talent; the activation garnered 2.7 BILLION in earned media impressions with 90% positive sentiment. The most impressive bit is that we effectively increased the app’s daily active users by 5.3% - that’s 150 MILLION people!