A Star Is Born – Social Analysis of #FIJIWaterGirl
At this point, we’ve all heard of the #FIJIWaterGirl. The premium water brand’s now famous model who managed to photobomb countless celebrities red carpet pictures with the same pose and look. As with most Social Viral moments, it peaked our interests here at Zoomph and we thought it’d be interesting to analyze the social conversation around #FIJIWaterGirl. We measured data from 1/6/19 to 1/10/19, following tweets that used related #FIJIWaterGirl hashtags and tweets by or directed at @FIJIWater.
As reported by numerous news outlets, the activation by FIJI Water, who’s been the official water sponsor of the Golden Globes since 2015, truly paid off this year. With over 387,000 posts, engagements, and interactions, the viral event managed to reach 160 Million people, and generated an impression value of over $5.5 Million for FIJI Water.
To understand better how something could organically have such a massive impact, the activity graph below visually shows the viral moment and following hours of exposure in the news outlets.
Activity Graph
It’s clear to see the initial hours where the conversation started gaining attention during the live streamed event, and the 24 hours of fame which followed, before beginning its slow decline in activity. We used our ZPoints Post Ranking tool to aggregate the most influential posts of the conversation. This allowed us to break down the activity to understand the factors that helped the moment go viral and better understand the spikes in the graph shown above.
6:00 PM – The Golden Globes Red Carpet Livestream starts, and celebrities begin their walk down the red carpet, stopping for interviews and posing for photos.
6:31 PM – The first tweet mentioning the FIJI Water Girl was posted by Twitter user @dbbenyosef. The tweet itself was far from viral, with only 3 likes. However, it does hold some significance. One of those three likes happen to be from @FIJIWater, who began liking tweets later in the night once the conversation truly took off.
how do i become one of the @FIJIWater girls on the golden globes red carpet next year?? i can get a blue dress it’s no prob
— daniella ben-yosef (@dbbenyosef) January 6, 2019
7:04 PM – E! News
This woman holding FIJI Water at the #GoldenGlobes truly came to SERVE. pic.twitter.com/Aln54zOhKY
— E! News (@enews) January 7, 2019
8:13 PM – To date, the most influential post on the conversation according to our ZPoints Post Ranking tool originated from twitter user @alexgrigorian_. In her post, she showed multiple red carpet moments where the #FIJIWaterGirl had stared down the cameras aimed at the posing celebrities. Her tweet took off with thousands of replies and other accounts sharing her findings. Two hours later she replied to her own tweet with astonishment, tweeting “This blew up wow!” and encouraging MTV News to continue featuring her tweet in their broadcast about the viral moment.
The fiji water girl is serving LOOKS. Opportunity seeking at its finest. Get it queen! pic.twitter.com/LfgiKvG3bQ
— Alex Grigorian (@alexgrigorian_) January 7, 2019
11:00 PM – It looks like @FIJIWater became aware of the viral social moment around 11:00pm on the night of the Golden Globes. They posted the clever tweet shown below, acknowledging the viral moment as well as making a reference to what had quickly become a meme.
We’re so glad everyone is talking about our water!
*senses ominous presence*
She’s right behind us, isn’t she? #FIJIwatergirl
— FIJI Water (@FIJIWater) January 7, 2019
This interaction by FIJI Water signification propelled the conversation and helped to contribute to the first major spike seen in the activity graph above. Following this, they spent the next few hours liking and engaging with hundreds of tweets mentioning them and their newly famous spokesperson.
Monday – The following day, they continued creating content referencing the viral moment and entertaining audiences with their own memes and curation of favorite tweets mentioning the topic.
We’re honored that FIJI Water could hydrate this year’s finest talent. #goldenglobes pic.twitter.com/o8BBcvHrNk
— FIJI Water (@FIJIWater) January 7, 2019
Going for a long run? Maybe with a couple stairs at the end? Make sure to bring some FIJI Water along. #FIJIWaterGirl pic.twitter.com/zeinoMg6Dp
— FIJI Water (@FIJIWater) January 8, 2019
Many other brands joined the conversation tweeting references to the event.
2019 goal: Find a Tinder match who looks at me the way the @FIJIWater girl looks at the camera #goldenglobes
— Tinder (@Tinder) January 7, 2019
Tuesday – Following the viral moment, numerous TV talk shows had the now famous model on to discuss the viral moment. FIJI Water has featured a number of these interviews on their social accounts and voiced support in their paid spokesperson.
Countdown to book deal… 3… 2… #FIJIWaterGirl @KellethOfficial killed it on @GMA: https://t.co/B5Yvo08HmL pic.twitter.com/hgNPgVeSrN
— FIJI Water (@FIJIWater) January 9, 2019
Audience Insights
We also took a deeper look at the audience that was involved in the conversation on social and compared it to the audience that typically interacts and follows the premium water brand. In comparison, the audience during the #FIJIWaterGirl viral moment consisted of a much higher Gen-Z audience.
Marketing Takeaways
This viral moment was amplified by FIJI Water’s contribution to the conversation and willingness to develop a voice that could comically add to the astonishing moment. The creativity and flexibility utilized by their social team in what seems like an unplanned internet stardom for their spokesperson, significantly amplified the value of their sponsored activation at the Golden Globes.
This isn’t the first time that this type of strategy has been used, and after the success of it certainly won’t be the last. Anheuser-Busch used a similar engagement strategy during their politically charged super bowl ad, “Born the Hard Way”, which told the story of the immigrant founder of the company. During the airing of the commercial, Anheuser-Busch’s social team was active online to engage with conversation around the ad.
This type of active listening and focus on engagement can have a huge impact because it allows the brand to attempt to affect the direction of the conversation. They could encourage and reward users digitally who add to the conversation and bringing clarification. It also allows them to speak to those who may disagree with the brand or post negatively about the campaign.
Final Thoughts
For brands, it’s important to do what you can to activate when you’re given that window of opportunity, as quickly and efficiently as possible, because it won’t last long. Now that #FIJIWaterGirl’s 24 hours have passed, it’s safe to say that FIJI Water took full advantage of their moment and set an example of what other brands can achieve if they have the right tools to identify when a viral moment is happening, and a creative social team ready to act on the insights.
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