Bob's Cube

CLIENT

Hostway is the 5th largest web hosting company in the world. Hostway is an international company that is Chicago-based with additional offices located throughout the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Korea and Australia.

BACKGROUND

Web hosting is a highly commoditized service with many competitors that have identical offerings. Due to this fact, Hostway sought to differentiate themselves from their competitors. As web designers and IT professionals drove over 50% of Hostway's referral business, they wanted to connect with these customers in a way they would find inspiring, humorous and worthy of telling their friends. However, Hostway did not have a budget to promote this initiative in any way except through word of mouth - so the user experience had to be exceptionally compelling in order to get people talking about Hostway and passing the site along.

THE SOLUTION

Bob's Cube, one of 15 letters' most notable projects, is a prime example of the power of viral marketing, and more importantly, the art and science of balancing branding with engagement. We developed a microsite that was a hybrid of product messaging and entertainment. Bob's Cube is loaded with hidden gems that reward exploration. Elements included user-generated content, entertaining videos and online games. Executed in a rich photo-realistic style, Bob's Cube provided an authentic and tactile experience for visitors, although it only existed virtually. The engaging and exceptional site experience rewarded users for their time, while also promoting the overall value proposition of the Hostway brand.

SUCCESS METRICS

Bob's Cube was designed to be: viral and connect with Hostway's target audience in an innovative and unexpected way; to drive awareness and create a positive experience while building affinity for the Hostway brand. Success was measured by the concept's ability to drive visitation without any paid media as well as the amount of hosting plans Hostway sold.

In 1.5 months, Bob's Cube had over 900,000 unique visits with no advertising dollars spent to drive traffic to the site. The average site visit time was over 6 minutes and even though it was designed simply to create brand awareness, it sold over 250 web hosting plans in the first month and has been one of Hostway's most successful emarketing campaigns to date.

In addition, the amount of email Hostway has received and the positive online chatter around Bob's Cube was also a great strength of the campaign.