OtterBox's First Facebook Live Pit Toddler Wrestlers Against Mom's Phone

When a brand and its agency feature toddlers on a Facebook Live video, what could go wrong? Cellphone case marketer OtterBox decided to find out this week in what was also its first significant push into the U.S. Hispanic market, targeting millennial Latina mothers. Working with U.S. Hispanic shop Dieste, OtterBox's Facebook Live starred two 3-year-old boys in a bright-yellow wrestling ring, dressed like Mexican lucha libre wrestlers and assigned to destroy a pink cellphone. "The Symmetry series [of phone cases] is more about fashion and design," says Mike Soderholm, VP of marketing. "We wanted to intentionally make this different, but with the same focus on millennial moms, and add a little humor." U.S.-born Hispanic millennials who are raising families are a fast-growing group and avid social media users, but can be tougher to target than their parents, whom marketers could often reach through Spanish-language TV. Marketers have used Facebook Live for the last year or so, with sometimes mixed results. In a spectacular stunt a few months ago, HBO had "Game of Thrones" fans glued to their screens with a gigantic block of ice in front of the cameras, with the promise that hidden within it was a big secret -- the debut date of Season 7. The social campaign asked fans to comment with the word "fire," which would then activate a flamethrower trained upon the frozen block. About 10 minutes in, there was a glitch, and the broadcast ended unexpectedly with a still solid block and no reveal, enraging fans. The video eventually rebooted and the flames erupted again, but more than 150,000 fans vented their frustration. Less dramatically, Wix.com used Facebook Live to release a first look at the web development platform's 2017 Super Bowl spots. Popeye's celebrated National Fried Chicken Day and Lowe's promoted Black Friday deals. And Subaru pegged a 45-minute video of puppies playing with bubbles, cavorting in the mud and swimming to the brand's "Make a Dog's Day" philanthropy campaign. Find out what Dieste and OtterBox learned from live-streaming the #Madrazos campaign (Spanish slang word for a crash or painful collision) here. There are two more Facebook Live events scheduled).

OtterBox's First Facebook Live Pit Toddler Wrestlers Against Mom's Phone

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