How Kohl's followed up the Chewbacca mask viral video
Viral videos by their very nature are a marketers dream and brands are increasingly trying to hop on the popularity of them for quick-fire marketing campaigns, although coming across genuine in doing so can be a challenge, a challenge which Kohl's has risen to after following up on the Chewbacca mask viral video.
Earlier this week a mother's video clip showing her infectious joy at trying on a Chewbacca mask became the most watched Facebook Live video ever.
The video showing Candace Payne's hilarious laugh and genuine joy with her purchase quickly generated 101 million views and counting.
In the opening of the video she happened to mention that the Star Wars merchandise was purchased from a Kohl's, inexplicably giving the US department store huge publicity and resulting in a complete sell-out of the masks.
The company has since responded with aplomb, gifting Candace and her children several masks to ensure that her kids wouldn't "confiscate" it from her as she mentioned in the post. In addition to the masks the store also included a treasure trove of Star Wars merchandise.
In a video posted to Facebook a Kohl representative delivered the Star Wars swag as well $2,500 in Kohl's gift cards.
"We don't want you to have to share your Chewbacca mask, so we 'confinsctated' masks for everybody," said the Kohl rep.
"We want to thank you for being a loyal Kohl's shopper," he told her. "We can't tell you how much we appreciate that."
The brand's response was planned in partnership with its social agency, Huge.
At the time of writing, Kohl's response video had receieved 22.5 million views within 24 hours.