What Do Ferrari, Regions Bank and CVS Have in Common? They Were Most Successful in Activating Consumer Influencers in 2017

NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - February 27, 2018) - In the latest installment of Engagement Labs' TotalSocial^® Brand Awards series, Ferrari and Regions Bank earned top distinction as the brands most successful with everyday influencers -- or those friends, family and colleagues who frequently give recommendations and maintain large social networks -- both online (via social media) and offline (via face-to-face conversations). Analyzing more than 500 U.S. consumer brands, Engagement Labs selected winners based on the extent to which this influential audience represented a large proportion of those people who talk about and recommend the brands offline and online.

The awards are based on the Company's proprietary TotalSocial data, which continuously measures the four most important drivers of brand performance. These are: influence, sentiment (having more positive than negative conversations), brand sharing (the extent to which people are sharing or talking about a brand's marketing or advertising), and volume (a measure of how much conversation a brand is getting). Earlier this month, the Company released its ranking of the Most Loved Brands based on sentiment, and over the next several weeks, Engagement Labs will announce awards for the highest scoring brands in each of the remaining TotalSocial categories. The brands that were most successful with everyday influencers are those with the highest online and offline influence scores in 2017.

"The winners in our analysis have tapped into a lucrative marketing strategy that greatly magnifies their presence in the market by prioritizing influencers who have above-average social reach and make frequent recommendations," said Ed Keller, CEO of Engagement Labs. "Everyday influencers are also the nation's most trusted consumers, and their words carry considerable weight in their large social networks. They have approximately four times the 'social value' as other consumers. It stands to reason that brands, such as Ferrari, that understand who their everyday influencers are and what topics drive them, are going to be successful in inspiring conversations about their products."

Indeed, Ferrari, a brand already closely associated with speed and luxury, played into car aficionados' desires by unveiling a new convertible that tops out at 199 mph. The new engine revved consumer conversations among offline influencers, accelerating the brand into first place in this category.

Likewise, Regions Bank tapped into consumer conversations by engaging with key influencers online. The brand recently started a "Piggy Poetry" campaign on Twitter, where it is already active and where many consumers post tweets praising the bank's customer service.

CVS, named as the number two brand with the most influencers among the people talking about the brand online, also has its finger on the pulse of key influencer concerns. For the last several years, the brand has put a greater emphasis on health in its marketing, a move that consumers have embraced. In January, it announced it would stop airbrushing photos used for the beauty brands it sells in its stores. In addition, its offer to buy Aetna for $69 billion -- a deal with the potential to reshape the healthcare industry -- contributed to even more discussion about the brand. Some analysts believe the merger could help reduce health care costs and make healthcare more manageable. The brand also won second place in Engagement Labs' TotalSocial Award for Most Loved Brands in online conversations last month.

Meanwhile, Puma scored the number three position for offline influence as it tapped into a well of consumer conversations with its celebrity brand ambassador program. The brand's financial results are proof that engaging key influencers works. In 2017, sales increased 15 percent leading to a whopping 92 percent gain in income. The brand has partnered with celebrities that are current, trendy and already have huge followings. Big Sean, The Weeknd, Cara Delevingne, Kylie Jenner, Rihanna and most recently, Selena Gomez, have been Puma ambassadors.

To learn more about Engagement Labs and how to increase your brand's word of mouth in real life and online, reach out at: totalsocial@engagementlabs.com.

To learn more about the TotalSocial Brand Awards, visit here.

About Engagement Labs

Engagement Labs (TSX VENTURE: EL) provides the world's leading brands with a unique and powerful data and technology solution to drive sales growth and improve marketing ROI. Our TotalSocial^® technology combines online social media listening metrics with the world's only ongoing measurement of offline word-of-mouth conversations into a single dashboard, to provide marketers with the ability to measure performance, diagnose areas of weakness and opportunity and identify specific strategies and tactics to increase sales and improve marketing ROI. TotalSocial is an "always-on" proprietary scoring system, based on the most important drivers of brand performance: Volume, Sentiment, Brand Sharing and Influence. TotalSocial tracks 500 brands across 16 major industry categories within the U.S., and 350 brands across 18 industry categories in the UK.

To learn more visit www.engagementlabs.com / www.totalsocial.com.

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