Wells Fargo // Back To College

Introducing the world’s first Twitter-powered conveyor belt.
Wells Fargo Student Lending needed a way to capture the attention of both students and parents who were in the final weeks of summer before heading off to college. This is the time when they’re making final plans, packing up their things and also realizing they might be a little short of funds to pay for the upcoming semester. The goal was to get them to a custom built website that housed tons of helpful information about applying for scholarships, getting grants, maximizing tuition assistance…and if necessary, getting a loan.

So we created an 8-hour live event that brought them to the site and kept them there. While they were watching the action, Tweeting to keep things moving and hoping for a chance to win, they also learned how the bank could help them cover the costs of their upcoming journey.

year 1

With about a month between pitching the idea and going live, we hit the ground running to figure out how to build such a never-been-done-before experience. Then we took over an agency conference room and made advertising history. Students and parents Tweeted our hashtag to help move a backpack down the conveyor belt and towards a shipping box. If their Tweet was the one to tip it off the edge and into the box, they won what was inside. Prizes included things like laptops, iPads, headphones and even $500 in quarters to do laundry.

Fun Trivia: $500 in quarters weighs 25 lbs

year 2

After a wildly successful first attempt, we got the opportunity to do it bigger and better the next year. We transformed the conveyor belt into a Road To College. We also 5X’d the prize winning potential by creating 5 milestone checkpoints, each one geared toward providing helpful financial info to both parents and students. Once again, the results got an A+.