Is it a scanner? A typewriter? A remote control that controls your mind?

These were just some of the guesses as about a dozen kids ages six to 12 struggled to understand a mysterious device they had never before seen: a cassette player.

“I honestly don’t know what you do with this,” one boy says, turning it over in his hands.

The experiment, if you will, was part of a CNN social media marketing campaign that went viral on Facebook to promote the series The Eighties, exploring “this totally rad decade and its cultural, political and technological impact on today.”

The ‘kids versus ‘80s technology’ campaign specifically ties into the network’s upcoming episode “Tech gets personal,” and features two separate videos showing kids’ reactions to a cassette player, and an Atari. The concept came from the mind of Anika Chin, social marketing strategist manager at CNN Creative Marketing.

“The kids were so fun and so confused,” Chin said. “Some of them got really frustrated.”

The videos posted to Facebook at the beginning of May. “Kids vs. ‘80s cassette player” garnered 1.4 million views, 47,000 likes, 4,000 comments and 53,000 shares.

“Kids vs. ‘80s video games,” featuring the Atari, drew 8 million views, 121,000 likes, 11,000 comments and 258,000 shares.

CNN chose to focus on Facebook for its shareability factor, longer shelf life (especially compared to Twitter) and as an ideal platform for longer videos (they each run about one and a half minutes). The marketing team themselves had a hard time looking away from the kids’ on-screen reactions, so they suspected it would be a homerun for social - but there are no guarantees.

“We were surprised by how many people responded to it,” Chin said.

With a focus on creating thoughtful, discussion-oriented content for social, Chin came up with the idea when she noticed outdated props scattered around the office, and wondered if children today would understand how to use them.

With no production budget, she sent an email out to the creative marketing team seeking volunteers, and in marched the unsuspecting sons and daughters of CNN employees.

“You can do really cool stuff without a budget,” Chin said. “Sometimes the most simple content is the most engaging content.”

The kids were individually holed up in a room for about an hour, as a camera recorded them playing with strange devices purchased on Ebay - including an Etch A Sketch, boombox and handheld sports gaming device.

A moderator “kind of guided them a little bit when they stumbled,” but CNN strove for authentic reactions. The network publicized the videos with the best, most captivating responses. With the Atari there was quite a ‘wow’ factor as CNN removed a big black blanket to reveal the console.

“They were like, ‘This is amazing! What is is?’” Chin said.

And the cassette player was the most challenging by far.

“Nearly every kid had the exact same reaction,” Chin said. “They couldn’t figure out to take the tape out of the case. That was the one they were most frustrated on.”

Because it was so successful, CNN plans to relaunch the campaign on Facebook before The Eighties “Tech gets personal” episode airs, and will also use Twitter to drive viewers to the show.

The episode “explores the innovations and inventions of the Digital Revolution, including the personal computer and the internet, which have defined life as we know it today.”

For CNN, the success of the marketing campaign is an indication that the network is listening to its audience, and will continue coming up with ways to produce social content that resonates.
“We’re really striving to be thoughtful and creative when it comes to our social marketing strategy and to not just clutter people’s feeds with traditional promotion,” Chin said. “It’s really about trying to be valuable, informative, sparking conversation and having fun with our fans along the way.”

CNN Originals | The Eighties | Behind the Scenes from loyalkaspar on Vimeo.

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