Cotton Council International's (CCI) media outreach in Germany generated 1.0 billion consumer impressions and an earned advertising value of $2.9 million in 2012. Social media plays a major role in COTTON USA's consumer communication campaign in Germany, which also utilizes TV, radio, online and print media.
As part of its multimedia communication strategy, COTTON USA ambassadors – bloggers with a well-established network of followers – communicate U.S. cotton news through social media. The COTTON USA ambassador program generated 13.6 million consumer page impressions from blog postings. Since the introduction of this activity in summer 2012, CCI has gained 23 active U.S. cotton ambassadors in Germany.
Facebook, an integral element of the COTTON USA social media plan, also plays an increasingly strong role in CCI's German consumer promotions. COTTON USA promotions with German apparel licensees on Facebook generated more than 9.5 million consumer impressions and added 3,000 Facebook fans since November 2012.
More than 230,000 consumers participated in COTTON USA prize draws with licensee partners. Established in summer 2010, the COTTON USA Facebook page in Germany has more than 10,350 fans. CCI's German Facebook site feeds different multimedia channels with COTTON USA messages to widely disseminate U.S. cotton information.
