The “likes”, the “shares”, the “loves”, brands are constantly in search of the great engagement. We create our campaigns to entertain the audience, educate them, inform them, make them laugh, and celebrate when we get that famous click of a button called “like”. But even that is becoming harder and harder to get.

Gone are the days when brands could simply make a request from the audience, and people happily make it come true. They used to film videos, post photos, run to the nearest stores, usually motivated by a gift or discount as a reward for their effort. But how much is that engagement really worth? Are the video and competition photos the real reason to become a loyal customer of the brand, or is it just something fun to do in order to get a gift?

In it’s latest campaign the telecom operator Skinny is testing how engaged their audience actually is. With very clever ad placement, they set up radio ad copy and asked the audience to call a number, read out the text and become the next voices of Skinny. There is no reward, except for maybe the 5 minutes of fame you get with the radio airing, but it seems to be working. People are making the calls, giving their voices to Skinny and helping them share their offers, and ask for nothing in return. Maybe it’s not what we ask, but how we ask for it?