• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, June 22, 2011

Brown-Forman's Southern Comfort has launched a social content hub as the latest extension of its marketing campaign for Southern Comfort Lime, launched last fall.

The Lime-themed hub resides on Southern Comfort's main Facebook page and Web and mobile sites. The hub has taken over the sites for the summer months.

The concept: Helping SoCo fans to plan and interact throughout their nights out by consolidating a variety of digital activities in one convenient, cross-platform area -- while building awareness of the new Lime product through the hub's features and design.

"If you look at a night out with friends, there's a cyclical flow," says Lena DerOhannessian, U.S. marketing director, Southern Comfort. "It starts with planning and maybe a smaller party at someone's home, moves into partying at one location, usually moving onto other locations during the night, and ends with rehashing all of the night's memorable moments."

The hub is being supported by Lime television spots. Fifteen-second versions ran last October through December during Lime's introduction, and those and extended, 30-second versions will now run through the summer.

Three Southern Comfort agencies, Arnold Worldwide (creative agency), Universal McCann (media) and The Marketing Store (promotions), collaborated on the activities for the hub, then worked with the brand's marketing team to finalize concepts, reports DerOhannessian.

The activities include:

• A "SoCo Summer Social" area on the Facebook page, where fans who opt into the social's app can (where legal) receive rebates of $3 to $11 on purchases of Lime. The couponing encourages consumers to buy Lime for at-home entertaining, possibly prior to a night out, notes DerOhannessian.

• SoCo on the Scene, where fans can view SoCo Twitter updates about the nightlife areas where its promotion teams will be appearing in select markets.

• Passing a virtual SoCo Lime shot to friends. (These very popular on-premises shots, which use traditional Southern Comfort, inspired the launch of the new bottled Southern Comfort Lime product sold at retail.)

• Custom interactive content, through partnerships with The Onion, ESPN and Pandora. "We're tapping into our consumers' interests -- music, comedy and sports -- to fuel conversation around the brand," says DerOhannessian.

• The Onion offers humorous video content promoting SoCo's "Guide to Getting' After It" (an app that sends consumers calls to action throughout the evening), and also releases original "Living Life to the Fullest" tips. Pandora features a branded interactive radio station where users can choose playlists based on their mood. The station has a custom skin and includes a 15-second Southern Comfort Lime pre-roll spot. The ESPN partnership features sponsored Major League Baseball previews and breaking news, analysis and highlights for all sports between 3 and 9 p.m.

• A sweeps that's running for the 101 days of summer. Fans have a chance to win a branded prize every day, including a grand prize of a trip to New Orleans. The sweeps is also being promoted on special in-store Lime displays (which include QR codes to let fans access the site via mobile phones) and through texting.

• A gallery featuring photographs taken during Southern Comfort on-premises promotions.

• Recipes. Users can scroll through Lime summer drink recipes and like, share and comment about them.

• Thirsty Thursday: An existing SMS CRM program that delivers a new Southern Comfort recipe every Thursday to consumers' mobile phones.