The Satire Revolution

Mainstream media is widely censored and controlled by the governments in the Gulf region. As a result, TV programming tends to be regressive and safe. So, for the 28 million Gulf national youths, who represent 65% of the population, it is a struggle to find content that speaks their language and feels relevant to them. The significance of YouTube is revolutionary; it has become a window of free expression, a place where Arab youth are experiencing their own kind of uprising - a cultural revolution driven by satire - fuelling the appetite for locally produced content led by young Arab talent who are using humour to challenge the status quo by making fun of issues considered taboo by the mainstream. Blackberry wanted to tap into this undercurrent and reinvigorate the brand by being part of their revolution so the strategy was to be an enabler of their satire movement and to help create spaces for youth to openly express themselves in a unique way. This campaign features four times on the shortlist for the 2013 M&M Global Awards. Winners will be announced on September 5. BlackBerry partners with Omar Hussein's 'HaroBnaro' YouTube show and gives Arab fans the chance to co-create content via an app.

Ikea's Magic Mittens

Insight

Ikea’s first iPad catalogue was no different to the paper version. The brand needed a USP.

Ikea’s catalogue is world famous and in Norway it was about to go digital for the first time. The launch of the new iPad version was good news for the brand as many of Ikea’s key customers were becoming less and less responsive to direct mail, the standard distribution method for the catalogue.

Tablet penetration was also growing massively fast in Norway with some 600,000 iPads in circulation (12% of Norway’s total 5 million population). iPads were especially popular among the brand’s key audience of urban females aged 25-45 – among this group 32% had a tablet.

The problem was that the iPad version would only be ready in the New Year, when most consumers had already had a paper version from last August. The content would have been exactly the same and the tablet version wouldn't have been interactive. Mediacom realised that Ikea could face a backlash from consumers if it tried to pretend that the iPad version was something new or innovative. It needed to find a way to connect with iPad users, giving them a new reason to engage, but had little money to promote the launch.

Mediacom’s solution would have to reflect Ikea’s reputation for smart simple design, while at the same time, resonate strongly with its digitally-savvy target audience of urban females.

Strategy

Norway gets cold in winter, very cold! So Ikea gave consumers a solution they could warm to: touch-screen mittens.

Mediacom’s insight was based around temperature. While tablet users would often use their device at home, they were also highly portable and few among the target group would leave the house without their iPad or iPhone. That was where the opportunity was spotted. Norway is cold in winter. In February, when the iPad catalogue was due to go live, temperatures can fall as low as -20°C. In this kind of weather, you have to wrap up warm and you have to wear gloves. Now, as everyone knows, fumbling with keys and phones with gloves on is difficult. But with an iPad, it’s downright impossible – with gloves on, they simply don’t respond to your commands.

This presented the agency with a unique opportunity to create something simple, functional and effective - and totally in line with Ikea’s design brand values. A brand new Ikea (mock) product was created: Beröra – literally meaning ‘to touch’. It consisted of conductive thread and came complete with Ikea packaging and the familiar cartoon instruction leaflet. By simply sewing the conductive thread through a pair of gloves or mittens, it would allow customers to use them with touchscreens. This would not only solve Norway’s winter touchscreen problem but also enable Ikea’s target of tablet users to sample the new iPad catalogue on the go.

Execution

Mediacom distributed thousands of touch-screen mitten kits via a zero-wastage, laser-targeted strategy. The agency created 12,000 mitten kits and distributed them to Ikea’s six stores across the country. Then they set about promoting the unique offer to the target audience. The message? ‘Ikea – katalogen er klar for iPad’ which translates to: ‘the Ikea catalogue is ready for the iPad! Are your mittens?’

Because the message was only relevant to tablet owners, Mediacom set out to reach them as precisely as possible. The agency worked with Norway’s two largest national newspapers to promote the new Ikea product via their tablet editions. This was backed up with web-TV advertising through the same media owners, targeting only the readers of tablet editions once again. Ikea and its PR agency, PR Operatørene, created buzz by sending the kit to selected relevant journalists and bloggers in advance of the product launch.

Results

The campaign was Ikea’s most successful launch anywhere in the world:

Consumers snapped up all 12,000 of the products in just 14 days.

Ikea gained massive buzz – reaching 22% of the target audience of women aged 25-45.

Click-through rates for ads were 8.95%, compared to a 2011 industry norm of 0.09% (CTR across all digital platforms).

The Ikea iPad app went straight to number one on the iTunes chart and stayed there for weeks.

Norway’s iPad catalogue is the most downloaded per capita on the planet.

BRAND:

Ikea

BRAND OWNER:

Ikea

REGION:

Norway

DATE:

January - February 2012

AGENCY:

MediaCom

Soldier For Women

Insight

A spate of eve-teasing and rape incidents had shattered the nation. Women had lost faith in men and men were losing respect. Few bad apples had maligned the image of all men. The marketing challenge was to resurrect the male image in such a volatile and sensitive period.

Sexual harassment is an endemic problem in India. Women are taught from childhood to avoid late nights, not to go out alone and distrust strangers. Indian women feel threatened by men but also feel the most protected around them, when they are accompanied by their loved ones ie. brother/father/husband. Other men just didn’t inspire the same confidence, as Indian men would go to any lengths to protect their own; however they would not get involved and behave as bystanders when it came to other women. The Soldierly behaviour was limited to protecting their own, this needed to change.

It was time for someone to take up the challenge. Challenge to re-instil faith by showcasing the good and encouraging all to stand up together for HER and for the nation. The men, who do stand up for everything right, the ones who do make their little contributions every day in making this society worth living, were feeling outcast and in search of a voice who would speak their heart out.

Strategy

Based on the insight “Women feel safe and secured only with their loved ones”, the task for Gillette was to create an environment where men would show solidarity with women and women would feel safe and secure even in the absence of her near and dear ones.

Mediacom took a look at history and realised that whenever a nation is faced with any catastrophe, it is the soldiers who come in, with their inherent courage, discipline and conviction to win back trust and create balance.. Thus was born - Gillette Soldier For Women.

The agency leveraged real life 'Soldiers for Women' like the Ex-President of India and noted scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam along with India's most credible personalities, to launch a national campaign, inspiring men to take collective fighting action against eve-teasing. Men solemnised their support to protecting women by taking a pledge of “Don’t be a Bystander, Stand by her”.

Gillette stepped in to give the nation what it was starving for RESPECT and HOPE giving birth to a social initiative “Soldier For Women”.

Execution

The journey of the campaign from the intent of winning back the respect of men in women’s mind to celebrating hope was divided into 3 phases:

In Phase I, vignettes were encapsulated with celebs urging men to stand up and respect women by taking up the pledge.

In second phase, women were urged to share stories on how common men have made a difference by displaying soldier values. These inspiring stories ranging from daily experiences at bus stops and trains, to girls saved and rehabilitated from the flesh trade by brave and socially driven Samaritans were showcased on national TV.

Thus when these acts of bravery were shared across various media, it helped in not only reducing the negativity surrounding the persona of men, but also reassured the women that soldiers do exist in society and they outnumber the bad guys.

In final phase, top celebrities and eminent speakers participated in panel discussions hosted in a college campus. Also a culmination event was held where all celeb came together to celebrate HOPE

Gillette joined hands with NGOs –Akshara & Plan India to conduct workshops.

The brand released an open letter, authored by the Ex-President of India in the leading national newspaper. Contextual ads on Linkedin were aimed at recruiting soldiers by forming a group. It also devised a soldier parade on FB where 1.6 million people joined in just one month. #Soldierforwomen & #iStandup trended in every city and made it more interactive with the TA.

On International Women’s day, Gillette launched women mobile safety app which allows them to trigger instant alerts in emergency.

Results

• The campaign delivered 103 Index on Top of line sales and achieved the highest ever off take (122 Index) and overall Gillette share (122 Index)

• All Gillette key equities grew by +7 -10 %; Awareness was a record 34 % amongst rep (200 IYA)

• 12 Million men pledged to support women

• 300,000 stories of Men of Honour

• 3.4 million YouTube views

• $5m worth of free media

• #iStandUp trended no.1 worldwide

• #SoldierforWomen trended in every city

• Received 433 blogs with a reach of 34 million

• Gillette India is amongst Top 5 FMCG YouTube channels

• 25+ celebs supported the movement free of cost

BRAND:

Gillette

BRAND OWNER:

Procter & Gamble

REGION:

India

DATE:

2013

AGENCY:

MediaCom

Ben & Jerry's Sundae Sessions

Insight

“Ben and I built Ben & Jerry’s on the idea that business has a responsibility to the community and the environment,” Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s.

Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream had cult status. The quality of ingredients, the combination of flavours and the irreverent names (Chunky Munky) made it unlike any other. At the very core of the brand was a social mission to give back to the community. Despite the genuine love people had for the brand, it was not without its challenges. Ben & Jerry’s was a premium product, priced higher than its competitors. Pricing wars at the freezer further exacerbated this price difference. With limited distribution, you would not find tubs of Ben & Jerry’s within every freezer.

Therefore whilst people always loved Ben & Jerry’s, it was becoming easier to forget what it was like to sit and eat a tub of the finest. Because of this challenge, the brand set aside $200,000 to increase sales by 23% with a very big caveat – the brand also wished to benefit the local community.

Strategy

The Sunday Session was a key part of Australian culture. The term ‘Sunday Session’ was coined by a young working professional when describing that ritualistic moment during the week: “you know, when you realise you only have a few more hours to properly relax, hang out with your mates and have a bit of fun before Monday rolls in again.”

This notion of making the most of the last few hours of the weekend linked perfectly to the brand.  A tub (or even scoop) of Ben & Jerry’s is not something people liked to rush, people wanted to spend time indulging in every mouthful.

So the brand saw a synergy between the Sunday Session and a Ben & Jerry’s Sundae.

Execution

The strategy and idea came to life through creating Ben & Jerry’s own branded event platform - The Ben & Jerry’s Sundae Session. 

The brand identified a series of key partners that it wanted to bring together - partners that understood the mission behind the strategy and understood that this was more than just selling ice-cream.

The first was a sponsorship of the Open Air Cinemas which provided an outdoor space to attract the target group through a series of movies to play after sunset. In keeping with the social mission, the brand then partnered with ‘Tunes For Change’ which gave it access to the best artists in Australia ensuring it provided live performances from the likes of The Cat Empire, Kate Miller-Heidke and Hungry Kids of Hungary amongst others.

An album featuring the artists who performed was later released by Ben & Jerry’s with all proceeds again going to charity.

Through an MTV partnership, the brand captured content from these Sundae Sessions and created branded vignettes that ran across MTV’s online and TV platforms bringing the events to life for a wider audience. 

The selected local charities including Animals Australia and Life Options were able to use the weekly Sundae Sessions events to chat to the crowds about what they did and how this community could help support the cause.

Results

Through the platform Ben & Jerry’s provided local charities, raised an additional $30k for Tunes For Change, Animals Australia and Life Options and generated $580,000 worth of PR.

93% of people recalled Ben & Jerry’s as the primary sponsor of Open Air Cinema (unprompted) and 65% were aware of the Ben & Jerry’s social mission at the Sundae Sessions and 68% are more positive towards the Ben & Jerry’s brand as a result of their experience.

With a budget of just $200,000, Ben & Jerry’s smashed sales goals by 347% across Sydney and Melbourne.
• Sydney: 321% (i.e. 23% goal to 74% increase)
• Melbourne: 374% (23% goal to 86% increase)
• (Brisbane increased substantially, however the client is unable to isolate how much is due to store expansions in this market)

This truly exceeded expectations particularly as this was the only activity running (there were no other changes to price, distribution or promotion during this period).

BRAND:

Ben and JerrysBen and Jerrys

BRAND OWNER:

Unilever

CATEGORY:

Food

REGION:

Australia

DATE:

October 2012 - April 2013

AGENCY:

Mindshare