McDonalds Mega Mac

A successful use of the World Cup

September 98: a few weeks after Frances victory over Brazil, McDonalds and their agency BDDP & TBWA used the fame, popularity and smooth head of Fabien Barthez for a campaign to promote the Mega Mac. For its re launch the product was called the burger of sportsmen, since with its four pieces of meat it was aimed at people with large appetites. Having used Michael Jordan in 1997, Mc Donalds, as partners in the World Cup and the French football team , had wanted to be the first brand to mount a campaign using one of the French team. But they did not want to be considered opportunist. The gamble paid off thanks to a creative and eye catching campaign ('the kiss' on television, 'The prayer' on posters) and Mega Mac exceeded commercial goals.

Context

In September 1998 McDonalds suggested a campaign for the Mega Mac, a non-permanent product in McDonalds range. This burger was larger and more expensive than the others: it would allow McDonalds to increase the value of their transactions.

Since the Mega Mac had already appeared in restaurants in February 97, a re-launch was now needed to give the Mega Mac greater staying power than in the campaign of 97.

Objectives

To increase turnover and profitability of McDonalds restaurants, reaching a strategic threshold of 200 Mega Macs sold per 1000 transactions (one transaction = one till receipt.)

Strategies and working of the campaign

Strategy

To position the Mega Mac in the market as the Burger of sportsmen intended for large appetites.

In July 98 France awaited a happy event: The World Cup. McDonalds immediately saw public interest and signed a partnership with the French team. As they went along the French teams good results kept the association between the Mega Mac and football in peoples minds.

In September the agency recommended capitalizing on the fame of the French team who had won the World Cup two months previously on three conditions:

• To be the first brand to feature a member of the French team in a campaign
• To choose the player
• To avoid accusations of opportunism by being creative.

Thanks to the ritual of the kiss on his shaven head Fabien Barthez became the mascot of the French team. His personality made him one of the most popular players in the team. It seemed obvious to the agency to associate this man with the product.

Fabien Barthez became the spokesman for the Mega Mac which carried the fortunes of McDonalds.

It remained only to put in motion a creative strategy worthy of this great name.

The concept was to play on the head of Barthez and the famous kiss.

Media plan

The media chosen for the period 3-20 September were:

• one TV spot of 30' reducing to 15'
• a 4x3 poster campaign
• point of sale advertising at McDonalds

Results of the campaign

Quantitative :

Greater turnover, more profit and more sales than predicted.

255 Mega Mac sold per 1000 transaction, 49% more than in February 97

Increased turnover and profit for McDonalds restaurants of +4.1% and +344% respectively compared to the first launch in 97.

Qualitative :

A creative campaign which people noticed and talked about.

An attribution score of 79% was the best Ipsos score of 1998 in all sectors.

The success of the campaign in publicizing Mega Mac led to a new campaign centered on Barthez being developed in March 99 (a film called 'Shaving')

The Barthez magic worked

The Mega Mac campaign is proof that endorsement of a product by a World Cup star, if it is creative and innovative (the first brand to use one) is a safe bet for effectiveness.

ZAP from Yoplait: How to stir up a fermented market

This document contains information from an article from the CB News No. 543, 26^th October 1998, with the kind permission of Christian Blachas and Emmanuelle Fradet. It is completed with information provided by the agency in its presentation dossier.

With the flavored yogurt market losing its momentum, Yoplait zaps the end of the family meal with its new yogurt, which can be eaten without a spoon, and therefore away from the table.

Who? Yoplait

What? To become brand leader in the standard flavored yogurt market.

How? The launch of Zap, the first yogurt in a sachet

With what? TV and poster advertising campaign

With whom? McCann Erickson (advertising) and Logic Design (packaging)

How much? FFr16 million gross on advertising

Result? +12.7% in Yoplaits turnover on the flavored yogurt market in one year.

1.    Objective: To be market leader of flavored yogurts

On this supermarket aisle there is hustle and bustle According to studies, 95% of hyper-market customers go to this aisle every visit (1) and not just to look, as 80% leave with at least one product in their trolley. Chilled desserts, a sector with FFr23 billion in turnover in 1996 represents a very dynamic market with a year on year growth rate of 5.3% in comparison to 1995.

An interesting sector, as new products are frequently being launched onto the market. But there is one problem: yogurt, the biggest segment of dairy products in France, with a turnover of FFr8.8 billion in 1996, sales were sliding. Or to be more exact, the flavored yogurts, which represented 11.9% of the yogurt markets sales. In fact sales were in free fall, down 10% compared to 1995. 'However flavored yogurts remain the second market segment of fresh dairy products', explains Hlne Roux, Product Manager for Zap from Yoplait. 'Unfortunately retailers own brands continue to increase their market influence and the major brands, Yoplaits Fructos, Danones Kid and Nestls Yoco only compete during promotions, robbing the market of any exciting competition'. As a direct consequence, investment in advertising is stagnant, increasing across all brands in 1996 to FFr19.4 million gross

Flavored yogurts, 75% of which are purchased by households with children, were gradually losing interest. This was as much the case for consumers as for retailers. Although bought mainly for children 50% of flavored yogurts are consumed by adults. The major brands have tried as well as can be expected to give more punch to the sector. Danone introduced a 'creative' version of Kid, with an accompanying small dish containing chunks of fruit or cereal; Fructos repositioned itself as the only yogurt flavored with fruit juice; Senoble joined forces with Haribo to launch the strawberry flavored yogurt Tagada In short, each one tried to differentiate itself from the others on the market.

In vain: the market remained stable, with no increase in the number of consumers and the brands retained their positions, only making an impact on the competition during price promotions. In 1997 the flavored yogurt market collapsed even more, only just reaching 21 000 tons and turnover of FFr960 million (-8.7% in volume and

6.7% in value)

The time had come for existential questions: Stay or go? Not an easy decision as Yoplait did have a good market share, as was the case for the three major brands (2). Yoplaits Fructos accounted for 28.8% of the market in terms of volume in 1996, whilst Danones Kid had 18.7% and Nestls Yoco 21.5% (respectively 28%, 20.1% and 21.6% in financial terms).

'We therefore had no choice if we wanted to remain in the market than to create market value by trying, once and for all to become market leaders', continues Hlne Roux.

2.    Resources: FFr16 million to kill off the little spoon

With a clear aim in mind, it only remained to find a solution. Having completed some studies, two strong tendencies in French society leapt out at Yoplait: the increasing amount of snacking and the explosion of the mobile phone market. Nothing to do with yogurt? 'Wrong' comments Jacques Hervouet, Commercial Director at McCann Erickson.

'In fact this indicated the presence of a McDonalds generation, ready to break free from eating traditions'. 'We then only had to create a new product which would correspond with these tendencies towards snacking and being on the move', continues Hlne Roux.

'This all came back to adding value in two ways: habit and pleasure', continues Renaud Degon, Director of Strategic Planning at McCann Erickson. So with added value, the price per kilo of the product would rise and so there would be an increase in turnover

Snacking and being on the move: the two main sales features of the product were established. Yoplait had experience in this area already, having launched the Petits Filous with straws on the petit-suisse sector (that were now called Petits Filous Tubs), and in the yogurt drinks segment, they had launched Yop. These products were aimed at different target groups, with the former for small children and the latter for adults. As for the 'medium' sized (aged between 7 and 12), they found themselves 'orphans' in the yogurt world.

Not for long - as Yoplait decided to launch a product aimed at them. The aim: a yogurt, not to drink, but to swallow, greedily, without a spoon. The yogurt sachet weighing 90g (compared to 125g for a pot) is born.

'We originally envisaged launching under the brand name Pocket Fructos so that we could capitalize on our brand. But this posed a problem: we risked reducing the added value of this new product. To fully optimize the novelty, we decided to create a new brand: Zap', explains Hlne Roux. Zap as in to zap, of course Price per kilo: FFr22 compared with an average of FFr6 for standard flavored yogurts.

September 1997: Zap appeared on the shelves for the first time. The launch of this yogurt in a sachet attracted major retailers. The availability in shops grew steadily and in December 1997 Zap was available in 60% of large retailers, which account for 74% of total retail turnover (3). In short, the time had come to launch the advertising campaign.

A double objective: image and volume

• To create a new category in the mind of the consumer: yogurts without spoons
• To encourage people to try it

McCann Erickson performed studies to decide on which tactic to take. 'Two discoveries came out of our meetings with consumers: firstly that mothers can no longer manage to keep children at the table. So fairly often children skip the end of the meal and mothers feel guilty that they havent given their child enough milk', continues Renaud Degon. 'Now we had a product which would allow children to consume a dessert elsewhere and provides what mothers feel is most lacking in their childrens diets: milk', explained J. Hervouet.

Deciding against an evidential campaign (a film showing children eating Zap outside), McCann Erickson suggested the idea of symbolically showing the arrival of the sachet yoghurt on the market with a fact: the death of the spoon (the spoon is yesterdays news).

'The choice of media was self-evident: television to demonstrate the product and posters because, of course, it is an outdoor product', concludes Renaud Degon.

Zap appeared on the TV screens on the 16^th January 1998, with two clips of 30 and 20 seconds directed by Pascal Chaumeil (production: Quad). The defunct little spoon, which is thrown out the window, plays the star part.

From 21^st January 1998 the billboards displayed, along with the fossils of the yogurt spoon, two slogans which left nothing in any doubt: 'No future' and 'End of the reign' (165 showings of 30 and 20 second clips; 6236 boards, in pairs, in all towns with over 50 000 inhabitants). Total budget: FFr10.6 million for television and FFr5.4 million for the outdoor campaign (4).

3.    Results: +12.7% in Yoplaits turnover on the market

'No other advertising campaign took place. We had planned a series of promotional events in stores, but they were not needed. Sales escalated from the appearance of the advertising to such an extent that we didnt need to use any other techniques', comments Hlne Roux.

On the shelves, Zaps arrival did not go unnoticed. Without doubt because McCanns advertising had been seen, by children as well as by mothers. The post-tests prove it (5). The recognition rates for the TV ads (interviewees claiming to have seen the campaign) were 78% amongst children and 52% amongst mums (average for children 81% and 46% for mothers). And those who had seen the clips didnt forget them: 54% of children and 30% of mothers remembered one or more details of the clip (average 35% for children and 15% for women).

It was the same story for the poster campaign: 54% of children and 23% of mums were able to recollect details (average 35% for children and 15% for mothers).

'We are all the more proud because this campaign did not resort to using the methods for reaching children, with neither comic book characters, nor cartoons', continues J. Hervouet. 'All the more proud because the appearance of the advertising campaign coincided with soaring sales (from 10 tons per day during the first week of January 1997 to 86 tons at the time of the outdoor campaign). And this development did not suffer a downturn, as in June 1998, sales were still at 74 tonnes per day' Had the launch of the sachet yogurt revitalized the flavored yogurt sales? too early to tell. The fact remains that Zap seems to be a real success (6). The new brand from Yoplait had gained a presence in the shops very quickly.

Available in 83% of French hyper-markets and supermarkets in August 1998 (accounting for 90% of total retail turnover), Zap alone holds 3% of the flavored yogurt market in terms of volume but when taking into account its price per kilo, in terms of value it holds 8.1%'. There was no noticeable cannibalization of Yop or the Petits Filous Tubs', concludes H. Roux. Final result: Zap made Yoplait market leaders on the flavored yogurt shelves (6). By the end of August 1998, taking into account all their brands, Yoplait held 37.5% of the flavored yogurt market in volume terms and 41.2% in terms of value, compared with 28.9% and 28.5% in 1997.

At the same time, Danone retained 22.8% of volume and 24% of value (compared with 20.8% and 23.8%). And Nestl pulled out of the market. So Zap re-launched its campaign with repeats in September 1998 for FFr9 million gross.

TV Scores

	Ave.	Children	Ave.	Women
Total score	77	85	38	38
Specific score	35	54	15	30
Proved score	44	56	21	34
Recognition	81	78	46	52

Poster Scores

	Ave.	Children	Ave.	Women
Specific Score	35	54	15	23

1. Marketing Book, Secodip, 1997
2. Nielsen, Annual accumulation 1997
3. Nielsen, December 1997
4. Secodip
5. Post test Ipsos TV and posters (752 people, groundwork 5^th and 13^th February 1998)
6. Nielsen with annual accumulation end August 1998 

Adidas:::Urban Art Guide

BRAND OWNER:Adidas Group

CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear

REGION:Germany

DATE:May 2009 - Dec 2008

MEDIA CHANNEL

Adidas has a strong association with street art and graffiti, with the brand having been inspired by the New York hip-hop and graffiti subculture in the 1980s. It wanted to pay homage to this heritage with a smartphone application.

Adidas came up with the Adidas Urban Art Guide to Berlin – an iPhone travel guide that lists Berlin’s best graffiti. Users download the application for free or visitwww.urbanartguide.de. The guide gives them access to a Google map of Berlin that is marked out with the locations of street art. The map can be navigated by a number of ways. Users can either “find artworks nearby”, take a tour of the city with “Tour Guide” or browse the cities art in a “gallery”. Users can click on each marked location to view images as well as information about the piece, the artist and further references. The application allows for users to comment and rate the art as well as upload their own pictures of the art which updates on the map.

Berlin is currently the only city on the Urban Art Guide's map, but plans are underway to develop similar guides for other cities

Gerber Graduates – Wobbly World

Category: Packaged Food

Brand: Gerber Graduates

Client: Gerber

Primary Agency: Draftfcb

Media Agency: MindShare

Contributing Agency: Zipatoni

STRATEGIC CHALLENGE

Keep Mom in the Baby Aisle

In addition to three stages of baby food, Gerber had launched various toddler foods by 1990. In 2006, although Gerber was experiencing a year-over-year growth rate of 15% with their toddler foods, they knew they could get much more share of stomach in the toddler category. At that time, 90% of competitive share came from table foods, and a small bit from an increasing number of direct competitors. A true toddler category of foods had yet to be created. We saw this as their golden opportunity.

Moms were loyal to the Gerber developmental stages of feeding – to a point. Penetration of 1^st stage foods was 60%, but by 3^rd stage foods, penetration dropped to 36%. Mothers of toddlers feel pressured to prepare healthy meals for their child. By aligning their toddler's eating with the rest of the family, mom was reaching a developmental milestone and leaving the baby aisle behind. We had to find a compelling way to keep mom in the aisle and better transition her to toddler foods before we lost her forever (Source: Client data 2006).

OBJECTIVES

Our campaign strategy involved two clear objectives:

• Clearly establish toddler food as a category and Graduates as a brand

• Recognize toddlerhood as a distinct chapter in mom/child's life and connect the Graduates brand to that experience.

CREATE A CATEGORY

Not another Stage of Babyfood, a New Phase for Mom and Baby

Up until this time, Gerber had treated toddler foods as an extension of their baby food line, both in how they branded the products and how they communicated. After doing a store audit of Mass, Grocery, Drug and Natural retailers, we quickly assessed that a specific “Toddler Section” did not exist in the store. Also, there was inconsistency across channels in the way products were displayed. Products themselves were a blend of toddler and baby food, eg. with toddler food in baby jars and 3 rd stage foods and Graduates grouped together on-shelf and online. The branding architecture was loosely held together under the Graduates and Gerber logos, but hierarchy was not clear.

Within what was considered toddler foods, multiple branding architectures for products existed: Fruit Splashers, Mini Fruits, Pasta Pickups and Li'l Entrees all competed for consumer recognition of a discrete line of toddler food. Our first recommend was to simplify the branding architecture on individual lines to help better establish a toddler brand: Graduates from Gerber.

Relevance, Relevance, Relevance

Most importantly, toddler food and baby food were also advertised jointly. Even the classic Gerber line, “Shouldn't your baby be a Gerber baby?” was merely adapted for toddler, “Shouldn't your toddler still be a Gerber baby?” Gerber's infant campaign, though moderately successful for infant, scored much lower perceptually and attitudinally for toddler moms.

Our challenge was to develop a brand that would connect and really resonate with Moms of Toddlers to establish and grow a category of Toddler Food. Specifically, we would be deemed successful if we:

• Expanded Gerber's compassionate brand image into the toddler age range and solidified an awareness of Graduates as a “brand for me,” and a product “made by a company that understands my needs and my toddler's needs.”

• Increased cross-segment usage gaining a foothold as a viable meal and snack option for toddlers

• Increased our penetration of dinners for 9–24 months households

THE BIG IDEA

“Graduates from Gerber: Steady nutrition for a wobbly world”

Client Leverageable Truth: Nutritional Evangelists

The Agency fielded a custom brand health study and found that Gerber remains one of the most loved and trusted brands in the United States amongst the general population, outscoring Coca Cola, Levi's, Nike or even Starbucks. With this iconic status comes responsibility and the permission to think BIG THOUGHTS. For Gerber, that goal is “To cut childhood obesity in half in the next 5 years.” Kurt Schmidt CEO, Gerber

“Start Healthy, Stay Healthy” is their unifying mission statement. Stakeholder interviews revealed this mission to be more than packaged goods puffery. From knowing where each veggie comes from, promoting 5-a-day fruits and vegetables, offering organic options before the market demanded it, or initiating the largest study ever done on the nutritional state of infants and toddlers, Gerber is a company with an unwavering commitment to the health and wellness of infants and toddlers.

Advertising had been used to educate moms on the developmental needs of infants (and toddlers) and the safety measures inherent in feeding their delicate systems. But copy testing revealed these educational messages were not as relevant or resonant to Moms as they entered the toddler phase.

Knowing nutrition would absolutely be central to our brand promise, we sought to better understand mom's perspective on life and on nutrition.

Consumer Relevance: Toddler Tornado Transforming Two Lives

After reviewing secondary literature sources on the developmental traits of baby and toddler, we focused our discovery process on understanding the difference between life with baby vs. life with toddler from mom's lens. What was different? When did it change? Where did food fit into the equation?

A series of ethnographies and friendship playgroups with a mix of first-time and experienced, working and stay-at-home moms (and their toddlers) revealed that life with a toddler is a totally different world than that with a baby. Moms were somewhat blown away, after a year of quiet cuddling, to suddenly find herself engulfed by what can only be described as the Toddler Tornado. Predictable becomes unpredictable and order becomes chaos. Everyday becomes a new adventure - cluttered, loud, and on the move - and moms develop a new set of needs, attitudes and compromises to get them through it, especially when it comes to feeding.

Unlike the impressionable stage of baby, it was evident that by toddlerhood, moms were feeling more confident or at least more ingenious as mothers. As a baby grows stronger and becomes more independent, moms also begin to be more pragmatic. They can think beyond just what is best for baby, and can factor in what's important to her (the mom) as well.

Learning this, in communications we would never preach to her, but absolutely embrace her ingenuity and support her on the ride that is the Toddler Tornado. A shift from the infant approach, this story was as much about her as it was about the child.

Competitive Opportunity: Convenience without Compromise

To determine what might be the competitive opportunity, we conducted Pediatric interviews, web searches, store visits, and more peeking in moms' cupboards and freezers. This revealed that unlike baby food, there is no roadmap to toddler feeding and no clear “toddler brand”. Table food is the unwashed “competitor” with the addition of more specific toddler-appropriate products like Cheerios trying to carve out this space. Although moms are eager to get their child onto table food, they aren't sure as to what toddlers should eat, how much, how often, or the most important question – why aren't they eating?!

Moms aspire to a perfectly nutritious toddler diet, using healthy, fresh ingredients, abiding by Food Pyramid and instituting the family dinner. But we found that most moms were compromising in the face of realities. Busy lives combined with an ever-changing toddler mind, means that moms take a broad view on their approach to nutrition. Food is only nutritious if you can get your child to eat it. They allow themselves the compromise, and in some cases that compromise had become a slippery slope... Based on Gerber's proprietary research, French Fries had become the #1 vegetable in a toddler's diet.

The ownable opportunity space is to offer moms foods that are both convenient, nutritious and developmentally appropriate: traits Gerber Graduates can offer. Our communications would not try to compete with her desire to offer table food, but supplement her efforts (offer a tool) when things don't go to plan.

BRINGING THE IDEA TO LIFE

The organizing idea that drove 360 communications: “Graduates from Gerber: Steady nutrition for a wobbly world.”

As important as this idea was to the integrated marketing process, so to was the brand personality that acknowledged both Mom and child: “A brand that embraces the rambunctious world of toddlerhood and celebrates Mom's ingenuity through it all!”

Seeking to represent the authenticity of real moms, creatives visited the front lines of toddlerhood and simply radio-ed back what they were seeing. They reveled in the chaos and depicted truly heroic stories of moms steadfast in battle. The campaign came to life through the idea of “mom interrupted”.

TV was a series of product testimonials from moms in the midst of the wobbly world. Of course, they're too busy to give a full testimonial, so they're interrupted seconds into these quick :15 spots. Just enough time to state the problem and hail the solution. Casting was careful to have women/men/toddlers that were relatable – not perfect moms/parents, but women who were doing the best they could and laughing their way through it. The campaign was planned to surprise mom everywhere along her media routine.

Print was a snapshot of the television and placed in environments where moms were actively seeking information on how to navigate the new challenges she was facing in the wobbly world.

Probably the most poignant depiction of the organizing idea was done on the web, where Creatives built a site section called the “Toddler Takeover”. Gerber.com/toddlers was designed to convey the new and chaotic world of toddlerhood and position Gerber Graduates as an essential tool in mom's arsenal. The website provided her objective tips/tricks, in-depth content and interactivity to connect with and involve moms.

The Agency also created two new mailers for moms of toddlers ages 14–15 and 16–19 months. Each mailer included proprietary content that provided nutritional information to help moms with practical and healthy feeding solutions appropriate for the rambunctious world of toddlerhood. The articles were short and easy to read since we knew these moms don't have a lot of time. The creative vision for these mailers was that they should be “the instruction booklet that didn't come with your kids.”

Communications Touch Points

Reach: $5–10 million

Total Media Expenditure: National

RESULTS

The Wobbly World campaign met or exceeded all of the quantitative goals previously outlined.

We increased cross-segment usage from a pre-campaign level of 53% to achieve our goal of 54%.

The campaign increased penetration of dinners for 9–24 months households by +4pts, or 21%, and snacks did even better. Penetration for those products increased +3pts or 27%.

Finally, we exceeded our goals on two key brand measures.

Gerber Brand Awareness

Anything Else Going on that might have Helped Drive Results?

Retail Marketing embraced the idea as well, redesigning the packaging to increase the prominence of the Graduates branding. The design decreased the Gerber Baby iconography and diminished product sub-brands to provide greater clarity and prominence of Graduates. FSIs (with coupons) were developed to provide purchase incentives for moms to try Graduates. Once in-store “Steady nutrition for a wobbly world” floor graphics and shelf danglers were used to call out the key products featured in the advertising.

The Wobbly World results were independent of a Heavy Up TV spend test, which indicated an additional 2.2% lift can be garnered across the entire portfolio and a 13.7% lift can be achieved on featured products (Minis, Tub Meals, Lil' Entrees) (Source: Client data 2006).

Orbit Gum – No Matter What

Category: Sustained Success

Brand: Orbit Gum

Client: Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

Primary Agency: Energy BBDO

Media Agency: MindShare

STRATEGIC CHALLENGE

In 2002, despite having overall leadership of the gum category and a stable of great brands, the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company could not claim to have a true power brand; a brand that dominates the category both in terms of sales and relationship with the consumer. Our mission was to create a brand that would set a new standard, as the most meaningful and involving brand in the category.

With brands like the Juicy Fruit and Extra, Wrigley was well seeded in the hearts and minds of the public they hadn't had big innovation in a long time. Orbit, however, was designed in look, feel and taste) to be that breakthrough product that could change the category. To accomplish this, we needed to carve out a new meaningful proposition and fresh, involving communication to convince teenagers and young adults that this gum was unlike anything introduced over the last 100 years.

Orbit needed to be a gum teens and young adults claimed as their own vs. the one their mom always chewed.

From a business standpoint, Wrigley would win as a company if Orbit could assume a leadership position in the category. Currently the leading competitor held the largest share and enjoyed the highest unaided brand awareness in the category due to its long-running campaign. Thus, we needed to makes sure our message was relevant to a large segment of our key competitor's base consumer and over time we needed to secure these chewers while continuously wooing new teens and young adults.

OBJECTIVES

Orbit's communication needed to trump the rest of the gum category in every way. The holistic communication effort we created had to be more break-through, more meaningful to consumers and ultimately more involving than anything in the marketplace. Lastly, Orbit had to grow at the expense of Wrigley's competition.

To be the power brand in the category, we wanted to lead in the following areas, as these measures were and continue to be the key performance metrics we use to gauge success.

Business Metrics

• Most dramatic, sustained sales and share growth

Communication Metrics

• Achieve the most breakthrough communication via highest ad awareness in the category

Brand Equity Metrics

• Establish the brand in popular culture

• Obtain ownership of “clean mouth” benefit

• Generate highest association with “cool” and “contemporary”

THE BIG IDEA

“Orbit cleans up even the dirtiest of mouths”

Consumer Insight

A key consumer insight was the genesis for the campaign. The prime prospect, 18–34 year old trend-surfers didn't just want fresh breath, they wanted a clean mouth to help them feel put together, confident and at their best at any time. Key to this is they saw a difference between covering up bad breath and the feeling of having a truly clean mouth. As one person said “you can brush your teeth without taking a shower and still feel ok but the opposite is not true.” We saw “clean” as a compelling yet wholly unique benefit that gave us an advantage since our competition was relying on more typical positioning areas such as breath-freshening, dental and long-lasting.

Brand Defining Idea and Campaign

Based on this insight we created a meaningful Brand Defining Idea (i.e. the core of the brand from which the campaign would be built) of a “Clean Mouth Guarantee.” Thus, we knew that whatever we did it had to reassure consumers that no matter what happened, their mouths would be clean. From there, our campaign was born.

Our Big Idea was to demonstrate this guarantee by showing that even the dirtiest mouths can be cleaned up with Orbit. This approach hit hard on the product benefit but was still broad enough to do the heavy lifting of a product announcement, specifically tout the innovation, showcase the packaging, seed the name and do it all in an engaging manner. Further, it had legs to allow for ongoing product innovation news (the key driver of sales in the gum category). Finally, it simply felt different from the competition and delivered the message in a non-dental, friendly way. This strategy continues to be the foundation in which all Orbit communications emanate.

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We brought the idea to life by first exaggerating the problem of a dirty mouth and then finding new and clever ways to clean it up.

The Approach

Prior to the Orbit launch, gum advertising was generally focused on help for the “hookup” or hard-core dental benefits. In general, the communications were void of any memorable personality, style or humor. We saw an opportunity to market Orbit in a quirky, witty manner that would generate powerful consumer involvement and deliver our communications in a unique and stylized feel.

The World of Orbit

Our first step was creating a hyperbolic world, where no matter how dirty people might be or get, Orbit still delivers on its guarantee of a clean mouth. To ensure we stood out, we made the world feel stylish and retro-forward. Additionally we used a sparkling icon named Vanessa, a pseudo scientist/anthropologist who, as the ironic observer of these crazy situations, delivers the pay-off “Dirty Mouth? Clean it up with Orbit – For a Clean Feeling Mouth, No Matter What” while showcasing the product and relevant news. With Vanessa we had an enjoyable thread that allowed us to solve new and different “dirty” situations while providing a consistent voice to the campaign.

Phase I – Literal dirt

The initial campaign featured a lab where test subjects were continually bathed in dirt but found chewing Orbit kept their mouths delightfully clean. From here, the brand continued to use hyperbolic literal dirt scenarios to communicate our message, from equestrians who fall in the mud to man-eating plants that attack individuals.

Phase II – Figurative dirt

Prompted by consumer learning that the idea of “dirty” extended to dirty language, we expanded the definition of a dirty mouth from the literal to the figurative and began cleaning up stereotypical “dirty mouths”. For example, in “Affair” an illicit romance is uncovered and dirty words are “cleaned-up” using silly, non-sensical language.

Phase III – Cleaning up pop-culture

Given our trend-surfer target is highly tapped into whatever is happening in the here and now, in 2006, we embarked on a crusade to “clean up pop-culture.” It was opportunistic way to broaden our mass appeal and there was (and is) no shortage of material. We focused on celebrities known for being dirty – starting with Snoop Dog (in our communications, his dirty mouth was sending him to hell, luckily Orbit is there to save him) and moving on to Steve-0 and Chris Pontius of “Jackass” and “Wildboys” fame (their dirtiest stunts are no match for Orbit). In a highly integrated effort, we demonstrated that even the dirtiest of mouths could be cleaned up with Orbit.

Communications Involvement Strategy

While the Orbit campaign has always utilized layered communications, television has been the key delivery vehicle because it is the target's dominant medium, it allows us to communicate our stylish point of difference and it provides a highly visible forum for our “dirty mouth” demonstrations. However, as we've moved to creating true communication platforms (e.g., clean-up pop culture) digital has become a key element in delivering that experience. Additionally, print has also had a significant role in communicating flavor introductions/messaging while expanding our reach. In 2006, we extended the Snoop Dog TV Spot and the idea that Orbit cleans up the dirtiest mouths online with a microsite that allowed consumers to interact with the brand and share an Orbit “clean it up” message from Snoop with others.

As we continued our quest to clean up pop culture in 2007, we charted new territory by tapping into the ultimate icon of pop culture with teens and young adults-MTV. Due to the hip imagery of the brand and strong connection teens and young adults have with Orbit, MTV allowed Orbit to infiltrate one of their most coveted properties, the MTV Movie Awards. MTV and Orbit created an entirely new award category of the “Dirtiest Mouth Moment from a Movie.” Within the show, Vanessa (Orbit's brand icon) presented the award and Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, “Jay” and “Silent Bob” of Clerks fame, took the honors. Consumers helped decide the winner by voting on a microsite at www.orbit.mtv.com.

Communications Touch Points

Additional Marketing Components:

Increased distribution due to sales has been an on-going success factor for Wrigley.

Reach: National

Total Media Expenditure:

Initial Year $10–20MM

Year # 2 $10–20MM

Year # 3 10–20MM

Year # 5 $10–20MM

Current Year $20–40MM

RESULTS

Business Metrics

Year on year sales have been the fasted growing and most sustained within the category, with the brand growing 400% since launch and overtaking the leading competitor's share by 2 to 1.

Orbit Share vs. Leading Competitor

Communication Metrics

• Orbit has built the highest level of unaided advertising awareness in the category, with an average of about 22% in 2007 (Brand Monitor Tracking, 2007 Results).

• The brand has excellent traction with its core target and has achieved the highest level of effective awareness to-date of any gum campaign. 94% of adult chewers 18–34 who recognized the advertising correctly identified it as Orbit advertising (Communicus Campaign Tracking, 2007 Results).

Brand Equity Metrics

• Orbit owns the “just brushed clean feeling” benefit, with the highest association in the category at 33% among 12–24 year olds (2006 Brand Fitness Study).

• Orbit has the highest association in the category with “cool to be seen with” among 12–24 year olds, at 35%, almost triple the association as our key competition (2006 Brand Fitness Study).

• The creative has seeped into popular culture with the TV spot “The Affair” generating over 2 million hits on You Tube, while multiple consumer generated versions have also been uploaded.

Anything Else Going on that might have Helped Drive Results?

Through the five years, the brand had to overcome numerous category threats, including copycat flavor and packaging innovation as well as copycat brands, most notably Stride. None of it had much effect as Orbit sales have continued to increase with little loss of base, while new innovation/flavors have continually brought new consumers to the franchise.