Affinity, a leading pet food brand in Spain, wanted to create interest in “Comunimals” a new online community for pets and their owners. They targeted journalists and bloggers with a press release personalised with their pets name and also made to be eaten by the pet.
The press release was published in 190 general media outlets and a plethora of specialist media titles as well as written about in over 80 blogs with a value of c 250k Euros on a budget of 25k Euros.
Of 300 press releases 36 were eaten by cats and 71 by dogs.
Faced with the social stigma that is associated with chewing gum Beldent created an installation and experiment at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aries. Visitors were asked a series of questions about pairs of twins - one chewing gum and one not. Questions ranged from which one has more friends to which one has a better sex live. 73% gave positive responses about the twin chewing gum. A TV documentary on the experiment had over 10M hits in a week on YouTube and #experimentobeldent became a tending topic. And it got people talking about the brand for the first time.
Rom is the number one chocolate bar of Romania and has Bucharest written all over it. The "Bucharest not Budapest" campaign was launched after several high-profile gaffes where the two cities were mixed up. From welcome posters sites at the airports of both cities to a dedicated microsite and a variety of social media stunts, the Romanians responded with great enthusiasm as did the world's media. 215k Euros of free media was generated and 7M+ media impressions with an 826% growth in social brand engagement.
A location based broadcaster was secretly installed in a cinema which sent a text message to all members of the audience who had their phones switched on. The text was sent during an advert of a car driving on a country road, viewed from the driver's perspective. As the text was sent and attendees viewed their phones, the car on the screen had a dramatic crash. The titles then appear - "Mobile phone use is now the leading cause of death behind the wheel. Keep your eyes on the road."
The film went viral with 26M views in the first month generating c $4M of PR value.
For over 100 years, the smell of Oscar Meyer bacon has defined the American breakfast.
This app and device took the iconic brand into an iconic experience for the digital age by creating special bacon alarm app that also releases the scent of bacon.
Over 300k consumers applied for the limited edition app and the epic campaign video had 36.3M views.
73% of women in India believe men should do more to help with the laundry. Ariel started a media debate on this subject and created a "His & Her" pack. They also partnered with leading fashion brands and retailers to add "Can be washed by women and men" to the washing instructions on labels. Marriage websites also added "willing to share the load" as part of the male profiles - leading to 1.5M men signing up. $9.5 M of PR was created and sales increased by 60%.
American gun laws allow people to carry loaded guns in stores. Moms Demand Action targeted major retailer Kroger and turned their policies against them – contrasting who they do and do not allow into their stores. The stark images caused a dramatic reaction from gathering 360,000 signatures on their petition to getting support from the President.
Kroger soon changed their policies as did many other major retailers across the USA.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was developed to raise awareness and funds for ALS - a progressive neurodegenerative disease. 17 million films have been created by more the 440 people in 159 countries - resulting in 10 billion views and raising $220M.
Fan violence is a significant problem in Brazil with 19 deaths over the last year.
Ahead of the match with their fiercest rivals, Sporte Clube De Recife enlisted the mothers of their most violent fans as the security for this notoriously violent occasion.
It worked - with no fights at the match. Fans who have a little respect for anyone did not want to fight in front of their mothers.
WWF wanted to reach a younger generation so adopted the "selfie" phenomenon as well as Snapchat as the perfect medium to highlight the issue of endangered species, which like Snapchat, are also disappearing before our very eyes. Before images of these beautiful creatures disappeared, they ask for help - by sharing the message, adopting an animal or making a donation. In one week 40k tweets were shared by 120M Twitter or 50% of all Twitter users.
The target for one month’s donations was reached in 3 days.
Based on the insight that many customers worry about financial matters during the night DNB decided to promote their 24-hour advice line with the first ever 24 hour ad break.
They invited the people of Norway to share their advice on a wide range of matters helping others live happier and healthier lives.
1000 films were created and used during 24 hours of ad breaks.
200k Norwegians (population 5M) got involved using social media and awareness of the 24 DNB advice line rose from 35% to 72% literally overnight.
Optus has the second largest network in Australia but they were keen to demonstrate how they can improve people’s lives.
Australia has 4 times more shark attacks than anywhere in the world and deterrent methods had not changed much in the last 60 years. Optus used their sonar and satellite technology to send signals to life guards to warn swimmers if there were sharks in the area.
Their technology has been adopted across Australia and in many other parts of the world.
News items across the world have had a social reach of 19 million and Optus built an 86% positive brand sentiment.
Since 1954 the World Meteorological Organisation has been responsible for the naming of hurricanes and tropical storms.
+ 350.org created a petition to name these extreme storms after US policy makers who were in denial of climate change.
A spoof video showing how this might look on TV news channels directed viewers to their website where they could sign the petition as well as seeing the voting history of the policy makers and some of their dumbest quotes.
81k signatures were collected in the first week and the video had over 2M hits on YouTube.
Discount food store LIDL wanted to demonstrate great quality can come with low prices.
A world-class pop-up restaurant called DILL (anagram of LIDL) was created in Stockholm led by top British chef Michael Wignall. The secret was every single ingredient used in the cooking was bought from LIDL.
The restaurant was fully booked within 29 minutes with over 500 on a waiting list.
The idea generated over 4M Euros worth of media exposure pre-opening and then when the secret was revealed.
Vodafone faced a considerable challenge in promoting their smart phones with c. 45% of Romanians having never used the internet.
To demonstrate how the internet can improve lives they enlisted a technology virgin – a shepherd called Chita. They gave him a smart phone and taught him to use social networks and share his life on Facebook.
He soon became the 3rd biggest Romanian celebrity on Facebook and his story was covered across most media channels.
Vodafone tripled the gap between their nearest competitor for network perception and for the first time ever sold more smart phones than feature phones.
When Coke wanted to launch their new 0.15L mini can they needed a mini idea.
They created a “mini kiosk” in 5 major German cities and let the word spread via PR and social networks with 5.6 M media impressions and 1.2 M clicks
Each kiosk sold an average of 380 cans a day and 278% more cans than a typical vending machine as well as spreading a lot of happiness. Demonstrating it is the little things in life that make us happy.
The theatre business is Spain was dealt a heavy blow in 2013 when taxes on shows were raised from 8% to 21% leading to a 30% reduction in audiences.
Teatreneu in Barcelona reacted by creating the first theatre company where you only pay for what you consume. Each theatre seat was fitted with facial recognition technology which could detect every smile and laugh with a charge of 30 Euro cents each time up to a maximum of 24 Euros per show. This led to a 35% increase in audiences and an additional 28k Euros per show.
When Carulla Supermarkets wanted to promote that they were open 24 hours they identified a new media – their competitors.
Using their competitors closed shutters and a variety of tactical and humorous messages they informed shoppers they could still get what they were looking for at their stores. This ensured they had the right message at the right moment at the right time.
CNA have 580 language centres across Brazil and were looking to improve the learning experience making it more real and human. They connected with a retirement community in Chicago where the residents were keen to have young people to speak to. CNA created an online tool which helped facilitate this and provide the teachers with evaluation videos.
The project helped increase the student renewals by 85% and also resulted in better students and better people.
Exito is a charity that supports under nourished children in Columbia.
They encouraged a major online retailer to add an option of food to their products and customers had an option of either “add to cart” or “aid to cart”. If “aid to cart” was chosen a donation was made to Exito.
40 tonnes of food was donated and distributed to children.
To encourage Ecuadorians to holiday at home, a group of local adventure enthusiasts were invited on a mystery holiday to “Golfito” Costa Rica – a completely made up destination which was actually in Ecuador. Every detail was covered from the road signs to scrambling mobile phones. The real destination was revealed on the way “home”.Social media helped spread the message to holiday at home and, as a result, internal tourism boomed.
Whilst in some regions there has been a dramatic increase in the disease HIV no longer makes the headlines and with the silence comes the stigma. Vangardist a leading magazine wanted to make a statement during the world’s biggest aids fundraising event in Vienna by printing a limited edition using the blood from HIV + people from a range of different backgrounds.
With over 7M shares and comments and reaching 42M people $2.2M of earned media was delivered.
In Cambodia 50% of the population suffer from iron deficiency in their diets leading to significant health problems. By adding a piece of iron when cooking can provide a family with up to 75% of their requirements.
Designing the iron as a Lucky Iron Fish helped more than 54,000 families feel healthier and happier. A sustainable business has been created using scrap iron and producing, packing and distributing Lucky Iron Fish across the world.
CNN described it as a simple solution to a global problem.
Exit Deutschland is a NGO that supports Nazis who want to leave the Nazi movement.
“Nazis Against Nazis” was a campaign that encouraged local business and residents to donate 10 Euros for every meter the neo Nazis marched in towns across Germany.
The Nazis were ironically helping to fund an organisation set up to eradicate them.
10k Euros were raised and 1.3M Euros of free PR was gained in Germany alone with the story spreading to 42 countries across the world.
Vodafone wanted to demonstrate technology can be a powerful force for good.
In Turkey one in three women face domestic abuse and they find it difficult to seek help. The Vodafone app allowed women to send a message to people they trust by shaking their phone and was promoted using discreet media channels which would not be seen by men.
254,000 women in Turkey downloaded the app – 24% of all smartphone users and has been activated 103,122 times.
Whilst many of the car giants competed for expensive advertising space during Superbowl Volvo intercepted their messages by inviting viewers to tweet the name of someone they love for the chance of winning a car during their competitor’s ads.
With over 2000 tweets per minute during the competitor’s ads they changed the social conversation to Volvo trending both in the USA and globally.
They also increased sales by 70% the month after Superbowl.
Water for Africa want to ensure that villages in Africa have clean sustainable sources of water.To raise awareness and donations to their cause they arranged for an African woman to walk in the Paris Marathon with a water carrier on her head and sign that stated. In Africa women walk this distance every day for clean water. Help shorten this distance. Donate Now.
The image was carried around the world on social and mass media and the story was the number one trending topic in France.
