Company: GolinHarris
Campaign: Surf Summer D’reem
Category:Consumer PR Campaign of the Year - South - WINNER
Objective
Summary:
In four months GolinHarris (GH) created an entirely new revenue stream for Unilever worth nearly £3million; we launched a PR campaign and developed a product that flew from the shelves of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, ‘bottling the smell of summer’… all this whilst talking about a liquid detergent!
ASDA said: “It is flying off the shelves and we are already increasing weekly sales forecasts!”
Background:
As challenging a brief as you can get:
1. Get standout for Surf, a small time player in laundry – (driven by offers and brands struggle to differentiate themselves in front of busy mums and shoppers)
2. Surf decided to sponsor a ‘mockumentury’ TV show about glamorous 20-somethings in Essex - The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) – as it appealed to its target audience – ‘Lisa’
It would have been ok if we had been asked to promote the product or the show but no, our brief was effectively to promote the sponsorship. The creative needed to include certain elements of the show AND generate brand awareness and sales. TOWIE was in its fourth series, most of the more newsworthy cast members had left to pursue other opportunities and the media were losing interest.
GH created a brand new product underpinned by a dynamic comms campaign which gave the brand a clear identity, resonated with ‘Lisa’ and got UK media excited about laundry.
Objectives
Drive awareness, talkability and prompt trial and get low income consumers to buy Surf by convincing them Surf provides better fragrances that last. Ways to achieve this:
• Securing coverage in the target audience’s media – minimum 30 pieces
• Driving widespread conversations on social media
• At least 70 per cent containing a key message/visual
• Putting the product directly into the hands of the consumer
Target Audience
Lisa is;
• a young mum, early thirties
• married, lives in North England, working part-time in local town (to fund her girly Friday nights out)
• likes to look/smell her best, loves to treat herself to expensive perfumes
• spends hours getting ready for her night out, looks to celebs for beauty inspiration
• she watches TV most evenings or is on Facebook, Twitter and chat rooms
• also plays games on her mobile phone or on Facebook
• looks forward to her annual package holiday to the Costa Del Sol.
Research/planning
• Lisa idolises celebrities so we HAD to use a cast member. Choosing the right ‘ambassador’ out of a cast of 20 was key to the campaign’s success, so GH:
- Researched ‘most talked about’ characters via Twitter
- Conducted media audits to see who was most newsworthy
• Led to one man: Joey Essex – a gorgeous, but slightly dim, cheeky chap obsessed with looking and smelling ‘reem’ (his catchphrase that means ‘dreamy’).
• GH noticed there was a TOWIE Summer Special in Marbella – returning from holiday triggers two actions – doing the washing, and wishing you were still there
• GH’s BIG IDEA was born – produce a limited edition product that ‘bottled the fragrance of summer holidays’ – created by Joey Essex and sold in store as a TOWIE exclusive
• The TOWIE Special and the new product provided a compelling back story which integrated the campaign with the show – and also spoke to Lisa about laundry through a playful lens
Strategy
Capitalising on Surf’s association with The Only Way is Essex, and putting the product at the heart of the campaign, GH’s strategy was to create a limited edition Surf variant called ‘The Only Smell Is Essex’ (TOSIE), later renamed Summer D’reem which Joey Essex - Lisa’s favourite TOWIE star with a preoccupation with smelling ‘reem’ - would help to create.
Action
1. The set up – GH drafted tweets setting the scene for the partnership. Fresh from holidays, Joey tweeted that he loved the summer holiday smells and wished they could ‘last and last’
2. The teaser - Joey was papped in a ‘Surf’ lab, smelling ingredients, with photos leaked to the paparazzi to create pre-launch buzz. Joey tweeted a photo of himself wearing a bandage to protect his nose, sparking rumours of a nose job, generating further noise
3. The launch – Recreated summer holiday vibe by launching the new product at a lido and inviting media to photograph Joey in Surf branded swimwear
4. The waiting list – to prompt trial, GH created a waiting list with ASDA, enabling TOWIE fans to get the product first
5. News hijack – Had Joey (famously dim) comment via Twitter on the ground-breaking discovery of the Higgs Boson particle and compare it to his Surf lab experience. Joey’s quote was published alongside that of British PM David Cameron’s in two national newspapers
The film – created ‘behind the scenes’ video of Joey making Summer D’reem, seeded it online. Used as a Facebook trailer which Lisa watched whilst waiting for branded games to download
Results
• GH created an entirely new revenue stream with estimated revenue of £2.9m (£4.85 per bottle)
• Three of the UK’s biggest retailers listed Summer D’reem – ASDA, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s (‘out of stock’ on ASDA.com after 10 days)
• Over 600 people signed up to the waiting list to try the product first
• Secured 212 pieces of coverage (82 per cent in Lisa’s target media, 77 per cent delivered at least 1 key message)
• 430,869,970 OTS the campaign
• Joey’s tweets (including key messages) generated 1,609 tweets reaching 4,315,666 people
URLs
https://vimeo.com/45631194
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