warc trends the_innovation_casebook__explore_the_worlds_freshest_communicatio

© Copyright Warc 2013. All rights reserved. Published: August 2013

WARC TRENDS

THE INNOVATION CASEBOOK>> Explore the world’s freshest communications ideas

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Warc Trends >> The Innovation Casebook

© Copyright Warc 2013. All rights reserved.

Executive Summary >>

Chapter 1 >>Why innovation matters

Chapter 2 >>Making new connections

Chapter 3 >>Thinking beyond media

Chapter 4 >>Tech-driven innovation

Chapter 5 >>Service innovation

Chapter 6 >>Innovating through content

Chapter 7 >>Participation-driven innovation

Chapter 8 >>Learning from emerging markets

Four ideas to take from this report

1

2

3

4

INNOVATION IS EFFECTIVE

The case studies in this report show that innovative communications can deliver significant business results for companies in a diverse range of categories. It could be argued that, like creativity, innovation works because it drives word-of-mouth.

INNOVATION DOES NOT HAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE

Innovation is not the preserve of big-spending advertisers. This report contains many examples of brands delivering innovative communications on low budgets. Indeed, in some cases, having a low budget has forced a brand to find an unconventional approach.

INNOVATION DOES NOT HAVE TO BE HIGH-TECH

Technological change is creating new opportunities for brands to com-municate with consumers. But this report contains plenty of examples of brands that have found innovative solutions that are not tech-based – for example, through smart use of packaging, or by rethinking a brand’s service offering.

INNOVATION REQUIRES A BALANCED APPROACH

Innovation is not a replacement for tried-and-tested methods or media. Many brands continue to invest in ‘traditional’ forms of marketing communications, while allocating a portion of their budget to testing new ideas. And when they find an idea with promise, they tend to promote it using multimedia campaigns.

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Executive summary

The Innovation Casebook showcases and analyses some of the smartest communica-

tions ideas in the world. Its starting point is the Warc Prize for Innova-tion, a global case study competition that awards a cash prize to the best examples of innovative marketing communications. This report features some of the most impressive case studies from the competition, and looks at recurring themes and ideas that run through the entries. It puts the cases in context by drawing on the latest thinking around innovation, and examples from the warc.com resource.

Innovation is, of course, difficult to define. In this report we look at campaigns that have taken an unconventional approach to solving a problem – whether that involves a new approach to media, or a total rethink of a brand’s service.

The report begins by asking why innovation is important in a com-munications context. It then looks at different types of innovation, group-ing cases and examples by theme. The overall message is that a rapidly changing media and technology landscape is throwing up many opportunities for brands to think

important drivers of effectiveness. In this sense, innovation becomes a broader form of creativity. It can also make a small budget go a long way. This is demonstrated particularly well by the much-feted ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ campaign from Metro Trains Melbourne; this generated huge word-of-mouth on a small budget.

The ‘buzz’ side of innovation is im-portant. Data collated by Warc from Prize cases shows that innovative campaigns are making heavy use of buzz-driving channels such as

differently. Innovation does not have to be expensive and it does not have to involve cutting-edge technology. But effective innovation tends to have a natural ‘fit’ with a brand’s position-ing, and is linked to a broader busi-ness strategy.

Innovation worksThe Prize shows that innovative communications can be highly ef-fective. It can be argued (Chapter 1) that, like creativity, innovation drives ‘buzz’ and ‘brand fame’, which are

Metro Trains Melbourne made the most of its small budget to generate word-of-mouth

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See Chapter 2

77%of cases in the

2013 Prize used social media,

compared with the 62% which used television

tion within media channels – both new ways to use media, and new combinations of media. This is a fertile area, given the rapid change in the media industry, and a case study from Twix shows how new op-portunities are emerging – the brand created an ad platform on the pause button of an online video player.

A parallel trend is for brands to think outside a ‘paid media’ frame-work (Chapter 3). Several case stud-ies highlight how important ‘owned’ assets are becoming, in particular packaging. And an example from the Colombian Ministry of Defence shows that necessity can breed inno-vation: in the absence of any media channels that could reach guerrillas in the jungle, the authorities used trees and rivers to deliver messages.

The impact of technologyMany of the innovations in this report rely on brands and their agencies recognising the potential of new technology to make their communi-cations more interesting. Chapter 4 looks at different examples of brands finding marketing applications for new tech. Many brands are finding ways to combine the different fea-tures of a smartphone to good

Executive summary (contd.)social media and PR. Indeed, more campaigns in the 2013 Prize used social media than used television. But relatively few cases state buzz as a specific objective; instead, it could be argued that these cases are using word-of-mouth as a means to deliver broader business results.

The importance of innovative think-ing has been recognised by brands such as General Mills and Coca-Cola, which have set aside a portion of their marketing budgets to invest in untested ideas. PepsiCo and Kraft

are looking for similar results from tech ‘incubation’ projects.

What is clear from these examples, however, is that these brands do not see innovation as a replacement for tried-and-tested methods. Their experiments form a small but signifi-cant part of their overall communica-tions plan that allows them to absorb failures easily and scale successes.

New ways to reach consumersThe report looks at innovation by theme. Chapter 2 looks at innova-

Coca-Cola uses a 70/20/10 investment principle to encourage innovation

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product development. Some brands are acting as curators of others’ crea-tivity; others are seeking to involve consumers in stunts or shared experi-ences. The latter can be used for quite focused promotions: IKEA used a ‘Human Coupons’ stunt to drive footfall to a store opening.

Think globalThe report demonstrates how com-mon the desire for innovation is: it contains examples of new think-ing from a diverse set of markets.

Chapter 8 concludes by looking at some of the themes

in cases from emerg-ing markets. There is great scope in these markets to innovate in areas such as co-creation and service provision, as a case from Indian ketchup brand Kissanpur shows. But there may also be much to learn from a tech perspec-tive: a Chinese case from Dettol shows an understanding of word-of-mouth, both online and offline.

Executive summary (contd.)effect – a McDonald’s example from China used GPS and motion sensors to create in-store ‘athletics’. Other brands are responding to tech-driven trends such as the ‘quantified self’ and the ‘internet of things’.

Rethinking communicationsHowever, innovation does not have to rely on tech. Sometimes a back-to-basics approach can pay dividends. Chapter 5 looks at examples of brands rethinking the service they provide to customers, and putting new forms of utility at the heart of their communications. Powerful examples come from Art Series Hotels, whose ‘Overstay Check-out’ idea won the 2013 Prize, and Australian train company V/Line, which turned a communications insight into a service proposition.

Communications built around content also feature prominently in the 2013 Prize. Indeed, innova-tion cases are twice as likely to use branded content as the aver-age effectiveness case added to Warc in the first half of the year. But a commitment to content is no small task. Chapter 6 includes a case study from Oreo, which de-veloped a piece of content a day

for 100 days. But the brand gained greater results from the content campaign that it had from the more expensive traditional campaign that had run previously.

Chapter 7 looks at another interesting theme within the cases – the power of participation-driven strategies. The report argues that co-creation has diversified in recent years beyond crowdsourced ads or

Anheuser-Busch created a mobile app to help users locate the near-est bar selling Stella Artois

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Viewpoint Making innovation happenInnovation is not for every client. A marketing director of a prominent consumer goods company (in a consistently growing category) once told me: “If you’re going to come in here and recommend we do things differently – well we’re not interest-ed.” At the time they were profitable and successful, and happy to steer a steady ship. But this seems to be the exception – most clients are after competitive advantage over their rivals, and see innovation as a key competency to develop.

However, chasing innovative solu-tions is not without its risks. Creating a culture that chases and embraces new is not without its headaches. Systems and processes often need to be ignored for true revolutionary thinking. When we try to innovate within a structure that has done the same thing for some time, the results can be left wanting. It sometimes pays to embrace the people who are doing things differently, not playing by the rules. Encourage their idiosyn-cratic behaviours and something special may result.

That means not relying on the creatives. They have a job to, as do the planners and account managers.

Instead, share briefs and foster a cul-ture that genuinely allows innovation to come from anywhere, especially the cracks in between the various departments.

Innovation is not something that comes from every brief, and nor should it. And sometimes even when a client wants an innovative solution, the brief can’t always be delivered on – maybe the brief was too hard, there wasn’t enough time, or too much of a leap was required. However, we find that innovation is intoxicating. The most innovative clients tend to innovate more and more. The less innovative learn to maintain the sta-tus quo – until forced to look for an innovative/breakthrough solution to a business problem that has grown progressively worse through inertia.

As a final word, I’m guessing that innovation is highly correlated with both fun and profitability, but I’ll leave that to someone much smarter than me to prove.Read the full article

Adam Ferrier is Founder/Global Head of Behavioural Science, Naked Com-munications, and winner of the 2013 Warc Prize for Innovation

Most clients are after competitive advantage over their ri-vals, and see innovation as a core competency to develop

Adam FerrierNaked Communications

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Chapter 4McDonald’s, ‘Coin Hunters’, DenmarkMcDonald’s, ‘Real-time Olympics’, China

Chapter 5Art Series Hotels, ‘The Overstay Checkout’, AustraliaV/Line, ‘Guilt Trips’, Australia

Chapter 6Oreo, ‘Daily Twist’, USAThe Peres Center for Peace, ‘Blood Relations’, multiple markets

Chapter 1Metro Trains Melbourne, ‘Dumb Ways To Die’, Australia

Chapter 2Twix, ‘Pause’, Australiaecostore, ‘Little Treasures’, New Zealand

Chapter 3Programme of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised/MoD, ‘Rivers of Light’, Colombia Rom, ‘American Rom’, Romania

Brands featured in this reportFEATURED CASE STUDIES

Chapter 7IKEA, ‘Human Coupons’, CanadaPromote Iceland, ‘Inspired by Iceland’, Global

Chapter 8Kissan Tomato Ketchup, ‘Kissanpur’, IndiaDettol, ‘Messages Interrupt, Utility Delights’, China

All case studies are from the Warc Prize

for Innovation 2012 and 2013.

Art Series Hotels (top-left); Kissan Tomato Ketchup and IKEA (bottom-left); Oreo (centre); V/Line (right)











CHAPTER 1

WHY INNOVATION MATTERS>> Can thinking differently deliver breakthrough results?

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We can only achieve [our goals] if we are prepared to disrupt and innovate all aspects of our business as a route to creat-ing greater growthJonathan Mildenhall, VP Global Advertis-ing Strategy and Content Excel-lence, Coca-Cola

1 Innovative communications can be highly effective. It can be argued that, like creativity, innovation drives ‘buzz’ and ‘brand fame’, which are important drivers of effectiveness. It can also make a small budget go a long way.

2 Evidence from the Warc Prize for Innovation suggests that innova-tive campaigns are using buzz-driving channels such as social media and PR as a means to deliver broader business results.

3 Brands such as General Mills and Coca-Cola have recognised the importance of innovation by setting aside a portion of their marketing budgets for untested ideas. PepsiCo and Kraft are looking for similar results from tech ‘incubation’ projects.

4 Effective innovation goes beyond simply trying something new. It should ‘fit’ naturally with the brand, and be part of a broader business strategy.

At a glance Innovation and effectivenessKEY INSIGHTS

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done well, innovative communica-tions can deliver results.

There are several reasons for this. First, in crowded, highly competitive marketplaces where products and services are very similar, being seen to act and communicate differently can help a brand stand out.

As Nigel Hollis, EVP and Chief Global Analyst at research agency Millward Brown, puts it: “Small dif-ferences, even intangible ones, can have big effects in relatively undif-ferentiated categories.” He pointed to Old Spice’s famous ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign, which used humour and a social media response mechanism to defy industry conventions and attain

standout based on enjoyment rather than relevance.

The Old Spice example shows the power of innovative thinking to get a brand talked about. The importance of ‘buzz’ or ‘talkability’ as a driver of effectiveness has been demonstrated in several studies by the IPA in the UK. The findings of those studies show that creativity is worth investing in, as it is more likely to drive buzz, and therefore maximise the returns from marketing investment.

It could be argued that innova-tion in communications can have a similar buzz-driving effect. The rise of digital platforms, and concepts such as ‘owned media’ and ‘earned media’, have broadened the scope

The power of innovative thinkingInnovative communications can drive buzz, which can translate into business results.

Innovation is top of the marketing agenda. From product development to communications, marketers are looking for fresh ideas that can help them stand out in a cluttered, highly competitive marketplace.

This report focuses on innovation in communications. It draws on case studies entered for The Warc Prize for Innovation, which for the past two years has offered a cash prize for the best examples of innovative market-ing from anywhere in the world.

Innovation matters because it is appealing to consumers. The Future Foundation notes a trend towards ‘social capital’: rather than display-ing wealth, consumers find it impor-tant to display experiences, achieve-ments and expertise. Between 2010 and 2012 there was a notable increase in the number of consumers around the world who said they told friends or family about new products or services they discovered.

What’s more, innovative communi-cations ideas can have a real impact on a brand’s performance. The cases in this report demonstrate that, when

Old Spice defied the conventions of its category by using humour to stand out

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generated by the idea. The best ones, of course, go further, and show how that buzz has translated into an impact on the business.

Some companies have formalised such innovation efforts by setting aside dedicated funding. Food expert General Mills reserves several mil-lion dollars each year for its ‘bold initiatives’ brief, where agencies can present unusual ideas. Else-where, Coca-Cola, the soft drinks firm, employs the much-heralded ‘70/20/10’ model, meaning 10% of its expenditure always goes to untested ideas. These structures allow brands to play with new concepts and scale the ones that have potential.

Other brands have borrowed from Silicon Valley’s playbook. PepsiCo and Mondelez International have introduced tech ‘incubation’ projects, working with start-ups to explore new ways to reach consumers.

However, a word of caution is sounded by Jenni Romaniuk, of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, in a piece that looked at the cycle of hype around new media channels. She outlined four stages that gener-ally characterise the adoption of an emerging media format: ‘curiosity’, ‘worship’, ‘justification’ and ‘accept-ance’. While the exploration phases are the most exciting, she suggests, jumping on the bandwagon is rarely a profitable strategy. “Newness alone… should not distract us from our core business, which is about growing brands,” Romaniuk argues.

The upshot, then, is that effective innovation is about more than just trying something new. A brand’s ex-perimentation with new ideas or new platforms should have a natural ‘fit’ with its overall positioning.

Ultimately, innovative communica-tions should form part of a broader business strategy for the brand, and be linked to the brand’s core busi-ness objectives.

The power of innovative thinking (contd.)for creative thinking. As the com-munications industry responds to the rapid advance of consumer technol-ogy, there are many more opportuni-ties for new thinking – whether it’s new ways to use media, applications of new technology, or opportunities to deliver a service. There are, in short, more ways to be creative, and more ways to get people talking.

The cases in this report underline this relationship. Many cases entered into the Warc Prize for Innovation use some kind of ‘buzz’ metric as one of the measures of success, whether that’s drawn from a specific social platform (such as a Facebook ‘Like’) or an assessment of the PR ‘value’

We have to understand digital culture as well as, if not better than, our consumersJosh Karpf, former Digital and Social Media Director, PepsiCo

Pepsi worked with Bluefin Labs to boost its credibility in the music scene

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KEY FACTS

Buzz can drive broad objectives OBJECTIVES VS. MEDIA USAGE

Source: Warc Prize for Innovation, 2013

Warc tracks case studies by both the stated campaign objectives and the media channels they use. It is, there-fore, possible to analyse what clients are trying to achieve and the methods they are using to do so.

Overall, just 24% of cases from the Warc Prize for Innovation 2013 stated that driving ‘buzz’ or word-of-mouth was an objec-tive of their campaign.

However, many more cam-paigns from the Prize are em-ploying buzz-driving channels: 77% use social media; 51% use PR; and 36% use ‘viral’ content.

It could be argued, therefore, that many innovative market-ers view ‘buzz’ as a means of driving bigger business results, rather than as an end in itself.

Top five objectives of Warc Prize case studies

Percentage of Warc Prize case studies that use buzz-focused channels

77% 51% 36%

Social media Public relationsWord of mouth/

viral

Build brand equity

Increase awareness

Increase sales/volume

Increase market share

Generate buzz/WOM

56%48%

26%

48%

24%

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Case study Metro Trains MelbourneCampaignDumb Ways to Die

AdvertiserMetro Trains Melbourne

AgencyMcCann Australia

MarketAustralia

SourceWarc Prize for Innovation, 2013

Metro’s campaign featured characters dying in “dumb” yet entertaining ways

This much-awarded railway safety campaign shows the power of in-novative thinking to drive word-of-mouth, and to make a small budget go a long way.

CHALLENGE

Most accidents that occur in and around Melbourne’s rail network are avoidable – for example, many take place when people are crossing tracks. Young adults are particularly likely to come to harm in this way.

But Metro Trains Melbourne faced a challenge in reaching the city’s 900,000 or so 15-29 year olds, not least because they were already bombarded with equivalent mes-sages covering everything from their driving habits to stopping smoking.

Alongside this hurdle, a budget of just A$300,000 greatly limited the paid media options available.

SOLUTION

The ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ campaign drew on the insight that most acci-dents involving youth were caused by idiotic or impatient behaviour.

As these same consumers were nearly all digital natives, creating material they would choose to watch and share became the goal. This

bers of Tumblr and Reddit.

RESULTS

Within two months, ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ secured 40 million views on YouTube and three million shares. It also entered the iTunes charts in 28 countries, and received $60 million of earned media coverage.

A third of people in Melbourne recalled details about the campaign, rising to 46% for 18-29 year olds. Another 42% of the people aware of its message felt more positively about Metro Trains Melbourne, and 39% consciously thought about how they behaved around trains.Read the full case study

content took the form of a music video depicting 21 cartoon charac-ters dying in ‘dumb’ ways, from set-ting their hair on fire to falling off a train platform. When viewers finished watching, they were asked to commit to being safe around trains.

YouTube and Tumblr were the lead media, while Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram were used to stimulate viral behaviour. The iTunes and SoundCloud music services acted as a third tenet of the commu-nications strategy.

To fuel conversation further, an official karaoke version of the ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ song was released, as were animated GIFs aimed at mem-

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CHAPTER 2

MAKING NEWCONNECTIONS>> Innovative thinking in media strategy

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Getting [Olympic] footage into the commercial makes it more real and tangi-ble. This is not business as usualEsther Lee, Senior VP, Brand Marketing and Advertising, AT&T

At a glance Media innovationKEY INSIGHTS

1 The proliferation of media platforms is creating fresh opportunities for innovation, both in terms of content and functionality. A case study from Twix shows how the brand found a cheap way of reach-ing consumers using the pause button of an online video player.

2 New production technology means there are also new opportunities in so-called ‘traditional media’. Visa and AT&T have pioneered TV ads produced almost in real time, and New Zealand’s ecostore allowed consumers to create personalised magazine covers.

3 Social media and mobile were used far more widely in the 2013 Warc Prize for Innovation than in 2012, though there has been no corresponding fall in TV usage. As a Coca-Cola campaign from Hong Kong shows, some of the most interesting innovations come when channels are combined in new ways.

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Fresh thinking in mediaThe proliferation of advertising platforms in the last decade has left brands with a challenge: how best to use the new platforms available, and what combinations work best?

Marketers are experimenting with different strategies to get the most out of social media, and are develop-ing far more sophisticated initiatives than they were five years ago.

Nissan, for example, set out to at-tract 25-45 year olds in Scandinavia with a rally starring celebrity drivers, whose positions were influenced largely by the Facebook ‘Likes’ they received. The race was then made into a reality series broadcast on the social network, with 2.4 million mem-bers of the target audience coming into contact with the campaign.

Innovative use of digital platforms can be highly effective for organisa-tions with low budgets, if they hit upon the right idea. A tourism effort for Obermutten, a small Swiss vil-lage, added the profile picture of each of its new Facebook fans to the town’s bulletin board, and reached 75 million people for a tiny spend of $20,000. The Missing Children’s Society of Canada spread a more serious message by asking people

phones – a trend known as ‘second-screening’.

And there are still opportunities to innovate using so-called traditional media. Visa and AT&T ran ‘real-time’ ads during the 2012 Olympics, fast-tracking creative production to respond to events in London as they happened.

Broadcasters themselves are looking to innovate in the way they engage their viewers. NBC is embracing second-screening for the Million Second Quiz, providing a 24/7 live stream and letting viewers play along at home in real time.

to ‘donate’ their profile page so its updates were automatically sent to their newsfeed, and therefore would be seen by all of their friends.

Some of the most interesting inno-vations occur when brands find new ways to make media work together. Coca-Cola’s ‘Chok! Chok! Chok!’ campaign combined a TV ad and smartphone app to create an inter-active game in Hong Kong, securing 400,000 downloads and nine million exposures. The idea worked so well because it recognised that young consumers tend to watch television while simultaneously looking at their

When swimmer Michael Phelps broke a record at the 2012 Olym-pics, Visa was ready to distrib-ute a television spot just 29 minutes later

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2013

2012

77

55

61

54

62

51

38

45

41

45

31

42

50

40

48

36

47

36

22

34

KEY FACTS

Social media overtakes televisionCHANNEL USAGE IN PRIZE CASES

Source: Warc Prize for Innovation, 2012-2013

Media channels used by Warc Prize case studies, 2013 vs 2012 Analysis of media channel usage in the Warc Prize for Innovation over the past two years reveals a sharp rise in the use of social media, from 55% in 2012 to 77% in 2013.

This proportion is significantly higher than the global aver-age: across all campaigns uploaded to the Warc database in the first half of 2013, just 54% used social media.

Television was used in fewer campaigns than social media. But it remains a significant channel, used in 62% of cases from the 2013 Warc Prize for Innovation. This is similar to the 2012 figure.

There has also been a sharp rise in the use of mobile in Prize campaigns – from 22% in 2012 to 34% in 2013.

Social media

Events/experiential

Television Radio Branded content

Public relations

Online display

Mobile/apps

Online video

WOM/ viral

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Case study TwixCampaignTwix Pause

AdvertiserMars Chocolate

AgencyStarcom MediaVest Group

MarketAustralia


Twix created a functional media button to foster an association with pausing

The chocolate brand rebadged the pause button of an online video player to fit in with its new position-ing of ‘Pause like you mean it’.

CHALLENGE

Twix, made by confectionery giant Mars, had developed a global posi-tioning based on the tagline ‘Pause like you mean it’ – asking consumers to have a moment of calm amidst the rush of modern life.

In Australia, however, the brand had a relatively small media budget of A$1 million to raise awareness of its new positioning, The bulk of this investment was already earmarked for a television spot that was being run worldwide.

Moreover, Kit-Kat, a chocolate bar manufactured by Nestlé, was

functionality, meaning it had created two media formats to suit its own ends, rather than relying on pre-existing options.

The principal goal of this initiative was to foster an association between Twix and putting things briefly on pause, particularly among its core audience of digitally-engaged young consumers.

RESULTS

For $60,000, Twix gained prominent exposure during 1.3 million video views in six months. This constituted a cost per thousand of $11, com-pared with typical television bench-marks of $35 and a catch-up TV equivalent of $55.

Recognition of Twix’s pause logo also rose from 41% to 68%, while impulse sales climbed by 7% on an annual basis.Read the full case study

already synonymous with a similar idea thanks to its well-known ‘Have a break, have a Kit-Kat’ campaign.

SOLUTION

After interviewing Australian choc-olate-lovers, the recurring phrase which stood out to Twix was ‘press-ing the pause button’: one of the few relevant activities not associated with having a ‘break’.

This nugget of information led Twix to form a partnership with Eleven, a fledgling free-to-air TV station explicitly targeted at the youth audi-ence and prioritising a strong web presence.

Under the terms of this tie-up, the pause button on Eleven’s online video player was replaced by Twix’s logo: two sticks of chocolate replicat-ing the typical design of this symbol.

A Twix-branded banner beneath the video player offered the same

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Case study ecostoreCampaignLittle Treasures

Advertiserecostore

AgencyNaked Communications

MarketNew Zealand


ecostore produced 3,000 personalised Little Treasures magazine covers

The eco-friendly FMCG manufactur-er found a new opportunity in ‘old media’ by asking mums to design personalised magazine covers.

CHALLENGE

The fast-moving consumer goods sector in New Zealand includes global giants like Johnson & John-son, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Competing against these category behemoths was ecostore, a local company focusing on environmen-tally friendly products.

Although the company had oc-cupied a market niche for almost two decades, more green products than ever were hitting store shelves, meaning it needed to find a main-stream positioning.

But with a limited budget com-pared to its larger rivals, ecostore had to identify a novel way to get the attention of busy mothers.

SOLUTION

Many shoppers in New Zealand were concerned by the presence of harmful chemicals in the goods they bought, but few of them were moved to switch brands.

Research by ecostore found one demographic was particularly

that use nasty chemicals’, as well as ecostore’s logo.

RESULTS

In seven days, 3,000 covers were created, supplemented by 175,000 online conversations and an estimat-ed 891,000 offline interactions about the promotion.

A survey of young mums also showed 50% had seen or heard about the scheme. An additional 84% planned to avoid chemical-free goods in the future, and 42% had considered buying, or had actually purchased, an offering from ecostore’s baby care range.Read the full case study

open to this idea: mums with young children, who are heavy researchers and ‘sponges’ for information about improving the lives of their families.

Print was selected as the medium to reach this group, as it was tactile, present in the home and could easily be shared.

As such, ecostore opted to form a partnership with Little Treasures, the parenting magazine, so mums could make a personalised front cover of its magazine by uploading an image to the web, which would then be at-tached to an edition of this title and sent to them by post.

Each personalised cover contained the slogan ‘I’m opting out of products

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CHAPTER 3

THINKING BEYONDMEDIA>> How brands are building strategies around ‘owned’ assets

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Don’t immediately focus all creativity on the commu-nication and activation to sell an item. First focus on the item itselfExtract from ‘Heineken: STR Bottle – Light Up The Night’ case study

At a glance Non-media opportunitiesKEY INSIGHTS

1 Many of the best innovation case studies do not start with a media framework in mind. There is a growing appreciation of the power of some of the brand’s ‘owned’ assets, and in particular the potential to build communications ideas around packaging innovation.

2 Coca-Cola is one organisation that has adopted innovations in packaging and used them at the heart of communications, both for its I Lohas water brand in Japan, and in its global ‘Share a Coke’ initiative. These ideas are not replacements for paid media, but use advertising to promote the innovation and give it context.

3 Relatively simple (and tech-lite) ideas can lead to powerful results, as long as they feed into a broader brand ‘story’. Monteith’s Crushed Cider in New Zealand managed to create a successful campaign by leaving twigs in its boxes. A very different example comes from Colombia, where the government decorated trees with Christmas lights to persuade guerrillas to lay down their arms.

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‘Owned’ assets take the leadIt is striking how many innovative campaigns involve thinking outside any media framework.

Several cases in the Warc Prize for Innovation find new ways to talk to people beyond ‘paid media’.

In particular, many brands have realised the power of their own as-sets, such as packaging, as a com-munications tool, and have looked for ways to innovate in that space. A great example is Coca-Cola’s ‘crushable’ bottles, which it has used to give some of its water brands an environmentally friendly positioning. It pioneered this approach with its I Lohas brand in Japan. Ciel, the com-pany’s Mexican bottled water, used the same technology to roll out bot-tles featuring 33% less plastic, and which must be twisted and collapsed before recycling.

Coca-Cola’s packaging innova-tion can also be

seen in the ‘Share a Coke’ cam-paign. First launched in Australia, this initiative involved bottles printed with popular first names, and built into a broader social media-driven campaign. The idea has been rolled out in other major markets.

Elsewhere, beer brands have been highly active in this space. To max-imise the returns from its sponsorship of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team, Budweiser made a special-edition ‘fan brew’. Heineken has made an aluminium bottle using ultra-violet technology to reveal a different design in certain lighting conditions, while Steinlager took the opposite route, reintroducing packaging from 1987 to tap into nostalgia about New Zealand’s rugby team winning the World Cup.

Pack innovation does not always have to be technology-driven.

Monteith’s Crushed Cider started a conversation about its fresh ingredients by putting twigs in 12-pack boxes, and following this up with a fake ‘apology’ for doing so.

IKEA, the furniture chain, broadened the

definition of media still fur-

ther on ‘Moving Day’ in Montreal – when many people traditionally move home – by distributing branded cardboard boxes embossed with helpful moving tips, as well as discount vouchers, across the city. This generated 3.8 million on-street impres-sions and helped boost in-store sales by 25%.

Similar thinking came from-Volkswagen in India. The au-tomaker opted for a deceptively simple approach, encouraging shoppers to take a test-drive by attaching Post-it notes containing booking details to anything from cinema screens to buses.

Many of these examples still use media activity to promote the in-novation. But it is clear that there are plenty of opportunities for brands to use their own assets as a key communications tool.

Monteith’s (left) drew atten-tion to its fresh ingredients with an ‘apology’; Coca-Cola created eco-friendly water bottles (right)

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Case study Colombian MoDCampaignRivers of Light

AdvertiserProgramme of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised / Colombian Min-istry of Defence

AgencyLowe-SSP3

MarketColombia


Colombians sent messages and gifts via the rivers to FARC guerrillas

The need to reach rebels with no access to mainstream media forced the government to deliver an emotional message in an unconven-tional way.

CHALLENGE

For more than six decades, FARC – a Marxist guerrilla group – has com-mitted acts of violence in Colombia. The organisation controls around 30% of national territory and has approximately 8,000 members, most of whom live in the jungle, beyond the reach of conventional media.

Original thinking is therefore cen-tral to any efforts to persuade these insurgents to re-join society. An initial

effort, ‘Operation Christmas’, played on the understanding that Christmas was the time most rebels considered leaving FARC, and sent soldiers into the jungle to decorate trees in a traditional festive style. It led 331 guerrillas to abandon their cause.

The impact of this initiative, how-ever, saw FARC retreat deeper into the jungle, ban radios and announce harsher punishments for anyone attempting to desert. That made fol-lowing up the campaign a year later even tougher.

SOLUTION

As rivers are the main means of transport and communication for FARC, it was decided to use this route to reach its members.

As a first step, the Colombian military requested the friends and family of revolutionaries to send in personal messages and gifts, with 6,823 ultimately received.

The notes and presents were then individually wrapped in waterproof baubles containing LED lights, and dropped in strategic points of the river system by the army and navy.

Accompanying the personalised content contained in each ball was a note reading, ‘Don’t let this Christ-

mas slip away. Colombia and your family are waiting. Demobilise. At Christmas, everything is possible.’ A 30-second TV spot was also devel-oped to publicise this effort.

RESULTS

In all, 192 guerrillas – who had served an average of 14 years with FARC – demobilised because of this campaign. A fifth of this group were under 18 years old, a 62% jump year on year.

Many weapons were given up by these former combatants, and important information was provided to the Colombian government. The overall net benefit to the economy was estimated at $3.8 million.Read the full case study

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Case study RomCampaignAmerican Rom

AdvertiserKandia Dulce

AgencyBV McCann Erickson

MarketRomania


Rom chocolate bar replaced the national flag on is packaging with the US flag to provoke Romanian patriotism

A tongue-in-cheek pack redesign was at the heart of a multimedia campaign to revive a brand.

CHALLENGE

Rom, a chocolate bar launched in Romania in 1964, was a national in-stitution, to the extent that it featured the national flag on its packaging and had brand awareness levels of 95%. It was widely associated with the childhood of Romanians.

However, only 14.5% of shoppers described the brand as their favour-ite, and its patriotic positioning was of limited appeal to younger Roma-nians, around 80% of which had considered leaving their homeland in search of new opportunities.

No longer market leader, Rom had seen its share plummet, while foreign competitors such as Snickers (owned

with Twitter, blogs and a consumer helpline serving as back-ups.

After seven days, it was revealed that the takeover was a prank. Shoppers who had interacted with the campaign were thanked directly. Some even appeared on TV shows to talk about their feelings.

RESULTS

The campaign reached 15 million people, or two-thirds of the Roma-nian population, and Rom registered 189,706 page views and 75,000 visi-tors on its corporate website in the first six days alone.

The proportion of Romanians who agreed Rom was their favourite brand rose to 25.9%, while 36.5% of the target audience described Rom as a ‘brand for me’, up from 16.2%.Read the full case study

by Mars) were growing rapidly. The challenge was to regain share.

SOLUTION

Having assessed online discus-sions among 20 to 35-year-olds, Rom discovered their patriotism was reactive, emerging in force only when Romania was compared with foreign countries, especially larger ones.

Rather than appealing to pride in their country directly, Rom decided to replace the Romanian flag on its packaging with the American flag, and to run ads claiming it had been taken over by a US corporation.

During the campaign’s ‘teaser’ stage, the redesigned packaging – complete with English text mocking Romanian values – was rolled out. Next, an online forum and Facebook page became arenas for debate,

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CHAPTER 4

TECH-DRIVENINNOVATION>> How tech development is driving fresh thinking

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User experience [is] the most powerful expression of brand. It’s now a highly valued corporate asset. And that’s a big changeSara Ortloff Khoury, VP User Experience, Insights and Ana-lytics, Walmart

At a glance Innovating through techKEY INSIGHTS

1 Marketers that keep up to date with the latest developments in technology can find opportunities to create value for their consumers. A good example is the ‘quantified self’ trend, which has inspired brands such as Nike and Volkswagen to introduce data-tracking services.

2 Some of the best examples show how brands use cutting-edge technology to give consumers an interesting experience that can be used as ‘social currency’. In New Zealand, Pedigree, a pet charity, gave cinema visitors special glasses that determined which version of a film they viewed.

3 Tech-driven innovation is particularly interesting in the retail space, as it offers brands the potential to do a lot more with in-store marketing, and to link broader marketing activity with shopper marketing. McDonald’s has been highly active in this area: in Denmark it experimented with a virtual currency that could be used in stores; in China it enlivened an in-store experience using a game built around GPS and motion-sensing technology within phones.

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Marketers adapt to rapid changeBrands can find opportunities for innovation by keeping track of the latest developments in technology.

When looking at the current cli-mate facing marketers, Sara Ortloff Khoury, VP, user experience, insights, and analytics for Walmart’s global ecommerce arm, offered the follow-ing assessment: “We’ve never lived in a more rapidly changing market-place. We have to constantly react to changes in technology and consumer behaviour; we have to be nimble and flexible and know when to pivot.”

The rapid development of the mo-bile phone – from a communications device to a mini-computer packed with high-tech features – proves Khoury’s point. Tech innovation in the consumer marketplace has led to products that were previously the realm of science fiction. Take, for instance, the recent interest in ‘wear-able tech’ such as Google Glass.

Perhaps the best example of this technology being pressed into service for marketing purposes is the Nike FuelBand, a digitally-connected wristband that tracks movement and turns it into points, allowing wearers to keep track of activity, share pro-gress and compete with others.

Nike’s FuelBand is an example of a trend termed ‘the quantified self’ – the use of technology to compile and track personal data. Healthcare and sports apparel brands have seen clear opportunities in this area, but brands in many other categories are taking note. In China, Volkswagen’s Bluemobility app uses GPS to track the speed and distance travelled by drivers. The app supports Volks-wagen’s green agenda; it shows whether drivers are wasting fuel, and offers tips on how to avoid this.

Technology develop-ments can have some powerful marketing applications, if used creatively. In New Zealand, charity Pedigree launched a cinema ad that could only be viewed through special glasses. Film-goers could watch one of two different stories depending on the type of glasses they were wearing. On the way into cinemas, consumers were asked to donate to Pedigree: if they did so, they received the glasses

Volkswagen’s app gives drivers personalised tips for fuel economy

that showed a happy ending; if they didn’t they received the glasses that showed the sad ending.

Retail is another field where marketers are trying to determine the potential for interactive technologies to enhance the shopping experience. Brands such as adidas have looked at in-store touch-screen installations that allow shoppers to find product information, view content about the brand and its products, view social media updates, personalise products and even make purchases.

Not every tech trend will lead to marketing suc-cess. For many years, QR codes were touted as the next big thing after they became popular in Japan. While they have gained some traction in other markets (Clear shampoo employed scannable haircuts in Thailand), they remain niche due to lack of consumer interest.

Studies suggest just 15% of consumers have snapped a QR code to date in France, Germa-ny, the UK and US.

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Four tech trends feeding innovation

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2

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4

MOBILITY

The explosion in smartphone penetration has transformed the range of technology marketers have access to. For example, GPS services have opened up new opportunities for localisation. The rise of tablets is reinforcing this trend.

QUANTIFIED SELF

More technology has led to more data. There is a growing number of opportunities to help consumers generate data that is relevant to them, then track it and benchmark it. There are obvious benefits for healthcare brands, but this trend is relevant for any organisation keen to help consumers reach personal goals.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Devices are increasingly connected to each other. The opportunities for brands are still emerging; for example, there have been a number of experiments with connected vending machines in recent years. The key lesson for marketers from these developments is that action in one place can drive an instant reaction somewhere else.

LOW-COST PRODUCTION

Technological advances are transforming production processes in areas such as packaging and printing. There are new opportunities for produc-ing personalised physical products, as well as personalised services.

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Case study McDonald’s DenmarkCampaignCoin Hunters

AdvertiserMcDonald’s

AgencyDDB Copenhagen, OMD Denmark

MarketDenmark


McDonald’s attracted young consumers with a virtual currency

The restaurant group deployed a virtual currency to connect with young consumers and drive incre-mental sales in Denmark.

CHALLENGE

McDonald’s faced rising competition in Denmark. Many rival chains had replicated its traditional strengths. And there was a new threat on the horizon as Danes were offered a growing variety of inexpensive meal options through online pure-plays such as Groupon, Sweetdeal and MyDeal.

The share of voice enjoyed by McDonald’s had fallen over time from almost 100% to around 60%, even though it had maintained its expenditure levels.

One of the biggest concerns for McDonald’s was the danger that its big-spending rivals could attract young consumers. If that happened,

Participants could accrue money to spend in its stores by scanning these images. Radio ads used sonic trig-gers for the same purpose.

A second wave, offering another million Coins, aimed to drive a simi-lar level of interest but in a shorter timeframe and with a lower level of investment.

RESULTS

The app was downloaded 197,417 times during the first burst of commu-nications. By the end of the second burst, the download total reached 274,028.

As 63% of app usage occurred between the hours of 11am and 5pm, when most of the older customer base was at work, young consumers appeared to be the most engaged with this effort. Moreover, the target of accruing ten kroner in incremental expenditure whenever a Coin was spent was easily beaten, as this total hit 19 kroner in the first wave and 13 kroner in the second.Read the full case study

McDonald’s could ultimately lose out on a lifetime of their custom.

SOLUTION

Around a decade earlier, McDonald’s had introduced its low-cost Coinof-fers menu. This was familiar to 85% of Danes, and yielded 25% of annual volume sales. This slate of products had been the beneficiary of consider-able push marketing.

Modernising this strategy would be vital if McDonald’s was to attract more young consumers. It therefore launched a virtual currency, called ‘Coins’, taking the form of eight-bit pixel images in the shape of various menu items, which could be ac-cessed and spent through a smart-phone app.

During the first wave of the campaign, McDonald’s issued one million Coins. These were integrated into TV, online and outdoor ads.

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Case study McDonald’s ChinaCampaignReal-time Olympics

AdvertiserMcDonald’s

AgencyNIM Digital

MarketChina


A smartphone app turned McDon-ald’s customers into Olympic athletes

Mixing mobile games and multi-screening helped the quick-service chain overcome barriers of time and distance.

CHALLENGE

While Chinese consumers had enthusiastically welcomed and celebrated the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, it was not clear how they would respond to the 2012 follow-up in London.

McDonald’s, which runs 1,300 stores in China, was a premier spon-sor of the Games, and needed to work out how to reignite the passion of 2008 in spite of a gap of 5,000 miles and eight time zones.

It wanted a solution that would en-gage customers and drive up sales, and ensure it stood out from major rival KFC, which has 3,500 stores and a more localised menu.

SOLUTION

In the first instance, McDonald’s cre-ated a special Olympic menu giving diners a ‘taste of London’, as well as promising ‘champion’ service and running in-store events.

in-store audience into athletes.Visitors to its branches could sign

in to the app, and then virtually participate in events from sprinting to weightlifting in real time by mimick-ing the actions of competitors on TV using their mobile phone.

As well as sharing their scores on the Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, participants were able to invite their friends along to McDonald’s to join in the fun. In-app coupons closed the loop by encour-aging shoppers to make purchases in its branches.

To promote this tool, the company ran television ads, agreed a partner-ship with Tencent’s app store, and spread the word by reaching out to influential social media users.

RESULTS

The three million people who downloaded the app played over 7.5 million games, and the 600,000 mentions on Sina Weibo fuelled vital word of mouth for McDonald’s.

Looking at sales, the 4.5 million in-app coupons delivered to consumers generated an estimated $8.7 million in revenues, based on an average expenditure of $1.90 per user.Read the full case study

The TV screens in its restaurants would also show live coverage of the Olympics around the clock, and it was here the opportunity rested.

McDonald’s developed a smart-phone app that utilised GPS and motion-sensor technology to turn the

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CHAPTER 5

SERVICE INNOVATION>> How brands are finding opportunities in being useful

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It’s got to be useful on a regular basis. If I’m going to have it on my phone, what is it doing for me every day?Winston Wang, Global Director, Strategic Innova-tion, Anheuser-Busch InBev

At a glance Rethinking serviceKEY INSIGHTS

1 Some of the most powerful cases in the Warc Prize for Innovation start by interrogating the service a brand offers its consumers and asks whether there are opportunities to break category conventions. The 2013 winner, from Art Series Hotels and Naked Communica-tions, shows how this approach can create a valuable service for consumers and act as a basis for communications.

2 Brands should ask whether the consumer insight uncovered for a communications campaign could be used more broadly to offer new services. Train company V/Line’s research into urban consumers led to a new service offering as well as a campaign.

3 Collaboration between brands can be a useful source of innova-tion. Some brands are starting to think like tech firms, and think of themselves as an API that can be used by other organisations that want to improve their service. A tie-up between Best Buy and eBay is an example.

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Utility moves to centre-stageSome brands are succeeding by basing their marketing on useful services that become part of a consumer’s everyday life.

‘Branded utility’ – the idea that brands can market themselves by offering something useful – is well established. The Warc Prize for Innovation shows initiatives (both high- and low-tech) that start with a fresh concept of a brand’s service.

A great example comes from American Express, which launched Small Business Saturday, a day when consumers were encouraged to buy from local companies. The concept provided much-needed help for small businesses, who were provided with tools to help promote the day, and ended up becoming a fixture in the US retail calendar.

Pursuing such schemes can be expensive. “If you’re really going to create something that’s intricate and technical and does something for somebody, it takes a lot of money and effort to put it together,” is how Winston Wang, global director, strategic innovation for Anheuser-Busch InBev, put it.

Such costs have not deterred the brewer from introducing utility-led

gifts at nearby stores. Purchases were made through eBay, and Best Buy handled the transactions.

Honda, the automaker, provided a profound illustration of this kind of process in practice by using its Internavi navigation system, which collects traffic data in real time from all equipped vehicles on the road. Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, it identified which roads could still be traversed safely, helping volunteers and rescue teams move more quickly, alongside making this information available to the public. The company made a documentary about this programme, and has since worked with the Japanese government to improve road safety.

mobile tools for customers, like the ‘Le Bar’ app, which assists drinkers in finding the nearest bar selling Stella Artois, and utilises augmented reality to help them locate these establishments. “It’s got to be useful on a regular basis,” said Wang. “If it’s not useful, does it deserve to be an application?”

Taking this model on a step, brands can become an ‘application programming interface’, or API. This requires fusing services together, such as – most simply – when websites allow users to log in with their Facebook details. A fuller demonstration was provided by eBay, the ecommerce site, which used retailer Best Buy’s API to help shoppers find last-minute Christmas

Honda used its navigation system to help Japanese drivers after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami

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Case study Art Series HotelsCampaignThe Overstay Checkout

AdvertiserArt Series Hotels

AgencyNaked Communications Melbourne

MarketAustralia

SourceWarc Prize for Innovation, 2013 (winner)

Art Series Hotels allowed leisure travellers to stay past their checkout time

The Australian boutique hotel group attracted leisure travellers by tailoring checkout times for each room, breaking a category norm.

CHALLENGE

Each summer, Art Series Hotels saw a slowdown in bookings as members of its typical clientele – business travellers visiting urban hubs – made fewer trips across the country.

During the Australian summer months of December and January, and other periods of low occupancy, leisure travellers could feasibly fill this gap. They were not, however, currently a significant audience for the chain.

Reversing this trend was a central goal, but only with an idea that could be turned “on and off” as occupancy levels varied, and which did not undermine its premium status.

SOLUTION

The firm discovered that the number-one grievance at hotels was noisy or disappointing rooms, an issue it usually did not face. The second most-irritating thing for leisure travellers was having to check out at 11am; indeed, for a third of travel-lers, this was their main gripe.

An online counter recorded the hours and days that guests had stayed in Art Series Hotels for free, helping substantiate the offer and providing quotable statistics for jour-nalists and bloggers.

RESULTS

This flexible solution to the hotel operator’s problem generated $1.5 million in PR coverage, and a 400% expansion in positive online reviews from guests on its Facebook page.

In terms of sales, the 1,550 room nights purchased came in 55% above the initial target, while the 1,286 hours and 343 free room nights given away contributed more than $37,000 in spending on room service and hotel facilities.Read the full case study

Challenging this industry standard presented a major point of differ-entiation; the fixed checkout time had remained all but unquestioned around the world.

Art Series Hotels therefore offered customers the chance to stay on in their room for free as long as nobody else had booked it, providing them with more value and contributing revenue through sales of products and services at the hotel.

Staff members were trained in ad-ministering this policy, and a budget of A$80,000 was primarily allocated to PR, digital display ads and radio.

Art Series Hotels’ website, social media pages, partnerships and on-site marketing spaces – such as door hangers and key cards – were also used to spread the word.

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Case study V/LineCampaignGuilt Trips

AdvertiserV/Line

AgencyMcCann Australia

MarketAustralia


V/Line played on young people’s sense of obligation to visit home

The train company used an unusual emotional driver – guilt – as the basis of a product innovation and communications campaign.

CHALLENGE

Melbourne, the capital of the Austral-ian state of Victoria, had witnessed a surge in the number of people leav-ing the suburbs to commute from the countryside.

While this was good news for V/Line, the regional train operator, it had not been accompanied by simi-lar growth for what was termed the ‘VFR’ market, or those people visiting friends and relatives.

This meant there was an under-supply of seats for people travelling to the city at peak times for work and an over-supply for its other services.

SOLUTION

Young people who returned to the countryside from the city usually did so to maintain valuable emotional relationships, or because they were reliant on financial support to main-tain their urban lifestyle.

Interviews with these potential cus-tomers found there was an underly-ing sense of obligation to make trips home. But at the same time they were

without you’ and ‘Your fiancé seems really sweet. From what I’ve read on Facebook.’ The tagline then read: ‘They’re only a Guilt Trip away’.

RESULTS

Eight months after the campaign had started, total off-peak ticket sales for V/Line had grown by an average of 15%. That translated into an extra 123,000 seats. Call-centre enquiries for VFR services rose by an average of 28% during the campaign period, too, and online sales leapt by 20% immediately after the communica-tions launched.Read the full case study

typically too wrapped up in city life to do so. And they were increasingly using platforms such as Facebook to keep in touch, rather than taking a trip home.

By contrast, their family and friends in the countryside wanted such visits to become more frequent.

The result was ‘The Guilt Trip’ – a pre-paid train ticket that people in the countryside could send to loved ones in the city, and V/Line’s first product innovation in five decades.

Digital, radio, press and outdoor were used to raise awareness. Ads featured copy such as, ‘Don’t feel bad; we’ll just do the family portrait

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CHAPTER 6

INNOVATING THROUGH CONTENT>> How brands are finding new ways to tell stories

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What’s great about real-time is that there’s an opportunity to plan for big moments as well as a chance to be in the mo-ment. It’s the willingness to prepare that mattersBonin Bough, VP Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Mondelez International

At a glance The power of contentKEY INSIGHTS

1 Content-driven marketing has become one of the most popular ways for advertisers to try something new. Entries for the Warc Prize for Innovation used content strategies far more frequently than the average across all recent cases on Warc. Online video, in particular, seems to be a key platform for content marketing.

2 Content strategies are diversifying. Some focus on concepts that can go ‘viral’ and build reach via social platforms; others are investing in educational or advisory content with a longer lifespan. Further innovation in format can be expected in future prizes.

3 Shifting from a marketing mindset to a content-led mindset can be time-consuming and expensive. A case study from Oreo demonstrates the effort required: the brand issued a different piece of content every 24 hours for 100 days. The payoff, however, was an initiative that proved more effective than the traditional campaign that preceded it.

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New ways to entertain and informBranded content has become one of the hottest topics in marketing, and a common theme in the Warc Prize for Innovation.

Content marketing is on the rise.According to the Custom Content Council, the $43.9 billion spent on producing and distributing custom content in digital, print and other forms in 2012 marked a 9.2% lift from 2011. The survey found social media content and online video as two nota-ble growth areas.

As Nick Price of MPG Media Contacts argued in Admap, branded content often involves “becoming more about entertainment with a little hard sell attached, rather than the reverse.” Comedy is one way of achieving this, as shown by Honda’s Psicodriving – a five-part TV series in Spain discussing the problems of the ‘kidult’ generation. Subway also set new standards in TV integration in a tie-up with US sitcom Community.

Content strategies are also moving online. Toyota formed partnerships with properties including ‘I Can Has Cheezburger?’ and Xbox Live to reach members of Generation Y. Air New Zealand used digital video to follow hardened ‘Kiwi Sceptics’

can be optimised around key search terms. Kotex, Kimberly-Clark’s femi-nine hygiene line, tackled the taboo subject of menstruation in China using a fictional character, An Xiao Qi, who talked about matters of rel-evance to teenage girls using online video and the Sina Weibo microblog.

In India, Lifebuoy soap ‘adopted a village’ and featured it in commu-nications to educate people about washing their hands. Nestlé, the food giant, similarly wanted to inform expectant Indian mothers about nutrition, and so published a book featuring ads and inserts, selling 300,000 copies in all.

However, adopting a content-led approach is neither easy nor cheap. Brands have to think more like pub-lishers – planning editorial sched-ules, investing in content across platforms, and integrating marketing and PR teams around these ideas. Some brands have gone a step further, forming ‘newsrooms’ around events such as the Super Bowl.

As investment in content strategies increases, it is likely that we will see more innovation, and rapid develop-ment of this area – both in the types of content produced and the way that content is distributed.

as they experienced everything the country has to offer. It is also worth noting the trend in the US for ‘native advertising’, which embeds branded content within online editorial.

Branded entertainment is broaden-ing in scope, with digital games now proving popular. ‘State of Chaos’ from insurance provider State Farm, and ‘Hotel 626’ from snack brand Doritos are recent examples. Con-fectionery group Perfetti Van Melle has even formed a partnership with agency BBH Asia Pacific to provide seed funding for games developers through its Chuck Studios unit to ex-plore this area on behalf of its Chupa Chups brand.

The content revolution is not just about entertainment; brands are investing in long-form content that offers education and advice, and

Honda invested in a comedy series (top); Per-fetti Van Melle created a games studio for the Chupa Chups brand (below)

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36%Warc Prize 2013

All cases on Warc

18%

Percentage of case studies that feature branded content

Percentage of Warc Prize cases featuring branded content that also employ...

KEY FACTS

Content features widely in Prize casesWARC PRIZE CASES ARE NOTABLY CONTENT-DRIVEN

Source: Case studies on Warc, Jan-Jun 2013

According to Warc’s data, 36% of campaigns in the 2013 Warc Prize for Innovation employ some form of branded content. That is far higher than the average of 18% across all case studies uploaded to warc.com in the first half of 2013.

Further analysis of the Warc Prize campaigns that use branded content shows some interesting patterns. 79% use social media, and 58% use tel-evision. These are in line with the averages across all Warc Prize case studies (Chapter 2), suggesting that content strate-gies are no more nor less likely to use these channels than any other campaign.

Interestingly, 74% of content-driven cases use online video, far higher than the average. This suggests that online video is now a particularly important component of content strategy.

79% 74% 58%

Social media Online video Television

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Case study OreoCampaignDaily Twist

AdvertiserOreo

AgencyDraftfcb New York

MarketUS


Oreo’s ‘Daily Twist’ celebrated current events including Gay Pride Day and the Tour de France

The cookie brand used a 100-day content strategy to maintain momentum around its centenary celebrations cost-effectively.

CHALLENGE

To celebrate its centenary in 2012, Oreo planned a marketing campaign lasting nine months. It started with six months of TV, print, point-of-sale and radio activities, as well as par-ties and events. Consumption levels rose by 45% year on year during its birthday week, and its market share in March leapt by 3.2 points.

However, 52% of Oreo’s media budget had been spent in three months. It needed to keep people engaged and meet full-year sales targets as expenditure dwindled.

SOLUTION

As part of a wider effort to shed Oreo’s traditional image, it was de-cided to make the much-loved cookie more ‘newsworthy’.

in retweets on Twitter compared with the three months before the campaign was also recorded, and 231 million media impressions were generated.

Perhaps most importantly, annual sales jumped by 4% in the third quarter following ‘Daily Twist’. This was in spite of the media budget be-ing 28% lower than in the first three months of the year.Read the full case study

Qualitative research revealed that Oreo helped people of all ages enjoy the carefree spirit of childhood, something which was all too rare in the modern world.

But rather than emphasising nostalgia, it decided to look forward. This idea was embodied by the uploading of a new ad to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the brand’s own website every 24 hours for 100 days in a row.

Each morning, an editorial team of client-side and agency executives analysed current news stories to identify an appropriate subject, and the creative team gave it an Oreo ‘twist’.

These images covered every-thing from Gay Pride Day to the Mars Rover Landing, the Olym-pics and the Tour de France.

RESULTS

Overall, the ‘Daily Twist’ posts were seen 433 million times worldwide on Facebook, securing 1.3 million shares, ‘Likes’ and comments, as Oreo added over a million fans on the social network. A 515% increase

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Case study The Peres Center for PeaceCampaignBlood Relations

AdvertiserThe Peres Center for Peace

AgencyBBR Saatchi & Saatchi

MarketIsrael and Pales-tinian Territories, UK, US


Blood donations were made between victims of the Israel-Palestine conflict

An innovative attempt to improve relations between the residents of Israel and Palestine was expanded through a content programme.

CHALLENGE

Tension and frequent violence has been an everyday reality for people on both sides of the Israel-Palestine dispute for more than six decades.

In reflection of the seemingly intractable nature of this problem, The Peres Center for Peace and BBR Saatchi & Saatchi held a competition at the Cannes Lions Festival called ‘The Impossible Brief’, challenging the world’s best creative minds to ad-dress this issue.

The winner was to be selected by a panel of senior Palestinian and Israeli executives from various organ-isations, and then put into action.

SOLUTION

Of the hundreds of submissions received, the winning entry – from Jean-Christophe Royer of BETC Paris – suggested blood donations made between victims on different sides of the conflict could symbolise the building of new bonds.

This effort became known as ‘Blood Relations’, and was based

vote on Palestinian statehood.An eight-minute documentary was

made about the first donation, focus-ing on the stories of two participants: Ben Kfir, an Israeli who had lost his daughter in the conflict, and Siham Abu Awwad, a Palestinian who had lost her brother. This documentary was posted on numerous industry websites and shown at film festivals around the world.

Following a second event in Tel Aviv, others were held in various global locations.

A virtual equivalent was also set up on Facebook so people unable to give blood could express their sup-port for the scheme.

RESULTS

International media outlets such as NBC, the BBC, Reuters and Vanity Fair covered the original story, reach-ing 350 million people, while a piece on Channel 2 in Israel was seen by 1.6 million people, or 24% of the national population.

Additionally, thousands of Face-book users took part online, and the ‘Blood Relations’ concept went on to receive the backing of the US Depart-ment of State.Read the full case study

around the question: ‘Could you hurt someone who has your blood run-ning through their veins?’

Featuring 20 people, the first blood donation event was planned for UN Peace Day on 21 September 2011. Several leading media channels were briefed about the story, which was of particular interest at the time as it coincided with a United Nations

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CHAPTER 7

PARTICIPATION-DRIVENINNOVATION>> Strategies that make consumers part of the idea

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This is not a one-hit wonder. You do not do this for 2013, and then walk away in 2014. You have to stay the courseLaura Ashton, Head of Mar-keting and VP Lighting, Growth Markets, Philips

At a glance Co-creating innovationKEY INSIGHTS

1 Although crowdsourcing is not new, co-creation strategies are becoming more sophisticated. Brands such as Canon and Art Series Hotels have invited consumers to be part of interesting events or creative projects. Their contributions help determine how the project evolves.

2 There is a link between co-creation and word-of-mouth. Inviting consumers to contribute generates word-of-mouth around a project, and creates an audience for its result. Philips generated significant reach in Asia around an initiative that invited consumers to submit ideas for ways technology could improve their lives.

3 Unsurprisingly, consumers are more likely to take part if they are offered something valuable in return. A Canadian campaign by IKEA encouraged consumer involvement by offering discounts.

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Tapping the wisdom of the crowdsBrands are opening up new ways of collaborating with consumers in developing their communications.

Co-creation is in vogue. Sites such as Kickstarter have opened up avenues for consumers to get involved in funding new ventures, and many marketers recognise the value of asking customers to contribute ideas for research and development. Toy brand Lego, for example, runs the Cuusoo online community, allowing fans to submit ideas for new sets.

In the communications sphere, brands have been experimenting with consumer involvement for some time. Frito-Lay, the snacks arm of PepsiCo, was extremely quick to ex-plore the possibilities, with its ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ crowdsourced ads for Doritos, and the ‘Do us a flavour’ campaign for Walkers, asking the UK’s online population to identify and vote on a new variant of crisps. This idea was rolled out to markets including the US and India.

While there are still plenty of exam-ples of this type of campaign, new forms of participation-driven innova-tion are emerging.

Some are going further than sim-ply crowdsourcing ideas or creative

work. Canon’s ‘Project Imagin8ion’ campaign asked users to submit photos; it then used these photos as inspiration for a movie.

Others are looking to involve consumers in stunts or shared experi-ences. A good example is the ‘Steal Banksy’ campaign, which encour-aged consumers to try to steal a painting from a hotel.

Others still are looking at ideas that give consumers the raw material to create something themselves, then share it with their networks. In Japan, pop group Perfume, a trio known for their dance routines, used motion-capture technology to analyse one of their routines. The group then re-leased the raw motion-capture data to fans so they could create their own videos of animated characters replicating the dance routine.

This approach recognises the pow-er of an individual’s advocacy of a brand, and an understanding of how participation-driven initiatives can drive word-of-mouth. In Asia, Philips has achieved impressive results through a co-creation initiative that asks consumers to submit ideas for how technology can make their lives or communities better, with Philips investing in the best proposals.

Art Series Hotels encouraged guests to ‘Steal Banksy’ (top); HollywooddirectorRon Howardjudged Canon’sphoto competi-tion (right)

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Case study IKEACampaignHuman Coupons

AdvertiserIKEA

AgencyLeo Burnett

MarketCanada


Actors took the parts of ‘human coupons’ on customised billboards

The furniture retailer used a par-ticipatory approach to reinvent the coupon and drive footfall to a Canadian store.

CHALLENGE

Richmond, British Columbia, was en-joying a sustained economic boom, a trend potentially holding consider-able promise for IKEA.

However, this surge in prosperity had led to intense competition. Some 1,200 stores already crowded the market, including those run by eight of IKEA’s direct challengers.

IKEA was thus presented with a conundrum: how to drum up interest in its new store when so many chains were expanding, especially as the number of people asking the com-pany to build a branch in the area was well below the norm.

SOLUTION

Research uncovered two primary insights. The first related to a wide-spread sense of ‘been there, done that’ among shoppers, who were all too used to store openings and their related marketing tactics.

The second offered a way to overcome this malaise. Consumers in Richmond had come to enjoy fre-

them received IKEA gift cards worth up to $1,000.

RESULTS

Over 21,000 people attended on the opening day and sales surpassed $1 million, totals some 40% above the original targets set.

This impressive footfall was the consequence of more than 30 million mass media impressions, including 2.6 million on Twitter alone. Roughly 50,000 people interacted with the live ‘human coupons’, too, adding a distinctive personal touch to the company’s campaign.Read the full case study

netic, exciting shopping experiences, as shown by city’s popular night mar-ket, the biggest in North America.

In response, IKEA decided to cre-ate ‘human coupons’, meaning every visitor to its new store on its opening day would earn a discount – of as much as 60% – simply by virtue of turning up.

To promote this effort, it employed outdoor ads where live actors stood and talked to passers-by, ran ir-reverent press ads and drove social media buzz by placing actors play-ing ‘human coupons’ around the city and giving out hints about their location. The individuals who found

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Case study Promote IcelandCampaignInspired by Iceland

AdvertiserIcelandic government

AgencyThe Brooklyn Brothers, Islenska

MarketGlobal


Iceland’s website included interviews with celebrities such as Eric Clapton

Asking the citizens of Iceland to champion the country helped the tourism industry bounce back after a volcanic eruption.

CHALLENGE

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in April 2010 led to a dramatic decline in the number of overseas visitors to Iceland, at a time when the national economy was tee-tering on the brink of bankruptcy.

As the volcanic ash cloud spread, news sources around the world pub-lished warnings about going to the country, fuelling the spread of nega-tive sentiment on the web. In sum, the influx of tourists fell by 30% at the end of April and the start of May.

Negativity surrounding Iceland’s government in the wake of the finan-cial crisis, however, meant an official campaign was unlikely to change this situation for the better.

SOLUTION

Rather than target previous visitors to the country in the hope they would spread positive word of mouth, it was decided that asking Iceland’s populace to share their stories and opinions could reframe the conversa-tion in more positive terms.

This material was spread across Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo by fans.

RESULTS

Between the campaign launch and the end of 2010, visitor numbers to Iceland rose by 27% on an annual basis, with Germany, the UK and US yielding particularly impressive improvements. Social media played a key role, as 33,267 visitors to the ‘Inspiring Iceland’ page on Facebook entered the purchase funnel.

Based on a budget of £2.24 million, the overall payback to the domestic economy was estimated to be £138.7 million, at a time when this income was greatly needed.Read the full case study

Traditional and digital media were employed to bring Icelanders to-gether in support of a national event, ‘Iceland hour’, to achieve this goal.

During this event, the country’s prime minister made a live address on TV and the web, and its citizens took time out from their everyday lives to champion the country on the web, especially social media. Live webcams also showed potential visi-tors that its spectacular scenery was not covered in ash.

A variety of companion content was released, from footage of Ice-land’s main tourist hubs to interviews with celebrities like Eric Clapton, Yoko Ono and Viggo Mortensen, as well as politicians and consumers.

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CHAPTER 8

LEARNING FROMEMERGING MARKETS>> Why brands should study the rise of ‘reverse innovation’

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The key is loyalty. You need to offer interactions. Remember China is the most wired market in the worldMarie Han Silloway, Chief of Marketing, Starbucks China

At a glance Emerging markets KEY INSIGHTS

1 ‘Reverse innovation’ refers to ideas that originate in emerging markets and are then exported to other territories. This is becoming increasingly common. Advertisers such as Unilever, for example, are using emerging markets to test mobile strategies. Social media innovation is particularly common in China.

2 Emerging markets such as India offer brands scope to experiment with forms of service provision and co-creation. Kissanpur Tomato Ketchup distributed tomato seeds to mothers and children, and created a tomato plantation in central Mumbai to house the plants they grew.

3 In fast-growing markets where product categories are still being established, product innovation can be an effective starting-point for communications. Dettol developed a new format designed for China, and used a word-of-mouth initiative to encourage take-up.

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Source: comScore, via Warc News

7%Growth in time spent online in the Asia-Pacific region over the past year, faster

than Europe (5%) and North America (1%)

Brands look for ‘reverse innovation’Brands are increasingly seeing emerging markets as cradles of innovative thinking.

Brands have traditionally taken successful products, tactics and campaigns from mature markets and localised them in emerging nations. But the flow of ideas is starting to move more forcefully in the opposite direction, a trend dubbed ‘reverse in-novation’ or ‘trickle-up innovation’.

Markets such as India or China place very different demands on marketers than more established ter-ritories, and global brands often find they have to rethink their products to meet local tastes, local pricepoints, and local social, economic or retail structures.

The idea of ‘reverse innovation’ isn’t wholly new. It is, however, growing in scale. When L’Oréal, the beauty group, set up marketing and R&D hubs in China and India, its aim was to deliver local lines that could, in certain cases, “be rolled out in the rest of the world using the principle of reverse innovation,” according to Jean-Paul Agon, the firm’s chief executive. Total Solutions 5, originat-ing from Brazil, is just one example of this to date.

Another area is the use of social media. The importance of this channel in China, where it has

become a key platform for entertainment, discussion and discovery, is driving innovation in that market. Brands should look at

Sina Weibo, a micro-blog that started

as a Twitter clone then evolved rapidly to meet local needs. The latest up-and-coming Chi-nese platform is WeChat, a voice- and text-message service

that is already growing fast inter-nationally.

Some ideas are specific to their home markets, but there are undoubtedly lessons from these territories which marketers elsewhere can draw.

Similar developments can be seen in communications. In Mexico, Gato-rade, PepsiCo’s sports drink, focused messaging on sports nutrition and the fact people tend to train in groups. This ap-proach was later rolled out in Brazil and used to opti-mise Gatorade’s strategy in other regions.

Mobile marketing is one area where reverse innovation can be felt. Babs Rangaiah, Unile-ver’s vice-presi-dent, global media innovation and ventures, has sug-gested the FMCG group will allocate most of its mobile adspend to emerging markets, where these gadgets often con-stitute the primary means of accessing the internet.

Gatorade changed its messaging to focus on sports nutrition

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Case study Kissan Tomato KetchupCampaignKissanpur

AdvertiserHindustan Unilever

AgencyMindshare India

MarketIndia


Kissan communicated its natural ingredients to both mothers and children

The Indian ketchup brand over-came category commoditisation by helping mothers and children learn how to grow tomatoes.

CHALLENGE

Kissan Tomato Ketchup, made by Hindustan Unilever, had a long histo-ry dating back to 1933, and enjoyed awareness levels of 97%. Heritage and a well-known name, however, were not sufficient to fight off the charge of lower-cost alternatives.

While Kissan Tomato Ketchup was made entirely with real tomatoes, this promise of product superiority was not gaining traction with consumers.

This problem is common to many low-involvement categories where preferences are frequently shaped by price rather than by quality.

SOLUTION

In order to change this, it was de-cided that Kissan’s natural creden-tials needed to be communicated to mothers, who choose what to buy, and children, who were a major influ-ence on these decisions.

The expression ‘100% real’ went beyond ingredients for most moth-ers, and meant taking children away from urban life and modern

housing more than 7,000 plants grown by participating children, and the top 100 entrants received a personalised ketchup bottle.

RESULTS

Overall, the launch campaign reached more than 2.5 million con-sumers, and the brand’s multimedia campaign was seen by 8.2 million people within the target group, or 60% of relevant shoppers.

Some 62% of the female online population were also exposed to the campaign. Overall, value sales rose by 31%, while volume sales grew by 23% and average consumption increased by 7%.Read the full case study

technology in order to enjoy outdoor experiences.

Building on this learning, the ‘Kissanpur’ – or ‘farmers’ land’ – programme helped mothers and children grow their own tomatoes by giving away seeds in newspapers, via a dedicated website and through partnerships with schools.

Kissan provided hints and tips about growing tomatoes through var-ious channels. It also used platforms including radio, online and mobile to promote a competition whereby consumers could win prizes if they uploaded pictures of their tomatoes to a dedicated microsite.

A crowdsourced plantation was then created in central Mumbai,

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Case study DettolCampaignMessages Interrupt, Utility Delights

AdvertiserReckitt Benckiser

AgencyAdvocacy WOM

MarketChina


Mothers shared the Dettol spray bottle with their friends

The antiseptic liquid made progress in second-tier Chinese cities by enlisting influential mothers to help promote a product innovation.

CHALLENGE

Dettol was the leader in its category in China’s largest cities, with a mar-ket share of 40%, whereas in second-tier cities, where affluence was rising rapidly, this figure fell below 10%.

As Dettol had a similar formula-tion and positioning – based around killing 99.9% of germs – to its main rivals, it needed a new way to attract consumers in emerging urban hubs.

The tendency among shoppers to buy a 1.2-litre bottle of Dettol was another limitation, as its product was typically hidden away out of sight, and restocking rates were low.

SOLUTION

In response, Dettol drew on two insights: Chinese consumers had significant concerns about family health and preventing illness; and the product was not being used in as versatile a way as in other markets.

To show health-conscious shoppers that Dettol can kill germs anywhere, it developed a 100ml spray bottle which could be used on the go.

owned retail spaces asked to distrib-ute them to friends and customers.

RESULTS

The campaign reached 46% of the target audience, with top-of-mind awareness growing fivefold, and the intent to buy doubling.

Shipments of Dettol also leapt by 80% compared with the period before the campaign. With just one-tenth of the budget required for TV advertis-ing, the campaign delivered nearly three-quarters of the impact.Read the full case study

In promoting this unique-to-China innovation, the company recruited mothers with a particular interest in health and hygiene, and who had considerable social influence.

These mothers were given a spray kit for themselves, and a further ten to pass on to friends. Dettol kept in touch with them using the QQ mes-saging service, and set them ‘mis-sions’ so they could earn points and climb a leaderboard.

Once demand had run out, 50,000 extra bottles were produced, with top advocates who worked in offices or

http://www.warc.com/Content/Documents/A96588_Dettol_Messaging_Interrupts,_Utility_Delights.content?ID=6f042769-e733-4860-99ad-edfd38920568

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© Copyright Warc 2013. All rights reserved. Published: January, 2013© Copyright Warc 2013. All rights reserved.

WARC TRENDS

SERIOUSLY SOCIAL>> A casebook of effectiveness trends in social media campaigns

>> By Peter Field and Carlos Grande

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© Copyright Warc 2013. All rights reserved. Published: June 2013

WARC TRENDS

FIRST MOVERS>> How North American brands are leading the marketing revolution


FIRST MOVERSWarc’s First Movers report analyses how major brands are responding to the most important trends affecting marketers in North America. It includes adspend analysis and forecasts for the region.

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SERIOUSLY SOCIALSeriously Social is Warc’s study of effectiveness trends in social media campaigns. It includes analysis of how social is used in the world’s best effectiveness cases.

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CASE FINDERYou can find all Warc case studies, including those cited in this report, by searching our unrivalled database, which is organised by cam-paign objective, country, industry sector, audience, media channels, budget and campaign duration. Find a case.

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