The Brief

Lenovo ThinkPad's business image didn’t relate well to the increasingly important university student target in China. So ThinkPad needed to connect with this younger group, and help them get to know about ThinkPad’s relevant advantages. The objective was to inspire students’ curiosity about the ThinkPad, and let them understand that the ThinkPad is different from other IT brands. ThinkPad is plain black, and its appearance is less than exciting for our target, but the technology inside is cutting edge. So our strategy was to get our target to explore the magic under the “mysterious black hood”.

Creative Execution

With the aim of overcoming the perception among the student target that the ThinkPad wasn’t for them, the campaign found a way to attract students through a playful character (3D rendered with high production values) and the latest cool technology, and engage them into better understanding the laptop’s benefits. It was the very first time AR was used through the Web in China. And in the end, it sold more product than the client previously thought possible.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Youth in China have a special affection for plastic capsule vending machines. This insight helped hatch ThinkPad’s Mystery Egg. Students were introduced to the Egg character through campus events, BBS, and renren.com—China’s most popular social networking site—which led them to the 3D coin-operated machines on the ThinkPad site, where the capsules and Eggs were released. Augmented Reality, from mobile devices to the website, allowed the Mystery Egg character to demonstrate ThinkPad benefits in a way students thought was cool and entertaining.

Results

Within one month of the website launch it received nearly 2.5 million page views. Unique viewers totaled over 462 thousand and the campaign resulted in over 9,100 laptops sold, the best sales numbers by far Lenovo had ever enjoyed with the university market.