ADWORDS PUZZLE CAMPAIGN: FIND THE KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS WITH GOOGLE

TitleADWORDS PUZZLE CAMPAIGN: FIND THE KEY TO BUSINESS SUCCESS WITH GOOGLE
BrandGOOGLE JAPAN
Product / ServiceGOOGLE ADWORDS
CategoryA01. Mailings
EntrantMRM // McCANN Tokyo, JAPAN
Entrant Company MRM // McCANN Tokyo, JAPAN
Advertising Agency MRM // McCANN Tokyo, JAPAN

The Brief

Most DM isn’t read, is boring, and has low response rates. The challenge was to cut through the clutter in a very low-interest category and tell what is actually a very interesting story: how Google AdWords offers tailored online advertising solutions to help businesses of any size make their presence known. Once businesspeople experience AdWords for themselves, they almost invariably become converts. So our DM had to immediately intrigue recipients and lead them to engage with AdWords. The overall campaign objective was to gain new customers by increasing understanding of AdWords and demonstrating their relevance, especially to smaller businesses.

Creative Execution

Searching for the combination to the locked box on Google automatically led to the targets’ actively engaging with Google and experiencing at firsthand how AdWords works. On unlocking the box, targets found a Japanese scroll and fan presenting Google in a playful and human way. The scroll provided more information about AdWords and included the URL of a microsite giving details about Google’s advertising solutions and offering direct access to Google Japan’s sales team. This was combined with eDMs, retargeting ad banners and workshops, creating a multi-touchpoint campaign around the relevance of AdWords for Japanese businesses.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

To seize recipients’ interest and make them think twice before throwing it away, we presented them with a puzzle: a padlocked box. They were invited to search for a phrase on Google to discover the padlock’s combination and gain access to the contents. The DM content itself was beautifully designed to strengthen and reassure potential customers of Google Japan’s commitment to them and the Japanese market. By withholding the contents of the box until the recipients had begun to engage with our campaign we were able to create a unique and lasting impression and avoid being neglected by our target.

Results

A new algorithm was developed for this campaign, allowing over 80,000 leads to be winnowed down to just 1,000 high potential prospects. The DM was sent to these select 1,000 and drew an astonishing response rate: 95% experienced AdWords, visited the key code microsite and unlocked the box. 51% also filled out a targeted online survey. In financial terms, Google achieved an unprecedented revenue increase of 90 times their campaign investment. And in relationship terms, Google was able to demonstrate the relevance of their AdWords product to almost all the target group in a warm, friendly, and very Japanese way.