The Campaign

The Sony W Series MP3, a waterproof MP3 enabling people to listen to music underwater, was struggling to grab consumer attention because of a unique problem – it sounded too good to be true. Many grappled with the belief that the product really worked. As a result, FCB PR & Activation faced the challenge of finding a way to engage consumers and increase sales, while proving without a doubt the Sony W Series MP3 is 100% effective. The solution? Engaging target audiences by providing the ultimate product demonstration, the bottled MP3; an MP3 available for purchase within a water-filled bottle. The campaign began with PR activation. Bottled MP3s were installed in vending-machines at gyms and aquatic centres around Auckland, targeting consumers where they needed the product most. Phase two saw the roll out of a contra-based PR programme, using the bottle as “new news” to re-engage consumer media that had already featured the MP3, effectively swapping a $99 product for valuable editorial space. Phase three involved targeting social influencers, encouraging them to trial the product and share feedback with their followers. Phase four focused on content seeding, creating video content around the activation and sharing it with key media. As the sole activity around the MP3, this resulted in the product completely selling out in the New Zealand market, as well as coverage in 20 coutries, across 139 media, reaching a potential audience of 520,200,000. The product also rose from the 35th to the 3rd most popular item on www.sony.co.nz.

The Brief

FCB PR was tasked with the following objectives: • Lift December and January sales of the W Series MP3 by 20% (versus 2013 monthly average sales per month). Typical Christmas lift for the category was c10% • Achieve coverage of the Sony W Series MP3 in national New Zealand media during the summer period • Promote the unique capabilities of the Sony W Series MP3 in all communications, helping New Zealanders understand the new realm of possibilities available with the innovative W Series MP3

Results

The campaign achieved a 400% sales uplift, 380% more than the original target. Sony completely sold out of the product in December. The product also rose from the 35th to the 3rd most popular product on www.sony.co.nz. Contra-based PR re-ignited damp media relations, securing coverage in mass titles including Woman’s Day and NZ Woman’s Weekly online. The client even used the bottle to secure coverage on TV One’s Breakfast. The seeded content to online media and social outreach earned coverage which grew exponentially, with key messages secured in 100% of coverage and readers sharing the content more than 56,262 times via social media. Highlights included coverage of the bottled MP3 by Perez Hilton, Mashable, Reddit, TIME.co.uk, and the UK’s Independent. By turning a humble water bottle into a leverage-able ‘owned’ asset that could surprise and demonstrate the product, we reached a potential audience of more than 520 million people worldwide.

Execution

• We filled the top two shelves of an energy drink vending machine with our bottles • The vending machine moved around three Auckland aquatic centres during December and January • Using the water bottle as “new news”, we re-contacted many of the consumer media that had already featured the W Series MP3, offering a free bottled MP3 as a reader promo prize • We then rolled-out a social media outreach programme, targeting: o People that were talking about the aquatic centres that housed our vending machine, identified through social listening o High profile sports people. Seventeen active social media users were identified and sent an image of our water bottle o A handful of swimmer “super influencers” that offered potential earned reach and were known swimmers • Interaction with the activation was filmed and seeded as sharable content to online national and international advertising publications, celebrating the innovative idea and encouraging global coverage

The Situation

Sony launched the MP3 in March 2013, with high hopes it would be well-received by consumers. Unfortunately, it failed to make a splash in the electronics market. Sales were poor and the product sunk to the 35th most popular product on the Sony website. Six months on, Sony was desperate to give the product another push. The question was, “why is buzz around the product so damp?” The answer came after explaining to potential buyers that the product lets you listen to music underwater. The standard response was a disbelieving “really?”. Our challenge was convincing consumers the product really worked.

The Strategy

The W Series MP3 was old news; journalists had already been approached when the product first launched. It was clear that telling people the product was waterproof wasn’t convincing enough. We needed to prove it. Our strategy was to dramatise the product in a way that would not only demonstrate its waterproof credentials, but also earn some much-needed media coverage. We created an entirely new ‘owned’ asset, one that would demonstrate the product, get it in front of swimmers and re-ignite conversation around the waterproof MP3 in a way it hadn’t been before. This owned asset was the humble water bottle. We would submerge the W Series MP3 in transparent water bottles; then through innovative placement and influencer outreach use these surprising new ‘owned’ assets to get swimmers, and the nation, talking.