Brief Explanation

Mobile data usage is very limited in China with the average Chinese consumer using only 122MB per month. When consumers are running low on data, people become very cautious and conservative on their data usage to avoid overuse charge, hence limiting their connections with friends. Doublemint is a brand about connecting people and our challenge is to ride on this “data” insight to seamlessly bridge the product and the digital world together. The idea is “barcode connections”, which cleverly leverage all of Doublmints’ biggest assets of: - mass distribution channels (over 2 million locations, over 90% of China) - existing product packaging with zero alteration (leveraging existing barcode on each pack) to create a massive connection campaign. Consumers simply buy a Doublemint product, open up their WeChat app, scan the barcode and get 30MB of free data for more connections between friends.

The Brief

The Challenge: For over 30 years, Doublemint has helped people in China connect with each other by giving them the fresh breath and confidence they need to say "hello" to someone new. But today, Chinese consumers have a multitude of new ways to connect which put Doublemint's brand mission in danger of becoming obsolete. With a media budget that was considerably lower than its competitors, we had to move fast. The Strategy: Doublemint had a massive distribution, covering over 2 million locations and over 90% of China. This gave the brand a strong real-world presence. What it needed was a stronger connection to the digital world. And without the ability to alter packaging to link the two, the solution needed to be innovative…

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Within the first month of the campaign, nearly 2 million people participated into the campaign. The buzz generated almost 400 million media impressions, worth 3 times the media spend. Most significantly, over 2,000,000MB of data was used to fulfill Doublemint's brand mission of helping people connect...in a whole new way. By repurposing the iconic barcode as a new portal for interactions, Doublemint created a groundbreaking new digital channel that can benefit every consumer...not to mention, every brand on the shelf.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Doublemint’s brand promise has always been about helping people connect with each other. Yet as new brands entered the market with new excitements and messages, we found that Doublemint had faded into the background and lost its place in people’s minds. Our mission was clear: we need to give people a reason to notice Doublemint while continue building on its brand promise. Our solution was simple yet fitting. We partnered with the largest platform in China where people connect and stay connected, WeChat. Leveraging its in-APP barcode scanner, we’ve transformed each pack of Doublemint into a mobile data provider so people can stay connected and continue to interact with each other. Consumers simply need to buy a pack of Doublemint and scan the barcode to receive mobile data for their phones. The activation had lasted for five weeks spanning from September 19 to October 24.