The Campaign

The category has a fatal problem: While consumers are aware of carbon deposits, they are not interested in the issue—out of sight, out of mind. However, they can be convinced at an affective level with idea that sparks curiosity and invites participation (Source: TNS and agency research). It became apparent that the campaign needed to make the ‘invisible’ problem visible. The idea “Invisible Darkness” was born. At the core of the idea was to visualize carbon deposit problem in a deceptively simple, but ground-breaking way: We gathered carbon deposits from engines to create beautiful art. The aim was to breathe life into a category in which the leading narrative is often more technical than engaging. Once the audience’s attention was fully immersed in the art made possible by the problem they often ignored, we would then lead them to start interacting with our brand, product and solution.

Creative Execution

Implementation & timeline: 1. Anticipation. Created buzz online to attract consumer curiosity prior to the event. 2. Invitation --> Imagination --> Revelation. At the “Invisible Darkness” exhibition, the first artwork was an “invitation” designed to bring attendants into a journey of exploration. The second piece sparked “imagination” as people witnessed art being created in real time. The last animation was a “revelation” of how carbon deposits harm cars and the environment. 3. Solution. Once awareness was raised, consumers were encourage to scan QR code made of engine valves to go online to learn more about the Techron solution, to create their own carbon paintings, and to purchase product. Timeline: From Jan. 4-10, 2016 Placement: Ads were placed on auto-vertical sites and lifestyle focus media. Geo-targeting technology was employed to deliver message to people near the exhibition location. Scale: Online media: USD 65,137 Geo-targeting: USD 53,746

Results

Business impact: -Sold out during the campaign week and became the category leader. Total sales exceeded top online sellers Korper Besonders’ weekly average by 5.9 times, and closest competitor 3M’s by 18.3 times (Source: JD.com, confidential). Response rate: - Offline engagement: Over 10K visitor footprint at exhibition. 3,000 visitors engaged, including those who registered to become WeChat fans. Over 20 media attended the event. 122 media publicity. - Online engagement: 144,000 campaign site unique visitors. 45% bounce rate, a 5 times improvement from before. 4919 user-generated content pieces. 480M impression on social media. Over 30,500 actions such as like, retweet and comment (Source: Agency tracking). Change in behavior: Organic search volume on “clean carbon deposits” grew by 340% during campaign period, an increase in awareness and interests on the carbon deposit problem (Source: Baidu data, agency tracking).

Fuel additives clean carbon deposits in car engines. They are a low engagement category that most Chinese drivers love to hate. So when Chevron was ready to launch its fuel additive Techron online, the question became: How to market a product that nobody is interested in? To overcome the challenge, an engagement strategy was executed to cultivate fans among indifferent crowd with a beautifully designed journey aimed to foster interaction and encourage purchase. Products were sold out during the campaign week, proving that engaging creativity really does help even the most uninteresting product find its fans and its market.

An affective market-entry strategy. Social listening revealed that most consumers are unsure of the effectiveness of fuel additives. Syndicated research further uncovered that the majority of non/lapsed-users are skeptical about the category as a whole. In order to widen the small pool of fuel additives users, the campaign focused on targeting the Disengaged, consumers who are less receptive toward the category. Although they sense no urgency in the carbon deposit problem, engagement at an affective level is possible with idea that sparks curiosity and invites participation. Among the persuadable, they are skewed to affluent drivers who live in top tier cities (Source: TNS). An “experiential” campaign was designed for an o(online teaser)-to-o(offline activation)-to-o (online engagement) experience. Online teaser: invitation to attend worldfirst exhibition. Offline event: engagement with art and brand/product interaction at brand zone with link to official site. Online engagement: Techron solution and enticement to purchase product.