GILLETTE CHINA – USING VIRTUAL REALITY TO DRIVE BRAND REAPPRAISAL

Short List
TitleGILLETTE CHINA – USING VIRTUAL REALITY TO DRIVE BRAND REAPPRAISAL
BrandPROCTER & GAMBLE
Product / ServiceGILLETTE FUSION PROGLIDE RAZOR
CategoryB01. Use of Screens
EntrantMEDIACOM Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation 2 ZHUHAI ATCOMM INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION COMPANY LIMITED Shanghai, CHINA
Media MEDIACOM CHINA Guangzhou, CHINA
PR BBDO CHINA Shanghai, CHINA
PR 2 ZHUHAI ATCOMM INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION COMPANY LIMITED Shanghai, CHINA
Idea Creation MEDIACOM CHINA Guangzhou, CHINA
Production BBDO AND PROXIMITY CHINA Shanghai, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Meiji Li MediaCom General Manager
Jake Joss MediaCom Planning & Insights Director
Sophie Yi MediaCom Planner
Vincent Pan MediaCom Manager
Clement Wu MediaCom Deputy General Manager
Gary Tan MediaCom Digital Director
Carmen Li MediaCom Search Supervisor
Engie Lu MediaCom Search Supervisor
Prasanna Kumar MediaCom P&G China lead
Sharon Ho BBDO and Proximity China Director Client Service
Hans Lopez-Vito BBDO and Proximity China Chief Strategy Officer
Awoo Lai BBDO and Proximity China Chief Creative Officer
Nicole Ma BBDO and Proximity China Executive Creative Partner
Santi Yan BBDO and Proximity China Associate Creative Director
Tree Wu BBDO and Proximity China Senior Art Director
Paper Li BBDO and Proximity China Copywriter
Biloker Ji BBDO and Proximity China Designer
Linda Bao BBDO and Proximity China Senior TV producer
Jef Ji @Comm Partner and VP
Windy Zhu @Comm Account Director

The Campaign

Our audience are never more than 1 metre from a screen…their smartphone. This screen is the centre of their world and a window to their passions and friends. For Gillette, communicating through screens is still incredibly successful however our young, tech focused audience crave more than a simple passive contact. They want to be as close to the action as possible. They want to experience, then share and impress their circle. Using the Fusion ProGlide Razor gives the user a shave that is closer than they would have ever experienced before. We therefore decided to reward buyers with a screen experience that is as close as the shave itself, a Virtual Reality 360 degree movie experience in which they became the star. For the first time ever in China, a brand used a screen to give their consumers a chance to live out one of their dreams…being an action hero.

Creative Execution

Our audience use screens in different ways for different content types so we used this truth to ensure we achieved the maximum impact for this campaign. Firstly, we launched a teaser video in people’s Wechat Moments during the build up to Singles Day (11th November), the biggest e-commerce day in China. We wanted to take advantage of the huge spike in activity at this time. This video informed consumers of the unique experience they could have and directed them through to ecommerce site JD.com. Secondly, an on-pack promotion asked consumers to scan a code and download to their smartphone the 360 degree Virtual Reality video experience, turning their screen from a passive medium into an immersive experience. By focussing on social we were confident that we were aligning ourselves with our audience’s desire to use their smartphone screen to both receive and transmit their latest and greatest experiences.

? In less than 8 hours the special packs sold out on all e-commerce sites ? Even after the special packs had sold out, sales that day went on to be double the year before ? The Brand Equity score for Gillette peaked in this month, regardless of investment in other areas across the rest of the year ? The brand health Index for Gillette achieved its highest figure for 3 years in this period ? The video promotion on Wechat achieved 52 million impressions ? Across earned media campaign generated 900 Million impressions (against a KPI of 100 Million) and achieved 600 Million interactions (KPI: 200 Million)

For this campaign, we employed an approach never seen before in China. We knew we had to do something different, we needed a media solution that would stand out in a cluttered marketplace. Whilst the Fusion ProGlide Razor with FlexBall Technology gives an incredibly close shave, this type of message is taken for granted in this category which means it is incredibly difficult for products to cut through. To guarantee the impact therefore, we needed to give consumers an experience that was a close as the shave itself. The medium had to literally be the message.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We were in a unique situation where the medium really was the message. The task then was to allow this experience to become a medium in itself; broadcasting the brand message to a broader base. Younger men live their lives on social media. They constantly update their profile, showing how they are ahead of the curve. It is also in social that they look for their latest fix of tech gadgets and news. Buying reach in areas like TV just wasn’t going to cut it with this new progressive, almost impatient consumer. We had to engage with them where they naturally congregated and also do it in a way that would use the strength of the 360 VR experience to pull our target audience in. Our strategy therefore was to be social first, sew the seed of the campaign there and then watch as earned media took over.

Links

Social Media URL