INVISIBLE DARKNESS

TitleINVISIBLE DARKNESS
BrandCHERVON
Product / ServiceCHERVON
CategoryE01. Integrated Campaign led by Promo & Activation
EntrantSOHO SQUARE BEIJING, CHINA
Idea Creation SOHO SQUARE BEIJING, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Aldora Wang Soho Square Beijing Business Director
Tina Pang Soho Square Beijing Account Director
Tina Zhao Soho Square Beijing Senior Account Manager
Hongwai Fong Soho Square Beijing Planning Director
Yi Li Soho Square Beijing Chief Data Officer
He Huang Soho Square Beijing Senior Consultant
Sheng Xiong Soho Square Beijing Consultant
Ning Xiao Soho Square Beijing Emerging Platform Director
Asty Yao Soho Square Beijing Senior Consultant
Le Li Soho Square Beijing Senior System Consultant
Bozhan Zhang Soho Square Beijing Creative Director
Doug Schiff Soho Square Beijing Executive Creative Director
Fei Wang Soho Square Beijing Head of Art
Sisi Xing Soho Square Beijing Associate Creative Director
Tengo Wen Soho Square Beijing Copywriter
Henry Gao Soho Square Beijing Art Director
Eric Wu Soho Square Beijing Creative Technology Designer

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. The idea was supported by a strong engagement mechanism designed to encourage online participation through an offline event.

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

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable 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 virtual carbon paintings. 480M impression on social media. Over 30,500 actions such as like, retweet and comment (Source: Agency tracking). Change in behavior & consumer awareness: 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).

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

Chevron needed a market-entry strategy to promote a fuel additive product Techron, which is a low engagement category that most Chinese drivers love to hate. Instead of droning on about product benefits, we floored consumers with art created with carbon deposits, which Techron was designed to clean. Once consumers’ curiosity was peaked, an online-to-offline-to-online journey would lead them to interact with our brand and product. The results were magical: not only did the campaign bring Techron to life with a sold-out record, it also amplified social impact and increased brand engagement by encouraging consumers to create their own carbon paintings.

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. 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 world-first exhibition. Offline event: engagement with art and brand/product interaction at brand zone with link to official site. Online engagement: encouragement to create virtual carbon painting and enticement to purchase product.

Links

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