Fail or Holy Grail? Let's check out Unilever

Brands, organizations and foundations use Social Media to spread their ideas, sell their products and get attention. Almost every brand, organization or foundation uses Social Media in one or another way. Every Friday I will write about a brand, organization or foundation and their social media campaign, but is this a fail or a holy grail? This week I will discuss the Cornetto campaign of Unilever, which allowed people on the streets to play a game projected on a building in Istanbul.

 

The message that Cornetto wanted to spread was that Cornetto helps reach out to people that you want to be with: Cornetto ice can act as an icebreaker. They did not want art for art's sake, but they wanted a campagin with true interactivity that would be linked to the brand's key message.


They chose Istanbul as their location, but when doing an outdoor event a clearly location is one of the most critical elements. Unilever chose Beyoglu, because this is the nightlife and pedestrian center of Istabul: over 1 million people pass every day.


The actual campaign was about playing a game displayed on a building. A special number was projected onto the wall of the building and customers could dial this number to get connected to the game. An IVR (Interactive Voice Respond) welcomed them and explained the game. Each player was assigned a different color character on the "screen" and the players had to move their character (by using the keys of their mobile phone) around and try to catch 3 Cornetto ice creams in less than 45 seconds. When a player succeeded, the player got a big heart on the screen and received an SMS with a coupon for a real Cornetto at the event bar.


This campaign was very succesfull, but what made this campaign succesfull? The first thing is the multiplayer part: a large number of people could be involved simultaneously. Moreover, there was competition between the players, because everyone tried to catch the same ice creams on the screen. The last thing is the reward part of the game: having a real reward - an ice cream - on a hot summer night made it worth playing.


In short, this campaign was defenitely a holy grail! It was a stroke of genius to do a interactive outdoor campaign with a lot of people at the same time, spreading their message of togetherness and at the same time creating togetherness plus promoting their ice creams. Therefore, it was quite rightly that Unilever won the award for best mobile advertising & marketing campaign.


This short video shows you the game in action and gives you a good sense of the overall feel of the event.

Until next time,
Eline Jansen, Mediaholic


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