Bekol, Israel's Organization for the Hard of Hearing
Bekol, Israel's Organization for the Hard of Hearing
Issue 48 | September 2018
Agency
BBR Saatchi & Saatchi
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Idan Regev Creative Director Kobi Cohen Creative Technology Director Roy Zoaretz Copywriter Ran Even Art Director Shani Sofer
Production Team
VP Content & Production Dorit Gvili Marcom Director Eva Hasson Video Editor Leehou Porat
Other Credits
CEO Yossi Lubaton VP Client Services Ben Muskal Account Executive Shiran Atuan Rachamim
Date
April 2018
Background
Spotify had been available in many other countries for years but in April 2018 it was about to arrive in Israel. This was a much anticipated event for young music lovers.
It was also an opportunity for Bekol, Israel’s organisation for the hard of hearing, to warn this group of the dangers of listening to music too loud.
In fact, some people as young as 40 were having to have hearing aids fitted.
Idea
Knowing fully well that Israeli youngsters would automatically search for Spotify on Google, the relevant adwords were purchased in order to promote a site with a very similar domain name as spotify.com, spotify.org.il.
Youngsters who fell into the trap were taken to the lookalike website where they were presented with the unexpected message that ‘Spotify is now available in Israel, but not for the thousands of hard of hearing. Playing music too loudly means many youngsters are finding out they may need a hearing aid by the age of 40. Bekol, Israel's Organization for the Hard of Hearing, is here to help prevent that and you can help’.
Not wishing to antagonise Israeli youngsters, they were given just 30 seconds to make a donation before being automatically redirected to the real Spotify website.
Results
Hacking Spotify paid off as the brand managed to get up close and personal with the internet's hardest to reach demographic and confront them with a message which they may not want to hear but may not be able to in the near future.
There was a 65% increase in traffic to Bekol’s website and a 200% increase in donations.
Our Thoughts
Cunning is not often thought of as being a requisite for creativity. But, when you want to talk to people who absolutely, positively do not want to talk to you, then occasionally you may have to resort to underhand tactics. Like deliberately duping them into going to the wrong website.
In this issue of Directory there are some brilliantly sophisticated examples of how to get the right message to the right people at the right time and in the right place (OVK, Caples Gold winner on page 14, for instance). But sometimes all it takes is clarity of purpose and being a bit street-smart.