Demand a ViewSonic

Background

ViewSonic is a manufacturer of visual display products. Their range includes ergonomic LCD computer monitors, famed for their improved physical and visual comfort. With little corporate consciousness of poor monitor ergonomics, and the effects on employee health, ViewSonic wanted to raise awareness of the issue, and their ergonomic range. ChemistryTM’s objectives were multi-fold. They needed to educate the corporate market about the issues of poor monitor ergonomics; increase awareness of the brand in a confused, commoditised European marketplace; challenge large, established brands by assuming thought leadership in the category; take an idea-centred rather than product-centred approach; and generate sales leads. All while making a maximum impact on the audience, not the budget.

Idea

Within the crowded European monitor marketplace, ViewSonic lacked the brand visibility that it has in North America. To find a point of difference, the agency conducted research in key European markets, uncovering some painful truths about the impact of poor monitors in the workplace. With 60% of European office workers suffering problems like headaches and eye fatigue, and 77% believing they’d be more productive with an upgraded workspace, the study found a strong link between poor monitors and staff health, satisfaction and productivity. The agency now had an opportunity to make a big noise about the issue, and bring about some big changes in both corporate attitudes and monitor purchasing. However, they were up against serious corporate apathy regarding monitor refreshment, with companies hanging onto monitors far longer than current standards recommend. The challenge then was to encourage users to ‘Demand a ViewSonic’, and companies to be responsible and caring.

With top level concern centred on reduced productivity and profits resulting from extended sick leave, the agency decided that they needed to make visible the employees’ side of the story. Cue the visual effects of repeated abuse by poor monitors. Raw imagery and messaging made clear that it’s not just the business that hurts. Communicating the message, ‘Don’t turn your back on the victims of monitor abuse’, it’s a stark and challenging approach to monitor advertising that couldn’t be ignored by companies, or users. Images appeared on magazine cover wraps, posters and press ads. The online executions in particular dramatise the physical effects of poor monitors on their users, as the dynamic medium allows the initially healthy-looking images to change before our eyes to reveal lumps, bumps and bruises (see www.monitorvictims.com).

Results

Within three days following the first UK press publication - the cover wrap - the website received more than 750 visits. 4,000 people followed in the first month, and 10,000 within three months - in the UK alone. So far, the website has received over 56,000 unique hits, almost 14,000 downloads and survey respondents, and 1,700 competition entries from seven countries.

Target Audience

IT directors and managers who make the initial monitor purchase decision but must present a compelling argument to CEOs to approve the purchase

Our Thoughts

Most of us in this business spend far too many hours each day crouched over a computer screen. Well, here’s a graphic warning that a lot of monitors can give you back trouble. ViewSonic, on the other hand, make monitors that are ergonomically better for you. It’s certainly a differentiating position to take in a market in which there may be plenty of brand names but few real brands.