A journey of Faith – The Return of Ferrorama
Issue 16 | September 2010
Agency
DDB Brazil
Creative Team
Creative Directors: Sergio Valente, Moacyr Netto, Daniel Bottas, Joao Mosterio, Andre Pedroso, Cassiano Saldanha, Pedro Gravena, Rodrigo Almeida; Copywriter: Moacyr Netto; Art Directors: Daniel Bottas, Leo Ehrlich, Marcelo Bruzzesi
Production Team
Social Media Strategists: Bruno Tozzini, Fabio Seixas, Steve Pereira, Ariane Garcia; Project Managers: Fabio Seixas, Mariana Sanches; Digital Intelligence: Patricia Andrade; Producers: Marcus Macarroni. Marianna Sanches, Fabio Seixas, Emni Ali Fakih, Diego Lauton, Leo Freitas, Abruzzo Revolux, Sergio Filho
Other Credits
Sound: Cromo.sonica; Video: Guru Filmes; Owner of Orkut Community: Marco Markora; Clients: Carlos Tilkian, Aires Fernandes
Date
June 2010
Background
Ferrorama is a model train made by Estrela, the biggest toy brand in the country.
Though it was discontinued in the 1980’s, the agency discovered a community of over 3,000 Ferrorama fans on Orkut (the biggest social network in Brazil) and set about persuading Estrela to relaunch the product.
Idea
The president of Estrela posted a video speaking directly the leader of the Orkut fan-group, Marcos Markora.
If the company was to bring back the Ferrorama, he said, he wanted proof of the fans’ faith. They should get the train to run the last 20 km of the famous pilgrim’s way from Padron to the cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
If that wasn’t difficult enough in itself, they were given just 100 metres of track and were told the train was not allowed to stop at any time.
A website was created at www.voltaferrorama.com.br, where the journey could be watched live in videos, photos and tweets.
A blogger in Spain was chosen to look at all the messages on Twitter and read these with a megaphone to cheer the team up as they made their way.
A Facebook page was also created for fans to follow their progress.
After five days, they made it. And the president of Estrela had to honour his pledge to bring back the Ferrorama.
Results
490,000 unique views on the website, with no media budget. The story was published on more than 100 blogs and in 20 newspapers around the world and on a number of TV stations.
During the project, #voltaferrorama was 3 times the top trending topic of Brazilian Twitter. The average time spent on the website was 6 minutes and 16 seconds. On the website, 2,873 pre-order forms were submitted to purchase the new Ferrorama. And the team made more than 200 new friends during their trip.
Our Thoughts
This is bonkers, isn’t it? And that’s precisely why it worked in social media. It’s one of those ‘I can’t believe they did that…’ ideas.