Silver - The Buzzing Postcard

Background

SC Johnson wanted holiday-makers in popular tourist resorts to be aware that there are a lot of mosquitoes in those places and OFF! Repellent is the best way to deal with them.

Idea

A postcard was developed with an electronic sound chip, reproducing the buzzing of a mosquito. Once activated, there was no way to shut it off, just like the maddening experience of having a real mosquito buzzing around.

Valet-parking personnel of popular restaurants were used to place the postcards under the drivers’ seats of the cars they parked. When the owners returned to their vehicles, they started looking for the origin of this exasperating buzzing. Eventually they found the piece under the seat, reminding them of the mosquito problem and urging them to buy OFF!

Results

Sales increased by 180% versus the same period in 2007.?The brand won additional and preferential exhibition space with the biggest retailers and sold out in supermarkets during the activation. The piece generated considerable word of mouth and became a viral toy, passing from hand to hand.

Our Thoughts

This campaign caught our eye as an inventive solution to the problem at hand. Utilising valet personnel to execute the distribution of the postcard was a very effective and unique method of making sure the target audience was exposed to the campaign. This was then pushed further again by the buzzing noise once activated. This not only gets the audience to interact with the campaign but also evokes emotion through the irritating memorable noise.