Share House
Issue 17 | December 2010
Agency
Wunderman Sydney
Creative Team
Creative Director: Matt Batten; Head of Copy: Jason Stubbs; Copywriter: Natalie Enright; Art Director: Amanda Glover, Paolo Meucci; Lead Designer: Chris Jerochim
Production Team
Head of Production: Paul Hayes; Head of Digital Production: Jo Durant; Group Account Director: Belinda Leworthy, Nicola Long; Account Manager: Kate Nicoli
Other Credits
Marketing Manager, Microsoft: Tim Hunt
Date
April 2010
Background
Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7 launched in August 2009. The company wanted to continue momentum in 2010 among a broad consumer audience (achieving approximately 500,000 brand impressions) and specifically engage 5,000 university students in the brand.
Idea
Instead of targeting the larger audience, the agency opted to target the smaller student audience and try to get them to take up and spread the message.
Since students are poor, they end up sharing things (cars, textbooks, food, houses). And since Windows 7 offers great sharing features, students were asked to share their love of Windows 7 with as many people as possible in any way possible. In return, the student who made the greatest effort and impact would win a Share House, rent free for 7 months, to share with their mates.
Results
7,427 students joined the Facebook group to compete for the share house (nearly 150% of target)
Student entries included social media activity, viral videos, stunts, radio interviews, blogs, print campaigns, newspaper ads, guerrilla activity at sporting events, TV appearances, celebrity endorsements, the Prime Minister of Australia, home-made billboards, in-game advertising and so much more
The winning student orchestrated a take over of the Sydney Royal Easter Show with thousands of flyers, banners, a Guinness Book of World Records attempt, and a radio interview broadcast to 90,000 people, all spreading the Windows 7 brand
The student activities achieved 10.4 million brand impressions to the wider consumer audience – more than 200 x target (ie. 2080%)
The winner now lives in a massive house rent-free with her best friend and continues to blog about her experiences, thanks to Windows 7
Our Thoughts
If the inducements are right, people are very happy to become brand ambassadors for you. The less fashionable you are as a brand then the more cash you need to throw behind your inducements to overcome indifference and apathy. A big, posh house for seven months was enough to get some 7,500 students to become media on Microsoft’s behalf.
The Australians seem to have a singular deftness of touch with this C2C form of marketing, what with Cummins Nitro’s ‘Best Job in The World’ for Queensland Tourism and Wunderman’s own ‘$10,000 hidden here’ campaign last year, also for Microsoft.