MERCEDES B-CLASS
Mercedes-Benz was targeting the young-minded with its new mid $30K B-Class. Lowe Roche had to appeal to a broader market without tarnishing the car company’s reputation with its core upscale target. They decided to marry contrary notions of the new brand: It’s a compact car that isn’t small and is also safe. It’s an inexpensive car with expensive design. And it’s a Mercedes-Benz model that’s fun.
The creative drove people to theanswerisb.ca, where they could take a virtual tour that encouraged them to visit their local dealership. When the campaign had just launched, dealers were already reporting higher traffic and an expanded demo of people walking through their doors. And only two weeks after the launch, over 150
B-Classes had already been sold.
STELLA ARTOIS
In 2005 Lowe Roche sought to develop Stella Artois further with cinema, outdoor, TV, and print highlighting the beer’s rich history and Belgian credentials. It took advantage of unique promotions such as the international Stella Artois Draught Master competition.
A special booklet was inserted into city magazines across the country and Stella tied into the Toronto International Film Festival again this year, featuring work specially developed for the event. The results? By the end of August 2005, Stella Artois was up 38% for the year to date. And incidentally, the agency contributed the most creative to the global pool than any other Lowe office.
NESTEA
Lowe Roche was first hired to work on Nestea in 2002. At that time, the Nestea Plunge – the backward splash into a pool – had very strong equity, but the brand had become tired. Lowe needed to refresh the Plunge to skew younger while staying true to the brand promise of all-over-body refreshment. Starting that year, the agency started playing with the idea of the Plunge. In 2005, the question became: ‘Just how powerful is the Nestea Plunge?’ which was explored through fun TV and outdoor ads.
Response to the campaign has been substantial. In 2002, Nestea had a 40% share. By August 2005 the share had increased to 61.6% – up over 10 share points from 2004.
TORONTO ZOO
What do kids think of the zoo? ‘The zoo has animals, but it’s missing entertainment,’ Lowe Roche found in its research. So the agency needed to convince kids and their parents that animals, especially real live ones, were fun. The advertising focused on the insight that with so much of today’s entertainment being manufactured – from television to video games to amusement parks – consumers are actually craving experiences with the real world.
Lowe Roche created television and cinema spots, print, and even a flipbook, using stuffed animals to demonstrate how ‘un-amazing’ the fake world is, and to show how life is more exciting with real beasts. The agency also launched a new tagline for the zoo: ‘Same planet. Different world.’
This year’s campaign has been one of the most talked about the Toronto Zoo has ever run. Torontonians who went out of their way to contact the zoo called it ‘fresh, funny and highly entertaining’ and said it ‘really makes me want to visit the zoo.’ And, despite one of the hottest summers on record (historically heat has been bad for zoo attendance), the Toronto Zoo exceeded its attendance objectives this year for the critical April through August period.
VIRGIN MOBILE
Virgin Mobile felt cell customers were frustrated by long-term contracts and hidden fees. Lowe Roche’s campaign tapped into this cynicism by creating ‘The Catch,’ making all the industry ills sound like an STD. The agency started with transit, street posters and small-space print to emulate a public health alert. It drove youth to microsite curethecatch.ca. On March 1, Virgin head Richard Branson launched the brand in Canada. Within days, the fully integrated campaign was rolled out nationally, including Catch Test print inserts, collateral, display and guerrilla, as well as traditional and online media. ‘The Catch’ generated 155 million media impressions and unaided awareness of Virgin Mobile was as high as 24% two weeks following the launch. Branson called it ‘the best launch of a Virgin business to date.’
