Category: Best use or integration of digital media
Advertiser: CITROËN NETHERLANDS
Product/Service: CITROËN DS5
Agency: EURO RSCG AMSTERDAM
Agency: PERFECT FOOLS
Creative Director/Art Director: Peter Hamelinck (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Creative Director/Copywriter: Thijs De Boer (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Art Director: Matthijs Vrooijink (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Copywriter: Huub Haarhuis (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Strategy: Ralf Lambie (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Account: Robert Slot (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Account: Katelijn Van Lieshout (Euro RSCG Amsterdam)
Producer: Markus Björk (Perfect Fools)
Media placement: Radio - Radio 538 - 11-17 November 2011
Media placement: Facebook Ads - Facebook - 11-17 November 2011
Media placement: Blogger Outreach - Marketingfacts.nl, Dutchcowboys.nl, Flabber.nl, 925.nl - 16-17 November 2011
Media placement: Teaserfilm - Facebook Pre-Site, Youtube - 4-16 November 2011
Campaign Description
Because we used Facebook and Twitter as alternative content platforms, we didn’t have to deal with any restrictions or regulations, outside the regular Facebook and Twitter regulations.
Effectiveness
The Challenge:
How do you make the new DS5 the topic of conversation 3 months before it hits the showroom?
The Objective:
Give as many people as possible the opportunity to be the first to see first DS5 in the Netherlands.
The Strategy:
By offering everybody the chance to navigate, and win, the first DS5 via Twitter. The Citroën DS5 Twitter Race. The world’s first Twitter race that converts Tweets into reality.
The Execution:
We created a Facebook application that allowed followers to navigate the car on a 1-day user led tour around the Netherlands using the hash tag: #ds5race. Dutch TV presenter and rally driver Froukje de Both and her co-pilot asked the crowd in which direction the car should go: left or right, highway A10 or A1, Rotterdam or Amsterdam?
The Facebook app turned these Twitter answers into directions for the driver by calculating them into a percentage (73% left and 27% right). The most prolific Tweeter won the car by directing the drivers to his/her location. The 1-day race started in Amersfoort on November 17th at 9am. At 5 pm it stopped. The nearest Twitter user won. On the Facebook page, 2 live streaming cams kept the audience up to date. Google maps showed the position of the car.
Implementation
Targeting a digitally savvy audience, who turn to social media to catch up with friends or the latest headlines, made it essential to use Twitter and Facebook. We created a dedicated Facebook-page (featuring a countdown clock, a Google Map locator tool and a DS5 preview-section) where participants could follow the car via live stream and navigate it using the hash tag # ds5race.
We partnered with Holland’s most popular radio station Radio 538 and used Facebook ads and an active PR campaign to create the essential buzz, get the campaign started and share the latest locations of the car.
Outcome
Millions of people got the opportunity to read about the innovative and exciting Dutch pre-launch of the new Citroën DS5. The extensive PR and buzz campaign generated an earned PR value of around €2.8m and 38m+ OTS. Additional activities included paid blogger outreach, Facebook ads and an official media partnership with Dutch radio station 538, also reaching hundreds of thousands of people. During the 1-day race, tweets poured in with an average of 524 an hour, making #DS5race trending topic no.1 in the Netherlands. The number of Facebook ‘likes’ on the Citroën NL-page increased by 30.7%. All of this put together, the unique pre-launch campaign brought the brand DNA of Citroën ‘Creative Technology’ alive and made the new Citroën DS5 the topic of conversation in the Netherlands.