Carrefour: Virou.gr

Credits & Description:

Category: Direct Response Digital: Other Digital Platforms
Advertiser: CARREFOUR
Product/Service: RETAIL
Agency: F/NAZCA SAATCHI & SAATCHI
Chief Creative Officer: Fabio Fernandes (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Creative Director: Theo Rocha (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Art Director: Isabelle de Vooght (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Art Director: Roberta Harada (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Copywriter: Isaac Serruya (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Illustrator: Mauro Ferreira (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Programmer: Ariadne Gomes (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Programmer: Jefferson Russo (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Art Buyer: Edna Bombini (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Graphic Producer: Jomar Farias (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Graphic Producer: Carlos Vieira (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Planner Manager: José Porto (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Planner: Mark Cardoso (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Account Manager: Daniela Keller (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Account Assistant: Marcela Calfat (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Account Assistant: Giovana Prata (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Media Manager: Lica Bueno (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Media Team: Rafaela Queiroz (F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi)
Advertiser's Supervisor: José Melchter (Carrefour)
Advertiser's Supervisor: Arnaldo Karabachian (Carrefour)
Media placement: websites - internet - 2 may 2011

Describe the brief/objective of the direct campaign.
Our aim was to set off a social commitment action for Carrefour - a platform already in place, but lacking dynamism.

Furthermore, Carrefour needed to use the power of the brand and its large audience to enlist the public for a socially relevant cause - or, use the brand as a public catalyst.

In digital media terms, one thing that characterises Brazilians is that they are avid social media consumers. From the estimated 75m internet surfers, some 23% use Twitter on a regular basis. Brazilians’ footprint on Facebook has grown by 289% in 2011, amounting to some 28m.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective with reference to the projected response rates and desired outcome.
'Virou.gr' - a URL shortener with a heart. Thus, for every character shortened through Virou.gr, Carrefour donates 1 gramme of food to the Brazilian Red Cross. 'Virou.gr' in Portuguese means: 'turned into grammes'. On the platform-launching day, we sent out macaroni letter packages to digital influencers in Brazil and abroad. Printed on the package were instructions and an explanation of the platform. The call to action 'shorten URLs and fight hunger' was launched on May 2011, and enabled Brazilians to make a difference by way of their daily online surfing.

Explain why the creative execution was relevant to the product or service.
Carrefour - a major hypermarket chain in Brazil - is directly involved with food products and has set off many socio-environmental projects in the country. This fact notwithstanding, the company is still an underperformer when it comes to the digital world.

To encourage Carrefour consumers to support its social function, we created a URL Shortener whereby each shortened character was transformed into one gram of food to be donated. The public’s involvement was so enthusiastic that the first ton of food was garnered in the first 24 hours -- in a programme aimed at gathering 10 tons.

Describe the results in as much detail as possible with particular reference to the RESPONSE of the target audience including deliverability statistics, response rates, click throughs, sales cost per response, relationships built and overall return on investment.
24 hours after being launched, Virou.gr transmuted one million characters into one full ton of food. In a single day, 9,000 links were shortened; within the month, this number rose to 60,000 links. The website attracted web surfers from other countries, who were thrilled to participate in a lifesaving campaign by using their social media.

In November, Carrefour surpassed its initial goal of transforming 10m characters into 10 tons of food, and went on distributing food packages to the needy in many Brazilian cities like Palmares and Barreiros, being now ready to launch the second phase of the campaign.