Stabilo: Stabilo True Colours [video]

Credits & Description:

Client: Stabilo International
Title: Stabilo True Colours
Category: Household Goods / Cleaning Products / Consumer Products
Agency: Jung von Matt Ag / Hamburg
Art Director: Alex Schmid, Saurabh Kakade
Writer: Eniola Falase
Creative Director: Andreas Hilbig
Designer: Jan-Hendrik Behne
Production Company: Npire Gmbh / Hamburg
Production: Infected Postproduction Hamburg, Germany
Producer: Ulrike Kramer, Georg Fechner, Dominik Schmidt
Design Firm: Infected Postproduction Gmbh / Hamburg
Executive Creative Director: Doerte Spengler-Ahrens
Pr / Marketing: Fechner Rechtsanwälte Partmbb / Hamburg
Programmer: Dieter Pries, Max Haesslein
Technical Producer: Gilg Frick
The two biggest lies on the Internet are: "I have read the terms and conditions," and "I agree to them". It’s a fact that nobody reads long and complex terms and conditions online, yet we all agree to them, consequently paying with our privacy. TrueColours, a new browser plug-in, highlights the critical sections in the terms and conditions in order for you to recognize these dangers at a glance with a digital highlighter: green for "noteworthy", yellow for "questionable", red for "critical". In addition, it warns you automatically about sites that contain policies you do not agree to. Germany’s top 20 most popular websites are already covered inside the plug-in and continue to be expanded by the users themselves. Using the digital highlighter, they can mark passages and share them with all other users.
Outcome:
„True Colours“ has only just been launched and will be promoted with an extensive PR campaign and via Stabilo’s social media channels. With the simplification of terms and conditions being an important consumer protection issue on the EU level, we expect to see significant coverage both in online blogs and offline media. Test users have already shown a positive change in brand perception (innovative, modern, useful, relevant, close to consumer’s everyday needs) leading to a higher purchase intent as well. But not only that: they were also way more likely to actively deal with privacy policies – a change in behaviour they attributed to the brand’s initiative. True Colours can easily be adapted to different markets and will hopefully stand out as an example for a branded tool that effectively turned communication into a relevant service in people’s everyday life.
Campaign Description:
The the two biggest lies on the internet are: „I’ve read the terms and conditions. And I accept them.“ It’s a fact that nobody reads long legal texts online: a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the power of Stabilo highlighters. We launched „True Colours“: a branded browser plug-in/app helping people judge privacy policies at a glance – because it automatically highlights all the parts users might not be comfortable with. Just like you would do with a Stabilo pen. Green for „noteworthy“, yellow for „caution“, red for „critical.“ This way people were able to quickly assess the legal implications of registering with online services – only by looking at the colours on their screen. And with the corrseponding mobile app they could even do that on the go.
Execution:
The plug-in is simple and very focussed on its main purpose. In „view mode“ it takes you to the privacy policies of the site in question – and automatically highlights passages in different stabilo colours. Even if users do not open the plug-in, it still alerts them to the level of threat to their privacy: the True Colours icon in the upper right corner of the browser screen changes its background colour to green, yellow or red. In „edit mode“ users can mark passages themselves. Their input is then added to the true colours database. This is the same database our app uses to display the results „on the go“ – and alert users to updates within privacy policies. The plug-in was launched via google’s play store, the iOS app via itunes. Both services will be maintained and updated by stabilo in the future.
Synopsis:
Stabilo is the inventor of the modern highlighter: an asset that the brand could build on for decades. And which (in Germany) almost made it a synonym for the product category it once established. The problem: in today’s online world people use highlighters less and less – which also means less interaction with the brand as a whole. Our task was therefore to win over a new generation of Stabilo customers with an online campaign demonstrating the usefulness of Stabilo highlighters. A surprising concept that would get people talking about Stabilo again, raise purchase intent – and would re-establish the brand as an innovator in its field.
Strategy:
Building on the insight as described above (which basically applied to anyone online) we can potentially reach a very broad target group – as diverse as the users of Stabilo highlighters (since the pens are purchased by people of all demographic characteristics, by organisations as well as by individuals). The plug-in is availabe on the google chrome web store, the corresponding app on itunes. A dedicated microsite provides additional information – and will serve as the primary campaign site we will refer to. Our main drivers for downloads/site traffic will be PR and the Stabilo social media channels.