Lynx: LYNX SPACE ACADEMY LAUNCH MOMENT

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: UNILEVER – LYNX
Agency: MINDSHARE WW
Category: Best Use of Integrated Media
Account Manager: Andy Garner (Mischief)
Brand Manager: Skin: Kavi Tolani (Unilever)
Senior Brand Manager: David Titman (Unilever)
TV Buyer: Martyn Searles (Mindshare)
Brand Manager: Deodorants: Mark Aschmann (Unilever)
Account Director: Mia Matulic (TMW)
Account Director: James Byard (Kinetic)
Campaign Manager: Yasmin Aluf (TMW senior)
Business Director: Alice Brady (Mindshare)
Digital Manager: Briony O’Connor (Mindshare)
Creative Director: Graeme Noble (TMW Executive)
Associate Director: Jodie Butt (Mischief)
Brand Manager: Hair: Richard Whitty (Unilever)
Digital Director: Tara Townsend (Mindshare)
Senior Account Manager: Vicky Purnell (Mischief)

Strategy
Lynx, (Axe globally), is sending several ordinary guys into space. They will leave as men, and return as heroes. Our brief: make the media launch in UK and Ireland as epic as the offer. More than simply telling the public we’re doing this, we wanted to drive participation – get people applying to go into space. On a pride level, we wanted the UK and Ireland to generate more applicants than any other market globally. So, we created a huge launch moment. On 10th January 2013, at exactly 9pm, we executed the largest ever multi-media simulcast. We broadcast a Buzz Aldrin announcement simultaneously on all 307 commercial TV channels, took over the web, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and dominated huge OOH and cinema screens – all at exactly the same moment. To drive participation, we connected all media to ensure that every touchpoint was also a competition entry point.

Execution
Everything had to be executed simultaneously to create this epic moment. We also needed guys to believe it was for real - that they could really be going into space. To drive participation, all TV ads, across all channels, were Shazam-able for the first time ever. This was only made possible because Shazam were so excited about our launch moment that an exception was made to their exclusivity deal with Britain’s largest commercial TV channel, ITV. Viewers could just Shazam the ad to go straight to the competition entry page. In digital media, including YouTube, Facebook, and more, potential astronauts could simply click the ad to enter. We also geo-fenced cinemas and large OOH screens. This meant huge numbers of opted-in mobile users, when seeing our cinema and OOH ads, would receive a text at the launch moment including the launch video and a link to enter the competition.

Effectiveness
We reached over half the UK population and 85% of our target audience on launch night. Over 10,000 people Shazam’d. Axe globally opened the competition on the same day; 3 weeks later, the UK and Ireland represented more than a third of entries, massively over-delivering considering our comparatively small populations. The highest proportion of the population entering in the world. The hero product sales were 19% higher year on year.We have 86,298 entrants and counting. We’ve seen mass participation with the Lynx Space Academy cadets receiving 675,458 votes online to go through to the next stage of competition!