Philips: NIGEL AND VICTORIA

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Digital PR

Advertiser: PHILIPS CONSUMER LIFESTYLE

Product/Service: ON THE GO PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Creative Director: Maurice Wenneker (Wenneker.tv)

Account Director: Maartje Van Wijk (Wenneker.tv)

Producer: Robert Verberne (Wenneker.tv)

Editor: Onno Varekamp (Wenneker.tv)

Writer/Director: James Rawlings (Hoot Comedy)

Writer/Director: Ben Bond (Hoot Comedy)

Media placement: Episode 1 to 8 - Youtube - 6-9-2010

Media placement: Productreviews - Philips.com - 6-9-2010



Summary of the Campaign

Philips asked us to create a digital PR program to raise awareness of their 'on the go' lifestyle accessories.

The objective was to reach the target audience online in a product oriented but engaging manner.



So we made 8 product review films to appeal to a sophisticated online audience.

To make the project more engaging for a web audience we decided to make a series of 'behind the scenes,' romantic comedy, shot in a mock doc style, charting the romantic relationship between Victoria, the gadget-savvy reviewer and Nigel, the responsible marketing executive from Philips.

The dynamic between Nigel and Victoria allowed us not only to get all the product messaging into the series, but also to create innovative branded content.



More than 850,000 YouTube views, at least 500,000 exclusive media previews, PR coverage on more than 200 blogs and still increasing.

7 million per month site reach and over Euro 1,000,000 earned media value. An article in Contagious magazine.

Philips have just commissioned a second series.



The Situation

Philips wanted to find a way to have content for online retail channels that didn't feel like straight advertising as this will not work in the online medium. So we had to not only find a way to create interesting video content to use for 'product PR' but also create a PR story around them.



That is why we created the ROMCOM 'Nigel and Victoria.'



The Goal

The goal was to:

A) Reach the blogging community with a truly original take on branded content, and in doing so get them to generate traffic to the series.

B) Reach the target audience directly and bring them in contact with the Philips 'on the go' products in an engaging and entertaining manner.



The Strategy

We aired the episode every week for two months on the N&V YouTube channel while engaging the viewers on Facebook. Using digital PR we got a huge response from around 200 blogs.



Execution

We created 8 product review films where Victoria Koblenko, a Dutch/Russian actress reviewed products (under her OWN name). Then we created an 8 episode romantic comedy around the product review shoots where we follow the romantic developments between Victoria and Nigel, the marketing executive from Philips. (one blog called it CHICKFLICK-VERTIZING).



In this series we see the conflict between the online community and big brands. Victoria wants to honestly give her opinions about the products she reviews but Nigel, being old school, wants to push the USP's.



The product review films were aired on Philips.com on the product detail pages and various online retail channels like Amazon etc. On the N&V YouTube channel the episodes were aired every week for two months, localized to 10 different languages. Also, exclusive media premieres were aired through different major online channels. On the Facebook page fans, could sign up for behind the scenes footage etc.



Documented Results

More than 850,000 YouTube views, at least 500,000 exclusive media previews, PR coverage on more than 200 blogs.

7 millions per month site reach and over Euro 1,000,000 earned media value.



A spot in Contagious magazine.



The series sparked the creation of a new genre 'ChickFlickVertizing.'