Sony: CROSSING THE ICE

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Live Events and/or Stunts

Advertiser: SONY

Product/Service: SONY BLOGGIE

Agency: NAKED COMMUNICATIONS

Agency: HAUSMANN COMMUNICATIONS

Strategist: Nick Kavanagh (Naked Communications)

Account Director: Adrian Mottershead (Naked Communications)

Head of Ideas: Paul Swann (Naked Communications)

Creative Director: Seshan Moodley (Naked Communications)

Account Director: Catherine Harris (Euro RSCG)

Public Relations: Catherine Donnelly (Hausmann Communications)

Media placement: Event - Sydney Experiential - 1/8/11

Media placement: Digital PR - ITWire - 2/8/11

Media placement: Digital PR - 106.3FM (Homepage) - 2/8/11

Media placement: Digital PR - Herald Sun - 11/8/11

Media placement: Digital PR - The Daily Telegraph - 11/8/11

Media placement: TV editorial - Sunrise - 3/10/11

Media placement: TV editorial - Sunday Night - 21/10/11

Media placement: Radio editorial - 4BC Brisbane, Afternoons - 3/10/11

Media placement: Radio editorial - Triple J, Sydney (Breakfast With Tom And Alex) - 24/01/12

Media placement: Radio editorial - NOVA 96.9, Sydney (Fitzy And Wippa) - 02/02/12



Summary of the Campaign

Sony Bloggie is a pocket-sized HD Video recorder that shares content directly to the web. The problem was that consumers were rapidly turning to their Smartphone for recording video.



Our audience were young Aussies with a curious attitude who actively pursued a life worth sharing, an audience who lived online, not only documenting and sharing their own unique stories but actively seeking-out and contributing to the stories of others. Playing a role in the adventures of peers was the norm.



In order to demonstrate the attributes and benefits of the product we engaged the ultimate adventurers, Cas and Jonsey, to utilise the Bloggie in their attempt to become the first people to ski from the edge of the Antarctic coast to the South Pole and back, completely unsupported. Every crevace and kilometre would be shot by Cas and Jonsey themselves and shared with the world almost immediately to Facebook and the web.



We launched the partnership with a themed event in the heart of Sydney – a city not typically known for being a snow-covered wonderland – and were immediately approached by news networks who wanted access to our Bloggie content for the duration of the expedition.



Without a dollar spent on media, the story was picked up by news outlets around the world.



The Situation

Sony realised that for this audience to connect with the Bloggie product story – one of superior image quality, build quality and battery life. It required a platform that was constantly evolving; that provided a unique product narrative that connected with the audience’s own passion for adventure, excitement and contribution.



So we needed an idea that could lead with PR harnessing the rich content captured on the Blogggie and Cas and Jonsey were the perfect ambassadors to deliver that unique content stream



The Goal

Demonstrate the quality and versatility of Bloggie under extreme adventure conditions, considering the audience identified; young Aussies with a curious attitude who actively pursued an adventurous life worth sharing.



The Strategy

- Engage Cas and Jonsey as the ambassadors;

- Launch event with early general news media;

- Media partnership with Channel 7 (Sunrise, Sunday Night, Channel 7 News) feature on-going webisodes direct from the pole;

- Seeded content with traditional and social media influencers.



Execution

From setting off from Hercules Inlet in early November and for the following 3 months, Cas and Jonsey’s Bloggiesodes provided a perspective of polar exploration that had never been seen nor attempted before.



Viewers were captivated as Cas and Jonsey battled horrific weather conditions, when they were having to ski a marathon a day, even when washing their filthy underpants - posting words of encouragement to Facebook for the guys to read throughout their journey. Yet as the expedition progressed and ever more Bloggiesodes were captured and shared – more and more news and media organisations became captivated by this unique story.



All the results generated were achieved using solely PR.



Documented Results

- Bloggie has subsequently become the number 1 MP4 camera;

- Crossing The Ice generated 1.6m post views on Facebook;

- Crossing The Ice generated over $3m in media value via PR coverage;

- Crossing The Ice raised over $60,000 for youth cancer charity YouCan via the 'sponsor a step' idea.