Category: Publications & Media
Advertiser: SONY PICTURES
Product/Service: TINTIN AND THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN
Media Agency: OMD SPAIN, Madrid, SPAIN
Project Director: Andrés García (OMD)
Producer: Luisa García (OMD)
Account Director: Fernando Dobrito (OMD)
Media Planner: Irene Valera (OMD)
Media placement: Print campaign - Qué - 19 november 2011
Media placement: OOH campaign - Subway (Madrid + Barcelona) - 19 november 2011
Media placement: Internet campaign - www.que.es - 19 november 2011
Insights, Strategy & the Idea
The premier of “The Adventures of Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn”, by Stephen Spielberg, has at last reached the big screen. The objective was to make this premier a total box-office success. But Tintin no longer have the wide appeal they once did among moviegoers, and they have frankly been replaced by other great comic and current cartoon figures. Alas, it is irrefutable: A large share of the target audience simply doesn’t know about these adventures or their characters. We were looking to connect to an audience characterised by constant movement and connectivity; an audience used to using public transport as a first option for getting around town. Subway travel, on which the use of mobile devices is off the charts means social networking, games, e-mail. Why not familiarise our audience with Tintin by turning it into an unexpected entertainment during those boring trips?
Creative Execution
In the free daily newspaper "QUE" we launched a mysterious front-page barrage. Readers really only had time to wonder what that was all about while going into their usual underground stations, because before they could make any sense of it, two characters would simultaneously appear out of nowhere inside the stations. They were actors embodying Thomson and Thompson, the two secret police characters from Tintin who interacted in an improvisational way with the public. All the “QUE” readers knew that if they met up with Thomson and Thompson all they had to do was snap a photograph of them. The pictures, taken on their indispensable mobile phones, just had to be uploaded to a micro-site located on the free newspaper’s on-line site. That acted as a fun kind of passport that could win you a free trip to Belgium, where lovable little Tintin was brought to life by Hergé.
Results and Effectiveness
The micro-site managed to accumulate the highest amount of participation in the history of “QUE” promotions. Campaign recognition increased by over 80% in the core target during the campaign period. The premier was an extraordinary box-office success, bringing in over €5m over the weekend (4m more than its closest rival). Tintin managed not only to be the number one film during its premier week but also to stay on top of that list for three weeks and become one of the top five box-office success stories of the year.