The Norwegian Consumer Council: HORMONE CHECK

Credits & Description:

Category: Public Sector

Advertiser: THE NORWEGIAN CONSUMER COUNCIL

Product/Service: HORMONE CHECK APPLICATION

Agency: GEELMUYDEN KIESE

Agency: MAGNUM MEDIA

Art Director: Markus Lind (TRY/APT)

Copywriter: Eva Sannum (TRY/APT)

Designer: Espen Aaeng (TRY/APT)

Developer: Chrisopher Aalholm (TRY/APT)

Account Manager: Fred Kihle (TRY/APT)

Projcet Manager: Linda Tillier (TRY/APT)

Developer: Kaja Helene Kristiansen (TRY/APT)

Developer: August Lilleaas (Shortcut)

Media placement: Mobile Application - Mobile - 1 October 2011

Media placement: Facebook Page - Online - 1 October 2011

Media placement: Lifestyle show - TV (NRK) - 12 October 2011

Media placement: Comedy show - TV (NRK) - 1 November 2011

Media placement: News - TV (NRK) - 5 November 2011

Media placement: News - Radio (NRK) - 5 November 2011

Media placement: News - TV (NRK) - 10 November 2011



Summary of the Campaign

Research shows that a great number of cosmetics and body-care products contain hormone-altering chemicals that can seriously harm your health. But information is sparse and difficult to access. How can you remember what to look for when you don’t even know how to pronounce the chemicals?



We wanted to inform the consumers about the dangers and at the same time activate them in a battle against the cosmetics industry to rid dangerous products from the shelves, utilizing true consumer power.



Therefore we created an app called 'Hormone Check', an application that enables you to check cosmetic products in the store before you buy them. Using a barcode reader, it identifies the product and gives you immediate feedback on whether it contains hormone-disrupting substances or not.



The biggest lifestyle show on Norwegian TV picked up on the concept, putting full focus on the cause. Approximately 650,000 people saw the show and since this means approximatly 1/8 of every Norwegian, the campaign got wide attention, resulting in more media coverage. This scared the cosmetics industry and they started their own campaingns trying to prove that the products was indeed safe. They even tried to report the app to Apple. All this failed and downloads rocketed as we took full advantage of their failed attempt to counter the campaign. After open quarreling on live TV, the industry finally backed down and several major players withdrew their dangerous products.



The Situation

The problem with the substances used in cosmetics and body care products is that there is little or no knowledge about its true nature. It´s almost impossible to make any sense out of the back side of a bottle of shampoo. We saw the opportunity to change all this by making it so easy to check the products that anyone can do it and get an immediate response.



The Goal

The goal was to inform people of the dangers and at the same time put pressure on the cosmetics industry. When we realized how badly the campaign struck the cosmetic industry we saw how consumer power can be used in a effective and relevant way.



The Strategy

We realized that we needed to kickstart the campaign with some thousand products already in the database so we sent out some students to harvest the data. At launch we had approximatly 3,000 products in the database. We knew that there was a big PR potential in turning a complicated matter completely around and we were right. Immediately after launch a lifestyle show agreed to use a whole program to talk about the hidden dangers of cosmetics and in the same time tell you how easy it is to reveal those dangerous products with the help of an app: The Hormone Check.



Execution

- Students were sent out to fill the database with as many products as possible;

- A lifestyle show dedicated a whole program to talk about the concept;

- A counter campaign from the cosmetics industry was launched;

- We utilized their counter campaign to our our benefit proving our point. This resulted in even more downloads and press coverage;

- Major industry leaders started to withdraw dangerous products;

- Some cosmetic companies even used the app to promote their healthy products.



Documented Results

The app reached first place in AppStore with over 72,000 downloads after only 2 weeks (that is about 20% of all iPhone owners in Norway). 15,749 products have been registrered with the app and around 12,000 of these are done by the consumers themselves. 1,319,562 products have been scanned to this date!



A lifestyle show dedicated a whole program to talk about the concept, resulting in more engagement in the media and with the consumer. This again led to the most important goal being reached; Major players started to withdraw dangerous products from the shelves.