Smirnoff goes undercover

Interaction tells the story

The Results

  • Over 3,000 agents joined
  • Over 5,000 instances of direct communication, including emails and posting mission pictures
  • Nearly every participant (98%) linked the campaign with the Smirnoff brand (but appreciated not having the brand explicitly ‘shouted’ at them)
  • The covert approach appealed to a media savvy audience
  • The campaign was self-perpetuating, using existing members to attract new recruits
  • Touchpoint’s Interactive Marketing Platform gave the agency control over mission creation, execution and tracking

The challenge

The challenge for the Smirnoff campaign was to create an emotional connection between the brand and consumers by giving them an original experience involving the brand. With 18-29 year olds in mind, who are predominantly media savvy, Smirnoff’s approach needed to be subversive and not overtly branded, while  maintaining credibility and the ‘cool factor” with this market.

To achieve their goal, Smirnoff chose to deliver a remarkable brand experience that was broadly engaging and seated in digital media. Breaking away from traditional advertising formats, and in keeping with its “Clearly Original’ positioning, Smirnoff used Touchpoint’s Interactive Marketing Platform to facilitate a programme of audience participation.

The solution

Mission on!

Smirnoff retraced its Russian roots in a covert campaign of intrigue and interaction. Enter Nikolai – Russian playboy and double agent. In the spirit of espionage and bar room whispers, bartenders and street media drove the call to action, mustering visitors to the Nikolai website, without giving away the Smirnoff name.

At the website, registrants attained ‘agent’ status, creating their own alter ego and accepting point-scoring missions. Text and email alerts confirmed their progress and successful completion. Extra points were awarded for recruiting new members and placing mission feedback via email, video and photo postings. At the campaign end points were tallied and top agents rewarded with an invitation to the Elite Agent Gathering.

Touchpoint’s Interactive Marketing Platform gave the agency a dashboard view of the database and full control over mission activation, execution and tracking.

How Touchpoint technology helped

Database management: data collection, storage, retrieval and integration.

Mobile module: automated text response service and back-end fulfilment.

Campaign management: provides a single view of customers across multiple channels, managing automated registration and requests via text, web and email; automating opt-in via web, email and text.

Reporting: real time reporting provides a dashboard view of databases and campaign participation, and can be used to track consumer behaviour.



Brand

Smirnoff

Campaign

Nikolai

Channels
  • Web
  • Email
  • Mobile
  • Street media
  • Posters
  • Face-to-face consumer interaction

Agency

Wow Rapp Collins (WRC)

Target audience

all people 18-29