Join the Tippexperience!
By Hannan Ben Slimane, Intern
For my blog this week, I want you to be entertained but still talk about social media and how the Internet can be effective in our job. This semester for my advertising class, I had to choose a buzz campaign to analyze.
Tipp-Ex is an eraser brand from the group Bic. In 2010 they called an agency, Buzzman, to make a viral advertisement on the Web. Tipp-Ex is a French brand, so is the agency that made the interactive ad. Viral is not equal to free. Indeed, it has cost 700,000 Euros (almost $900,000) Tipp-Ex to make this ad. Also, Buzzman is a well-known agency in France for doing the most viral campaigns online. Here is what they did before. Now, let me introduce you to the Tippexperience!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M (VIDEO)
Tipp-Ex made a video on Youtube, where two hunters in the woods are talking to each other when suddenly a bear comes out and the one who is watching the video has to choose if the hunter should kill the bear. Then, the hunter in the video interacts with the banner, on the right of the video, where he picks the Tipp-Ex to erase the word “shoots”. This is a smart technique to highlight the product and directly use it on the ad.
This advertisement is really interactive since the viewer participates directly in it. Indeed, the viewer can write anything he/she wants instead of “shoots” in the title, “A hunter ______ a bear.” This is what makes the ad unique and very interactive, because it is the first time a viewer is directly integrated into the ad. The viewer has the power of what comes next, depending on what he/she writes. When it comes to digital, people want to be in full control.
The amount of words you can enter in the title creates the viral effect. Viral marketing today is often used mostly through web tools, such as videos uploaded on YouTube. The aim of viral marketing is to spread an advertisement, message, or anything else in order to get people talking. But for a company, the aim of viral marketing is not only brand awareness, it is mostly a tool to make sure the target willbuy their products or subscribe to their services. And this matter is the most difficult point to draw from viral marketing campaigns.
Was it a success?
The Tippexperience met a huge success on the Web. The viral effect worked perfectly since the video was seen more than 19 millions times on YouTube. Why was it such a success? Because people were in control of the ad, they were able to create their own experience and share it via various social media platforms. This kind of advertisement, which is not really seen as a classic ad for the viewer because of its interactivity, engages people thanks to its uniqueness. Also, social media such as Facebook or Twitter help a lot to generate buzz and share information or content as quickly as possible (snow ball effect).
The Tippexperience is a good tool for awareness and also to communicate the core benefit of the product and engage with the audience. However after participating, does the viewer want to buy a Tipp-Ex product? That is another question, and the most important one. Moreover, a kind of product like Tipp-Ex is a real challenge to sell via a viral campaign because the product benefit seems to be irrelevant or too “basic,” especially with an audience who engages in the video.
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