To raise awareness of products and acquire new customers in the run-up to Christmas 2007, Argos wanted to launch a fun campaign that users would share with friends. It was also important for the company to capture additional data for future e-CRM activity.
Grant Bailie, customer retention manager at Argos, says: "The brief was simple - to reach as many potential Argos customers as possible online and convince them to shop at argos.co.uk."
STRATEGY
Argos ran a comprehensive pitch process. "Meteorite's idea immediately stood out, not only because it involved building a giant jar filled with products available from Argos, but also because of its simplicity," Bailie says.
The agency suggested a viral campaign. It was the first time Argos had used viral marketing in this way, but the retailer was persuaded by the chance to reach a wide-ranging audience, the speed with which viral can be spread and the potential for it to be cost-effective.
"The initial strategy was to create an online game," Bailie says. "But prior research showed a standard flash game just wouldn't cut it. A competition, however, would."
The competition asked entrants to guess the number of products in the giant jar for a chance to win all the contents or their £10,000 cash equivalent. An online video was created to promote the competition, featuring four men in brown coats filling the jar with 1,300 products. Meteorite also placed a 3D 'interactive jar' on giantjar.co.uk, where visitors could zoom in on, tilt and manoeuvre the receptacle.
EXECUTION
Argos used its email database to inform current customers about the competition. These were then encouraged to pass on the information to friends and family. It placed flyers advertising the competition in customer's bags, and used Facebook and viral site Kontraband to raise awareness. Meanwhile, the online video was posted on YouTube.
Meteorite originally wanted to construct the massive receptacle with glass, but this proved too costly (in excess of £125,000). The agency revised its plans and found a UK supplier able to build an acrylic mould.
Bailie says: "I'd be lying if I said there weren't points during the build where we all thought we had bitten off more than we could chew. But the end result was fantastic - a custom-built eight-foot tall acrylic jar with a lid."
When the shoot was finished, Argos put the vast vessel up for sale and donated the proceeds, along with the container's contents - which included children's toys - to Leukaemia Research.
RESULTS
The campaign website received 479,000 unique page impressions and video views in little over nine weeks. The average time spent on the site was 2.5 minutes.
More than 100,000 people entered the competition, and the details of all entrants were added to Argos's customer database. These new customers have proved their value by spending more than £700,000 between them at argos.co.uk, and the company is now looking at ways to target them in the future.
The Filling of the Giant Jar film became the fifth most viewed video on YouTube, and the campaign has been rewarded with several marketing industry awards.
"The biggest surprise was the continual smashing of Argos records, including the largest number of entrants to a single competition," Bailie says. "The giant jar has paid for itself four times over."
Brand: Argos
Client: Argos
Brief: To raise awareness of the retailer's product range and capture
additional customer data
Target audience: Existing and new customers
Budget: £130,000
Agency: Meteorite