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| SEVEN SEAS - ACTIVE 55 |
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Being over 50 isn't what it used to be |
Agency:
Client:
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DDFH & B
Seven Seas Ireland |
| Team: |
Sinead Galvin
Howard Korrell |
Fiona Gilroy
Aidan Duffy
Mark Lynch
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INTRODUCTION
The Rolling Stones and Seven Seas
Cod Liver Oil may at first sight seem
unlikely bedfellows.
This case study, however, suggests
otherwise. It outlines how Seven Seas
Active 55 succeeded in exploiting the
brand equity of one of the world’s
most famous rock bands by connecting
itself with their sell out concerts in
Dublin’s Point Theatre in September
2003. This was achieved not through a
multi-million euro sponsorship deal,
but through an imaginative low
budget tactical campaign, which
ultimately resulted in a huge amount
of interest, free publicity and
talkability around the brand.
PRODUCT AND MARKETING
BACKGROUND
Active 55 is a high strength Cod
Liver Oil product that was developed
and launched by Seven Seas Ireland for
the Irish market in September 2000. As
the name implies, Active 55 is aimed at
adults over fifty who want to maintain
an active lifestyle by keeping their
joints flexible and supple.
From launch, Active 55 has
maintained a consistent positioning
based on a strong consumer insight.
Research carried out amongst the
target audience prior to launch
showed that expectations of a long
and healthy life are the norm today –
expectations that stand in sharp
contrast with those of the previous
generation.
Better nutrition, better health
services, better lifestyles and fewer
hardships have all contributed to a
sense of feeling ‘younger’ for longer.
This is reflected in the growth of early
retirement, active retirement groups,
foreign travel and the discovery of a
whole range of new interests and
activities in retirement years.
This new mood was summed up by
one respondent who said:
‘When my mother was 60, she looked
about 80. She looked like a really old
lady compared to me’.
The research findings led to a clear
and single-minded proposition for
Active 55 – that ‘being over fifty isn’t
what it used to be’.
THE MARKETING IDEA
By 2003, Active 55 was established
as a major player in the Vitamin,
Mineral and Supplements market and
was worth 20% of the Seven Seas Cod
Liver Oil business. The product
proposition that ‘Being over fifty isn’t
what it used to be’ had been
established above-the-line through
seasonal bursts of press and radio
advertising.
In early 2003, it was announced that
the Rolling Stones were coming to
Dublin to play two nights as part of
their World Tour. This was big news:
the Rolling Stones hadn’t played in
Ireland since 1982 and tickets for the
two concerts sold out in a record six
minutes.
We instinctively felt that this
presented an exciting tactical
opportunity for Active 55. We saw the
Rolling Stones as living testimony of
the product proposition that ‘being
over fifty isn’t what it used to be’, so
we started looking at ways of
piggybacking a tactical campaign on
the publicity generated by the
concerts.
OBJECTIVES AND CREATIVE
SOLUTION
The creative brief was
straightforward and single-minded. We
wanted to raise awareness of Active 55
and the role it can play in keeping
joints flexible and supple by creating a
link to the Rolling Stones who are the
antithesis of the old fifty/sixty
something stereotype. We saw humour
to be of particular importance to the
communication, which was meant to
be taken in a light-hearted manner.
We wanted to target people over 50
who couldn’t quite believe they were
now at the stage of life that used to
be referred to as ‘middle-aged’. They
remembered their own parents at their
age and how much older they seemed.
Whether or not they were fans, they
grew up with the Rolling Stones and
are of the same generation. They
would therefore be able to identify
with a communication using the Stones
to exemplify that your fifties and
sixties can still be rock ‘n’ roll years.
This brief resulted in the creation of
three outdoor executions, which
centered around lyrics from the Rolling
Stones most famous songs linking back
to the proposition that ‘Being Over 50
isn’t what it used to be with Seven
Seas Active 55’.
MEDIA STRATEGY
The media placement of the creative
was critical to the success of the
project. With a limited budget, we had
to make the media work as hard as
possible by placing the outdoor in and
around the concert venue, thus
ensuring it would be seen by our
target attending the gigs and that it
would be understood in the right
context.
Our solution was to book a selection
of 48 sheet and 6 sheet sites in and
around the Point Depot in the lead up
to the concerts. There was just €4,000
spent on media in total. Finally, to
ensure as much coverage of the area
around the Point as possible,
admobiles were booked on both days
of the concert to drive around the
general area.
RESULTS
The objective of this tactical
campaign was to create a link between
the Rolling Stones concerts and Active
55 and, in doing so, increase the
profile and generate a buzz and
talkability around the brand. In this
regard the results surpassed all
expectations.
In the lead up to the concerts there
was huge media hype generally but in
particular it focused on the ages of
Mick, Keith, Charlie and of course the
baby of the band Ronnie Wood (56).
The scene was then perfectly set for
the Active 55 campaign, which
received a staggering amount of media
attention and coverage in such high
profile newspapers such as The Irish
Times and the Sunday Business Post. It
also was the subject of lively discussion
on RTE’s ‘Morning Ireland’ and the
David
Mc Williams show on Newstalk.
The coverage of the campaign was
universally positive with the Irish Times
calling it: ‘One of the most refreshing
and clever campaigns’. They went on
to say that ‘The Seven Seas strap line
used in all the ads - "being over 50
isn’t what it used to be" - cleverly
reflects what Jagger and Co. have
been saying in recent interviews - that
even those with lined faces and
greying hair have a right to stay up
late playing loud music’.
The success of the campaign was
further confirmed on David
McWilliams Show where McWilliams
was under the impression that Seven
Seas had sponsored the Rolling Stones
gigs.
When Newstalk’s Marketing
correspondent Gary Browne was asked
for his opinion of the campaign he said
he found ‘the whole thing fascinating
and .. nice and clever for a change. I
think it’s a brand looking at themselves
in a tongue in cheek way….and I
actually think it’s quite a good fit… I
think the Rolling Stones are the most
surprised people that they’ve actually
reached 60 at all’.
Overall the coverage and publicity
achieved around the campaign
delivered a return out of all proportion
to the media investment of just€4,000; less than the cost of one TV
spot on the Late Late Show!
Although the object of the activity
was about increasing the brand’s
profile and creating a stir rather than
purely driving sales, the first two
weeks of September 2003 saw sales
increase by 70% in comparison to the
first two weeks in September 2002.
There was no other marketing support
for Active 55 during this time.
The Active 55 Rolling Stones
campaign was awarded both the
Grand Prix and the Media Idea of the
Year awards by Marketing magazine
earlier this year, leading to a further
burst of free publicity for the brand.
SUMMARY
The Rolling Stones concerts in 2003
presented an unmissable tactical
opportunity for Seven Seas Active 55.
They were sure to generate huge
media interest and hype. They were
also living proof of the Seven Seas
Active 55 proposition that ‘Being Over
50 isn’t what it used to be’
A low budget campaign was
developed to raise awareness of Active
55 by creating a link to the Rolling
Stones, the antithesis of the old
fifty/sixty something stereotype. A
series of outdoor executions based on
famous Rolling Stones song lyrics were
posted around the vicinity of the
concert venue in the lead up to the
gigs.
The objective of the campaign was
to create a buzz around the brand and
bring to life the proposition that‘being over 50 isn’t what it used to be’.
The campaign was incredibly effective,
capturing the attention of high profile
newspapers and radio shows such as
the Irish Times and Morning Ireland.
Overall this case study highlights
how a low budget tactical idea, borne
out of a sense of right place, right
time, right message all worked to
deliver a very significant return on the
initial investment.
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