Solo Soda: ""Soon To Be World Famous"" Outdoor Advert by Try Reklamebyra

Category: Best Launch or Re-launch
Advertiser: SOLO
Product/Service: SODA
Agency: TRY/APT ADVERTISING AGENCY
Agency: MAGNUM MEDIA
Copywriters: Bjørnar Buxrud/Øystein Halvorsen (TRY/APT)
Art Directors: Dennis Tönnkvist/Karin Lund (TRY/APT)
Account Directors: Kristian Bye/Eivind Moe (TRY/APT)
Account Managers: Monika Rosengren/Cecilie Thue (TRY/APT)
Graphic Design: Rickard Roslund/Marianne Eskeland (TRY/APT)
Programmer: Pål Smitt-Amundsen (TRY/APT)
3D Motion: Eirik Huse (TRY/APT)
Director: Lasse Gretland (Paradox)
Producer: Jil Hardin (Source Pictures)
Pr: Magnus Rønningen (Magnum Media)
Photographer: Kristoffer Archetti
Media placement: online - dagbladet.no, Na24.no, Vg.no, E24.no, Aftenposten.no, Tv2.no, Nrk.no, Dn.no, + 130 More Online Sites - 26. April 2011
Media placement: newspapers (Print) - in the Big National Papers, Like Dagbladet, - 26. April 2011
Media placement: magasines - Topp, Se & Hør - 26. April 2011
Media placement: twitter - Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan Published News About Solo - 26. April 2011
Media placement: event - celebrity Party In LA - Hosted By: Even Ross (Son Of Diana Ross) And Solo - 26. April 2011
Media placement: radio - P3, P4 - national norwegian radiostations - 26. April 2011
Media placement: Tv - tv2, Biggest Commercial TV Station In Norway - 28. April 2011

Summary of the Campaign
An international campaign for a soda only sold in Norway.

The campaign started when Solo went to Los Angeles and mounted 3 huge Solo billboards and arranged for tweets about Solo from 3 Hollywood celebrities. In LA a film crew documented the event and sampling. This was shown as TVCs, followed by an invitation to make your own digital board on Sunset Boulevard online. More than 18,000 solutions were created and shared.

The next step was to send 1 bottle of Solo to every country in the world. 13,000 consumers helped out and a bottle was sent to 113 countries. World fame was within reach.

The Situation
Solo is a small Norwegian soft-drink brand fighting big global competitors. With limited budgets, Solo needed to regain relevance among young people (15-22 years); to be talked about, liked and preferred once again - in a year with no innovative launches from the brand.

The strategy was based on the insight that Norwegian youth, coming from a small country loves it when someone or something Norwegian gets the attention of the world. So we invited the target group to help us in the ambition to make Solo world famous. And even let them in on the claim to fame.

The Goal
The goal of the campaign was to make the Norwegians proud of their soda again. We wanted Norwegians to rediscover that they really had the world's best soda in their hands. We wanted to make a lot of buzz and make people talk about the national soda again. It was time to poke back at the international giants.

The Strategy
Our plan was to surprise the Norwegian market. Just a couple of billboards in the US would give us a lot of attention in Norwegian media if we just gave them a little hint. So we did. The reaction was as expected: “Why is our little soda on huge billboards in LA?”; “Are they going to launch it there?”, “Will they stand a chance against Coca-Cola and the other global brands?”; and so on. We thought that if we played on an international arena for a very Norwegian product, we would get a lot of attention back in Norway. Our strategy was also to be rather secretive about what our goal was. We wanted to create buzz and get people curious about this old product again. People - Norwegians in particular - are also very concerned about what other people think of things. We love if someone abroad says something nice about us – or our products. We thought that if an American, from the cradle of soft drinks, would recognize Solo as something good, the Norwegians would be proud again. (“Hey, they like our soda, they think it´s good!) We also spiced up the campaign with arranged tweets from Hollywood celebrities, arranged VIP parties in LA, asked people which celebrity should get a Solo sent to them, etc. All to make an extraordinary campaign where PR was the driving force. We wanted people to talk about Solo again. And so they did.

Execution
The campaign started when Solo went to Los Angeles and mounted 3 huge Solo billboards and arranged for tweets about Solo from 3 Hollywood celebrities. In LA a film crew documented the event and sampling. This was shown as TVCs, followed by an invitation to make your own digital board on Sunset Boulevard online. More than 18,000 solutions were created and shared.

The next step was to send 1 bottle of Solo to every country in the world. 13,000 consumers helped out and a bottle was sent to 113 countries, resulting in photos from 76 countries. World fame was within reach!

Documented Results
With a limited media budget, the campaign generated 300,000 visits to Solo.no, 18,000 digital boards for LA were created and shared and 13,500 were engaged in finding Solo Ambassadors across the world. We sent Solo to 113 different countries and received great photos from different Solo ambassadors in return.

In the campaign period we got 160 editorials - in newspapers, magazines and online sites. On top of this we had reviews on national TV and radiostations, and not to forget all the buzz in social media. Estimated to a net value of NOK8.4m.

The campaign reached 80% awareness in the core target group, and left 46% of them with a more positive impression of Solo. Purchase consideration rose from 54% to 67% since the year before, and 'favourite brand' rose from 9% to 14%. Sales increased by 7.4% with no new product launches.