BEROCCA VITAMINS: "GORD IS GOD!" Promo / PR Ad

Category: Best Use of Social Media
Advertiser: BAYER AG
Product/Service: BEROCCA VITAMINS
Creative Director: Viktor Shkurba (ISD Group)
Senior Copywriter: Ivan Siyak (ISD Group)
Director: Mikhail Koroteev (ISD Group)
Account manager: Victoria Liubarskaya (ISD Group)
Technical Director: Alexander Savin (ISD Group)
Senior Programmer: Andrey Sergeyev (ISD Group)
Photographer: Sergey Rud (ISD Group)
Photographer: Julia Malaniuk (ISD Group)
Designer: Anton Gridz (ISD Group)
Copywriter: Aliona Krapivka (ISD Group)
Designer: Sergey Ukhin (ISD Group)
Category Manager: Mikhail Traverse (Bayer Ukraine)
Actor: Bogdan Babych
Media placement: Personal Blog - Gord.com.ua - 9 March 2009
Media placement: Teaser Banner Campaign - 3 Video Banners - Korrespondent.net, management.com.ua, and other popular managerial websites - 16 March 2009
Media placement: Berocca Brand Website - berocca.com.ua - 6 April 2009
Media placement: Conspiracy Revealed - Branded Banners Campaign - Korrespondent.net, management.com.ua, and other popular managerial websites - 13 April 2009

Summary of the Campaign
Berocca vitamins in Ukraine are positioned as a premium product and they are targeted at males at the age between 25 - 45. This is the part of Ukrainian Internet audience that ignores traditional advertising and nearly never clicks on any banners. In order to attract their attention, we created a website of an outstanding, but arrogant, character. Viktor Gord has a successful business, a wife and a child. He’s only 15 years old but he has already decided to hold business-trainings for grown ups. Primarily these trainings were the subject of our ads. It was when curiosity and envy, admiration and skepticism lead dozens of thousands of users to the website, that we put forward Berocca as the explanation to Viktor Gord’s unique business mind. Viktor Gord became a cult persona and an Internet-meme. Even though he provoked controversial feelings among the users, he became known, as well as Berocca, to the majority of Ukrainian Internet users.

The Goal
Berocca is a product for males that spend a lot of their time at work and are subject to a lot of stress. This is the group of people that is not interested in traditional advertising and hardly ever clicks on any banners. Our goal was to overcome this biased opinion and communicate about brain vitamins in such a way that they would want to spread the word about the product onwards. We also wanted to prove to Bayer AG that the Ukrainian Internet has matured for the activities of the pharmaceutical giant.

Results
More than 111 000 users visited the website and browsed through over 350 000 pages in a period of two months. In average each user spent about 5 minutes on the website and left over a 1 000 comments. More than 49 000 users watched Gord’s videos. Over 7 000 users entered into the chat and communicated with Viktor Gord’s secretary. 637 people signed up for Gord’s fictional trainings. Google search shows that Viktor Gord’s name is mentioned around 6 000 times. The most famous Ukrainian news magazine and leading Ukrainian on-line magazines wrote about Viktor Gord and his advertising campaign. Despite the global economic crisis that was at full speed during the promo campaign, Berocca's sales indicators grew. The campaign results proved to Bayer AG that the Ukrainian Internet is ready for promo activities. Today, Bayer Ukraine uses the Viktor Gord Berocca experience to build its long-term online strategies.

Execution
9/03/2009. Gord’s website is launched. It contains his biography, information on trainings, secrets of success and a blog. 16/03/2009. Video-banners that advertised Gord’s trainings were launched. Videos with his life principles are published. 03/2009. Popular Ukrainian bloggers mention Viktor Gord. The largest discussion was about the possibility of the existance of such a character. But we were prepared and could prove, that by Ukrainian law, it's possible to have a wife, a son and a company at 15. 6/04/2009. Gord announces he wants to profit on the high website attendance and is looking for a sponsor. We send commercial offers to international companies. 13/04/2009. Gord signed a contract with Bayer. The website is branded under Berocca. 20/04/2009. Viktor Gord’s secretary is available through a video-chat to answer questions about him and about Berocca. An Internet gift shop is opened - everything is VERY expensive.

The Situation
In Ukraine Bayer promotes two brain-vitamin brands and Berocca is positioned as the premium one. Because of the specific nature of Ukrainian media this target audience was most reachable through Internet. But how could we bypass the TA’s traditional lack of trust towards advertising? How could we create an easy perception of the ad and also motivate the users to discuss it?

The Strategy
We created a webpage of a fictional character, which would surely attract the target audience of Berocca. Victor Gord is rich and arrogant. He has a wife, a child and a successful business. One more thing – he’s only 15. It would be bearable if only the kid hadn’t decided to hold business trainings for grownups. At first, these trainings were the object of advertising. It was when curiosity and envy, admiration and distrust lead dozens of thousands of users to the website that we put forward Berocca as the explanation to Viktor Gord’s unique business mind.