Bic Pens: "THE BIC PRANK" Promo / PR Ad by Jung Von Matt

Category: Best Use of Social Media Marketing
Advertiser: BIC
Product/Service: BIC PEN
Agency: JUNG von MATT
Date of First Appearance: Dec 17 2009 12:00AM
Entrant Company: JUNG von MATT, Hamburg, GERMANY
Entry URL: http://www.youtube.com/bicprank
Executive Creative Directors: Mathias Stiller/Wolfgang Schneider (Jung von Matt)
Creative Directors: Florian Kitzing/Michael Haeußler/Arndt Poguntke (Jung von Matt)
Art Director: Armand Lidtke (Jung von Matt)
Copywriter: Manuel Wenzel (Jung von Matt)
Account Supervisor: Jan-Hendrik Oelckers (Jung von Matt)
Illustrator: Matthias Preuss (Jung von Matt)
Editor: Laura Mogalle (Jung von Matt)
Junior Copywriters: Jin Woo-Bae/Sebastian Flemmig (Jung von Matt)
Media placement: Viral Video - Web (Social Media Channels) - 17 Decembre 2009

Results and Effectiveness
The results: Dozens of involuntary top-class testimonials for the BIC Cristal. Thousands of viewers. And a lot of awareness for BIC. All for 21 Cents – the price of a BIC Cristal.

Creative Execution
Our idea: We went to events and places where celebrities give autographs. With our BIC pen. And let them sign stuff, that they would normally never sign: stupid contracts, embarrassing confessions, dodgy announcements… We put videos of these pranks on YouTube and soon other people started to upload their own BIC Pranks. The videos rapidly spread throughout the web into various blogs, boards, forums and online communities. In cooperation with Germany’s biggest student magazine we started a competition for other contracts that celebrities should sign with the BIC pen. More than 700 funny proposals were made.

Insights, Strategy & the Idea
The BIC Cristal is the world’s best selling ballpoint pen. But unfortunately not in Germany. The objective of the campaign was to change this by creating a lot of awareness for this BIC classic. Our target group were high school and university students, who need a reliable pen in their everyday life. The insight: Celebrities use pens to give autographs. People love to see celebrities getting pranked. So we combined these two facts. The BIC Prank was born. By “using” famous faces we created a lot of awareness for BIC as a brand. The focus of the campaign was always on the product itself. The target audience had fun and got involved in the campaign by doing their own BIC Pranks.