Showcasing creative solutions

Juicy Couture

Situation
For trendy luxury brand Juicy Couture, the brand is all about the lifestyle. Because the line targets teens and young urbanites, being online-savvy and social network-friendly was key. Knowing this, Juicy teamed up with agency Createthe Group to make its e-commerce site more interactive and engaging.

Approach
The site, which launched last September, is a fully interactive e-commerce brand experience, with images, video, blogs and a social community for shopping. A feature called Club Couture enables consumers to make their own outfits by mixing and matching Juicy products. These personalized outfits can be saved and shared with friends across the community.

The social community aspect “gives consumers who are passionate about the brand the ability to connect with each other around the brand,” says James Gardner, CEO of Createthe Group.

Results
The site saw a 141% lift in page views per visit and 150% increase in time spent on the site. In addition, Juicy reported a 162% increase in conversation rate among the online community. 

“The reason [the site] is so powerful is because of the ability to form deeper relationships with consumers and in doing so, to drive sales,” says Gardner.
—Dianna Dilworth

All American Pet Brands

Approach
All American Pet Brands began a “Cutest dog competition” in August to increase customer engagement with the brand. Users can upload a photo of their dog to be judged, and winners are awarded a total prize package of $1 million after a 12-week entry period. Social media and word of mouth have been the main drivers of the campaign.

Results
To date, the contest has had 46,600 entries and 267,000 voters. The contest microsite, CutestDogCompetition.com, has been viewed more than 10 million times.
—Kevin McKeefery

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Approach
The National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the public a say on what is considered a historic place with its “This place matters” interactive campaign. The effort was launched this summer with Charity Dynamics. It used Google Maps and Flickr to let consumers upload photos of sites and mark them on a map of the US. Consumers also added commentary about the sites.

Results
About 950 consumers participated in the campaign, 25% of whom uploaded a photo and “planted a flag.” More than 1,900 photos were added.
—Frank Washkuch

PRIVATE VIEW

L. Scott Neumann
SVP and executive creative director, Wunderman

Good creative needs to accomplish three things – inform, inspire and influence. Great creative achieves this with simplicity, style and surprise. These digital pieces all had fairly straightforward messages and employed the usual cadre of social networking tools. However, there were places in which they differed.

The Juicy Couture site is simple and stylish. Functional copy and focused visuals laid out in a grid system guide my eye through the page. The “create a look” and “browse looks” features are truly engaging. One shortcoming in the “create a look” feature: Superimposing photos over a silo seems lackluster. I want to see the figure actually wearing my creation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation effort is my favorite because the organization took a disciplined approach and created a clean, easy to follow, contemporary look and applied it to all of their points of contact. Whether on Flickr, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, the information is delivered in the same straightforward, easy-to-read way.

The banner ads for the Cutest Dog competition are clean and contain the ‘must have’ information to get me to act. The logical messaging prioritization makes it easy for my eye to move through the piece. Unfortunately, the Web site doesn’t follow suit. The sponsor graphics and repeated logos overpower the promotional messaging. Simple fix to make this site sing? Focus on the promotion. Lead with the $1 million prize, how to enter, weekly winners and then sponsor logos and graphics.

Manhattan Toy/Girl Scout partnership Web site sets up camp

Situation:

Manhattan Toy wanted to build excitement around a new line extension for its Groovy Girls dolls that was developed with the Girl Scouts. The goal was to drive awareness and bring an element of customer engagement to the Troop Groovy Girl dolls, which are designed for girls four to eight years of age.

One of Manhattan Toy’s challenges was to create something that would be perceived as wholesome, because the Girl Scouts organization doesn’t want to be seen as actively marketing products, and parents are sensitive about how children are marketed to.

Approach:

Marketing communications agency Colle & McVoy developed an online community called Camp Groovy Girls that launched in September, soon after the dolls became available in mass market and specialty stores.

“The concept of making the site a campground is a great way to tie it into the Girl Scout brand,” says Alicia Patrick, senior interactive strategist at Colle & McVoy. Girl Scout sashes are visible on some of the online characters and the organization’s core safety messages are promoted throughout.

Girls can explore the virtual campground, the surrounding woods and lake. When the site is in night mode, a raccoon guide tells visitors that it is not safe to swim alone. As they engage in various activities, girls can collect Fun Patches, a more casual alternative to Girl Scout merit badges. A variety of projects girls can do away from the computer, such as making pine cone art, are also suggested.

The site’s URL is promoted on the TroopGroovy Girl toy box, on other Manhattan Toy Web sites and in communications from the Girl Scouts.

Results: The site has had 500,000 user sessions since it was launched.

–Chantal Todé

ExpoTV
Members suggest idea for contest

Approach: In December, user-generatedvideo product review Web site ExpoTV launched a holiday-themed contest that was suggested by members. The promotion encouraged users to upload holiday-themed videos in one of five categories including “worst gift” and “caroling,” in hopes of win­ning a high-tech prize. The contest, which ran for three weeks, was promoted through paid search, on the site, and in an e-newsletter sent to about 7,000 ExpoTV members.

Results: The e-newsletter open rate was 10% and more than 50 videos were submitted. Some of the submissions generated close to 6,000 views on ExpoTV’s YouTube channel.

–Mary Hurn

Auto Insurance Specialists
DRTV blends live-action, animation

Approach: Auto Insurance Specialists Inc. wanted to market to young men. It tapped agency Inter/Media Advertising to create a 30-second DRTV spot in which a live-actionprotagonist in an animated blue race car out­runs a competitor and claims a trophy from the hands of a female official. The spot launched in July in daytime slots on local broadcast stations.

“We wanted to come up with a concept that communicated to [young men] in a medium that was familiar, exciting and almost interactive,” says Robert Yallen, president of Inter/Media.

Results: AIS saw a 30% lift in sales after the spot debuted. A second spot, “Jungle Adven­ture,” launched recently.

–Nathan Golia

Privateview
Bryan Gaffin, VP, group creative director, G2

The Camp Groovy Girls Web site has the right look to attract young girls. However, it’s missing the depth of rich interactivity that Flash can provide today. The dolls could also be integrated into the site more, providing a better incentive to buy them.ExpoTV created a great holiday promotion that’s strongly on-brand, potentially viral and very engaging, which ex-plains its success.The AIS spots generated great response, but they are less successful at brand building, especially when contrasted with a recent spot that uses the gamer motif perfectly: Toyota’s “World of Warcraft”. The graphics and story would resonate more if they were slightly more polished.