A while ago I covered Peugeot 107‘s new interactive portal (over here). In that post I said the following:
I think it could have been more of a success if they changed the 1st prize to a Peugeot 107 and spent a bit more on marketing the site. I personally believe if your going to do something, go big or go home. I haven’t seen any billboard ads however I might have seen a Peugeot 107 ad on T.V. and if I did it obviously wasn’t good enough to stick in my mind or take me to their site.
I have just discovered that I was wrong. Uwe Gutschow has released his case study of the Peugeot 107 campaign. It seems they were smarter than I thought and I congratulate them on a successful campaign.
What Did Peugeot 107 Do So Well?
- They went mobile
This is something I cannot stress enough. Going mobile for any campaign will yield some impressive results. There are more people in South Africa with mobile phones than computers, take advantage of that! There are three ways you can do this:- Mobile sites
- SMS promotion (Don’t Spam!)
- MXit
- They went offline to get online
This is something that I believe is important to any online campaign. Not everyone in South Africa has instant access to a computer and the internet, the more offline promotion you incorporate into your online campaign the better. In Peugeot 107′s case they sent their finalists each a t-shirt with semacodes on them. [what is semacode?] - They used MXit
Finally, somebody realised the potential of MXit. According to the case study, 7 000 MXit skinz (backgrounds) were all downloaded within one hour. Now that is quick, 7 000 people viewing your branding in the matter of an hour. Lets not forget that they will see that image repeatedly. - They targeted the youth
Yes, thats right, Peugeot 107 marketed to youngsters. Youngsters don’t buy cars, do they? No, you are correct, they don’t BUT their parents will most probably buy them their first car. Youngsters influence their parents decisions more than you think. That’s not all, brand loyalty. When those youngsters grow up, I bet they will look twice at a Peugeot before deciding on a new car.
I am highly impressed by this campaign and I hope that Peugeot’s competitors are taking notes. The internet and mobile technology are more powerful than anyone can imagine. All you need is a proper strategy and a smart, hard working team to see it through. South Africa is in shortage of people who can create and manage campaigns such as these, so grab them while they’re still fresh.
