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 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 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.
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.
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.
Results
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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.
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More than 49 000 users watched Gord's videos.
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Over 7 000 users entered into the chat and communicated with Viktor Gord's secretary.
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637 people signed up for Gord's fictional trainings.
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Google search shows that Viktor Gord's name is mentioned around 6 000 times.
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The most famous Ukrainian news magazine and leading Ukrainian on-line magazines wrote about Viktor Gord and his advertising campaign.
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Despite the global economic crisis that was at full speed during the promo campaign, Berocca's sales indicators grew.
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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.
Campaign elements
Viktor Gord's blog
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«Berocca» site
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Banner support
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