CIRKLE WON PRIDE GOLD AWARD
Best Integrated Communications
In 2009 the PR company Cirkle won gold for their campaign for Montagne Jeunesse. Heres a bit of background...
The business has been built around a range of natural beauty products with face masques being their main product, along with foot, bath, hair and body products in single-use sachets.
The brand wanted to maintain their personality of its girly, natural, playful, pampering at the low cost of 99p, making it an indulgent affordable treat.
Cirkle were given the job of creating brand awareness whilst communicating Montagne Jeunesses fun pampering equity amongst their prime prospect (women aged 18 – 50.)
The main challenge for Cirkle was a limited budget. They did not have an ATL or NPD budget.
In reaction to this challenge Cirkle PR decided that the most cost effective, beneficial solution would to be to find a suitable and relevant partnership with a 3rd party. This would enable them to in effect hijack the equity of a already respected brand.
They actively involved the client (Montagne Jeunesse), taking them to see the musical Hairspray. Once they had fallen in love with it they created a free of charge promotional partnership with Hairspray the Musical that was mutually beneficial not only to Montagne Jeunesse but Hairspray as well.
IMPLEMENTATION/TACTICS USED
They became the ‘OFFICIAL PAMPERING PARTER’ of Hairspray the Musical
• For the first time ever Montagne Jeunesse created limited edition packs of a previously sold facemask presented with Hairspray the Musical branding on the front and backs of each individual item.
• Montagne Jeunesse then used these facemasks to launch a national point of sale (POS) competition offering customers the chance to win true Montagne Jeunesse style treats in the form of 5* girly pampering Hairspray the Musical tickets and a years supply of MJ products.
• They took leading cast members to the clothes show at the montagne jeunesse stand. This meant that fans of both products got to meet the cast and get signed copies of the Hairspray the Musical limited edition facemasks. There was singalongs and hundred of people visited the stand to takepart.
• The video of this was posted virally on youtube and was a huge hit.
• When Brian Conely signed to be a part of the musical as the cross dressing mother of the lead circle were there on behalf of montagne jeunesse, branding and giving samples to the London press launch attendees.
• THEY ALSO…. Negotiated 50 pairs of top price tickets for retailer and media bonding.
So to recap. The reason that thy won gold for best integrated communications is because they had ticks in the areas of
Creative
EXCITING ASSOCIATION. STAND OUT POS Becoming the OFFICIAL PAMPERING PARTNER was a major success.
Engagement
COMPLETE 360 DEGREES ENGAGEMENT. Not only did they get customers of montagne jeunesse excited about the product but also customers of hairspray the musical and cast and crew of the musical too. MADE IT A 3D PARTNERSHIP.
Turned problems into opportunities
Used the fact that they had a low budget to their advantage by creating a fantastic partnership, advantageous to both parties
Low cost
Negotiated costs for competition prizes worth £8,000, NO MONEY exchanged from either party.
They also won a different award
Sustainable
Although this partnership came to an end because it was so successful for both parties other musicals can now be used to help promote MJ’s brands at the moment there is a partnership created by Cirkle with Legally Blonde the Musical.
Successful
Increased sales of Montagne Jeunesse Fruit Smoothie facemask (the one branded with Hairspray the Musical) by 55%.
The overall reason that Cirkle was so successful is because they kept the theme of the brand, but added to it.
Do you think they did enough to win gold?
Do you think the target audience was the appropriate age for the product?
What other musicals would represent the Montagne Jeunesse brand identity and why?
the real question is whether they did enough research pre the campaign to test perceptions and actions, then measure both post the campaign. Sales went up- but can they be sure that the partnership was the reason? Checking before and after awareness would have helped boost the evaluation and measurement of their campaign.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the campaign, seemed fun and exciting. It seems the partnership with Hairspray was pretty spot on for attracting attention from younger girls, so I'm not entirely sure the target audience of 18-50 year olds is accurate... I don't think many women over 30 would choose a product at the price of Montagne Jeunesse's face masks.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a partnership with a musical such as Dirty Dancing would reach the older women in this age bracket, although I'm still ensure they would be able to persuade someone over 30 to use a low-cost facemask over an expensive face cream by a brand that claims to deliver drastic results.
But, on Montagne Jeunesse's side of the partnership with Hairspray, undeniable success!
I agree Catherine. They in my opinion did not do enough research in the area of the target market. In the focus group that took place after my presentation I asked whether they would change the target audience and the group of 5 all agreed that the target audience should be 12 - 25. They did not think that anyone of 25 would buy the product, they thought they would be more inclined to buy a more expensive face mask.
ReplyDeleteJess i also agree, no woman that i know would buy one. Not out of snobbery but because the products look young and are extremely cheap. They might buy it for a childs stocking filler i suppose....
I'm trying to think of other musicals that they could adapt this to. Hairspray and Legally Blonde are perfect as they are obviously quite girly. Musicals such as Grease, Dirty Dancing and Mamma Mia would probably also work because they have the same female demographic.
ReplyDeleteI think the target audience for this product could be extended. Why limit it to 18-50? If you like musicals, and you like pampering, then you will like those things whatever age you are! Young girls and older ladies should all be included.
I think they were deserving of the gold as they did lots of different things in the campaign to make it fun and interesting. And it is sustainable, which is another bonus for JM, now they have hit into a niche, they can keep hitting into it with more musicals.
I thought it was a great campaign and just goes to show how effective a partnership can be for both parties, i think Hairspray has definitely gained something from the partnership as they were able to have their sticker on packs all over the country and were also able to be involved in the Clothes Show Live. I definitely think it deserved Gold because it is sustainable as has been shown this year and it was really a single idea that has developed into a really succesful campaign, it exeeded all objectives too. Id give it 5 out of 5
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a very creative and out of the box approach to negotiate so much without having to spend a penny.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing the campaign achieved in my opinion was to use a 3rd party that shared the same retail environment but had a whole different fanbase that could be introduced to Montagne Jeunesse products.
The main point a few people have been making is about the target consumers' age. Although I do believe the age range of their target audience could have been brought down to 14 year olds, this would have probably gone against their tactics of The Clothes Show Event (Costing approx £40). It would have also gone against their competition which I'm guessing only allowed over 18s to enter.
For this reason I think the campaign was very carefully thought out and deserved GOLD!!