Tokyo - Despite being a well known brand in many Western countries, Electrolux has virtually no brand awareness in Japan. Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo (SSF) has been appointed AOR and the first mission is to build Electrolux brand awareness and affinity in the extremely competitive Japanese home appliance market. The initial effort is the creation and launch of Café Scandinavia - an innovative online-centric campaign that uses the power of storytelling to bring Electrolux to the forefront of consumers' minds.
Xploring research led to SSF Tokyo's insight that Scandinavian design and culture is highly admired among the target audience in other products, from furniture to automobiles. In addition, the tone and manner of most Scandinavian brands, as well as the countries themselves, bear similiarity to Japanese tastes and attitudes.
This learning led to the creation of a virtual Scandinavian café - the perfect place to display a wide range of Electrolux products in an affable environment. As with all cafés, this one is a hive of activity, perfect for human interest stories to unfold. In a series of online films set in the café, SSF Tokyo wove an engaging story that enables Electrolux to communicate with customers on an ongoing basis, and introduce their exisiting and future products. In essence, Café Scandinavia becomes the hub for all consumer marketing communications.
At the heart of Café Scandinavia is a story of misunderstanding between the café owner and a customer. People are able to watch the "she says, he says" film segments, and interact with the key character's Twitter and Facebook profiles. The intimacy that viewers feel with the characters as a consequence contributes to stronger emotional involvement with the overall campaign.
The campaign has just recently launched, yet Café Scandinavia is already seeing early signs of success with more than expected visits to its flagship website and a growing army of ‘Likes' on Facebook. And sales have surprisingly jumped during a summer period that is usually slow. This just reiterates what we as the Lovemarks Company have long known - never underestimate the power of a good story. Visit the café yourself at: http://www.cafescandinavia.jp/
http://www.facebook.com/CafeScandinavia