Schooling the everyday Joe in the benefits of wireless has long been a major task before the industry, and wireless players have funneled millions of dollars into the effort. Wireless data is a hard sell, so the argument goes, and the technology’s value must be clearly and simply expressed to consumers.
Along these lines, carriers and handset makers have aired television commercials and newspaper ads outlining the everyday uses of things like camera phones and text messaging. But Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is taking the education effort a step further, a step that includes the use of night clubs, professional actors and teams of dogs.
That’s right-dogs.
Although the world’s number-five mobile-phone maker has been struggling with declining market share and what critics call a lackluster portfolio, Sony Ericsson has been conducting a unique advertising campaign aimed at turning that all around. And the company’s endeavor goes far beyond traditional wireless advertisements.
“We had to find a way to show (Sony Ericsson’s products) to people, without being cheesy,” said Nicky Csellak-Claeys, head of strategic marketing for the company’s North American business. “We thought it would be better to give people a hands on.”
That “hands on” has occurred in nightclubs, bars and tourist locales across the country. Indeed, Sony Ericsson staffers have managed to party down in celebrity-studded Los Angeles nightclubs, all the while promoting Sony Ericsson phones. The company’s acting corps has posed as techno-savvy tourists or playful bar-hoppers. (Most of the bar-goers were female.) And, in some parts of Europe, the company has rounded up teams of dogs-that’s right, dogs-all sporting specially made Sony Ericsson jackets and led by a friendly Sony Ericsson walker.
“People are getting a little jaded with traditional advertising,” Csellak-Claeys explained.
Csellak-Claeys calls Sony Ericsson’s unorthodox campaign “grass roots.”
Grass roots involved Sony Ericsson rebranding a nightclub for an evening and packing it with company logos and products. The venue also featured a big screen television, allowing club goers to post text messages or pictures taken with Sony Ericsson camera phones. Csellak-Claeys said the big screen was so successful that one suitor used it to propose to his girlfriend.
The clubbing campaign passed through 15 cities in the United States during the past several months, and wrapped up in a star-studded Los Angeles night club a few weeks ago, with Samuel L. Jackson, Kiefer Sutherland and other actors in attendance.
An even more unique advertising approach involved professional actors portraying tourists or bar-goers.
Under the company’s “fake tourist” campaign, actors were hired to hang out in tourist locales in seven U.S. cities, including tourist spots such as the New York Empire State Building and the Seattle Space Needle. The thespians would snap pictures with Sony Ericsson camera phones, enticing curious onlookers to try the product. The company also hired “leaners,” actors who hung out in bars and played games using color screen phones. The leaners would challenge other bar patrons to a game, hoping to generate word-of-mouth interest. The fake tourist and leaner campaigns were conducted mostly through September and October, but Csellak-Claeys said Sony Ericsson plans to use similar campaigns to promote its new line of products in April.
Finally, perhaps the most peculiar Sony Ericsson campaign was conducted during the fourth quarter in Germany, France and the United Kingdom using what the company called “dog-vertorials.” The campaign coincided with the company’s “cool to drool” tagline, and employed dogs and dog walkers throughout the region’s major cities.
Csellak-Claeys said that, although some in the company thought the grass roots effort would backfire, market research showed the campaigns had a positive effect on customer attitudes and on sales, most notably those of the T68.
“It worked really well,” Csellak-Claeys said, adding that the company will continue such campaigns this year. GW
