Title	BOSCH IXOISM
Brand	ROBERT BOSCH POWER TOOLS
Product/Service	BOSCH IXO
Category	G02. Challenger Brand
Entrant	PHILIPP UND KEUNTJE Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation	PHILIPP UND KEUNTJE Hamburg, GERMANY
Production	EXPERIENCE ONE Stuttgart, GERMANY
Production 2	BRIDGINGIT Mannheim, GERMANY
Production 3	DATENWERK Munich, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
André Bourguignon	Philipp und Keuntje	Executive Creative Director
Franziska Flau	Philipp und Keuntje	Creative Director
Caterina Florencio	Philipp und Keuntje	Art Director Digital
Maxie Perlberg	Philipp und Keuntje	Junior Art Director
Klas Batschkus	Philipp und Keuntje	Art Director
Klaus Huber	Philipp und Keuntje	Senior Copywriter
Jens Hoffmann	Philipp und Keuntje	Director Brand Consulting
Christina Klein	Philipp und Keuntje	Senior Project Manager Digital
Anna Wiegel	Philipp und Keuntje	Junior Project Manager Digital
Charlotta Dittmann	Philipp und Keuntje	Senior Project Manager
Insa von Zeppelin	Philipp und Keuntje	Social Media Manager
Johanna Blevins	Philipp und Keuntje	Agency Producer
Karen Schwarzer	Philipp und Keuntje	Head of Art Buying
Jenny Weser	Philipp und Keuntje	Editor
Bianca Colussi	Philipp und Keuntje	Head of Production
Ansgar Struck	Philipp und Keuntje	Head of Postproduction
Sven Fröhlich	Philipp und Keuntje	Senior Retouch Artist
Ponke Herrmann	Philipp und Keuntje	Senior Final Artworker
Juliette Mainx	EYECANDY	Photographer & Set Designer
Fanny Böhme	EYECANDY	Photographer & Set Designer
Stefanie Grau	-	Freelance Interior Architect, Set/Furniture Designer

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

We engaged a new, modern, and trendy target group for Bosch through a completely new staging and experience of a power tool. This has never happened before: Our cross-gender campaign parted with gender-based marketing in the tool segment - in language and design but also in the choice of communication channels. We positioned our power tool as a desirable design object in lifestyle magazines, trendy social media channels, and at selected target points in everyday life. In our IXO Style Contest, the new target group was actively involved with our product. And even acted as multipliers to ensure considerable dissemination.

Background

The IXO from BOSCH was the first really small and extremely practical cordless screwdriver. With over 15 million units sold, it is the best-selling power tool in the world. 15 years after its first launch, the IXO had lost its uniqueness; it was gradually lost among many other power tools. Also, it was strongly attacked by the competition, which flooded the market with quite similar (mostly cheaper) products. So far, tools have been extremely manly (high-performance power tools for real men). But the world has changed: Women are handy, men no longer identify themselves with role clichés, and the current gender equality discussion leads to an openly lived gender diversity. How can we make the IXO and the Bosch brand something special and unique again? How do we create an extraordinary product and brand experience? And how do we reach new target groups without frightening the old ones?

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Our idea: IXOism - Screw prejudice! So far, power tools have been advertised as if they are only meant for strong, masculine men. We transform the IXO from a functional tool into a lifestyle object for everyone! A power tool for aesthetes, design and decoration lovers of every gender and sexual orientation. We make sure that not only the tool is trendy and "instagrammable", but also each of our assets. For this, we have invented a loud, colourful, and always slightly crazy world (with its own language), the IXOism. We go one step further with the IXO Style Contest and allow the target group to participate in new creative thinking: anyone can design the cordless screwdriver according to their own ideas - as colourful, unusual, and varied as our modern, trendy target group itself.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

To address our traditional target group and the new target group, we don't limit IXOism to the usual DIY setting. We move out of the handyman's corner. And we set the IXO cordless screwdriver in a new context - unusual, unexpected, and with maximum effect. The positive message always resonates: Dare to be different. Wherever we find a trendy audience, we create desire and elevate the IXO to a design icon. We break with expectations wherever we go and emerge where you wouldn't expect a power tool: with unusual videos and motifs, in collaboration with artists on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, in lifestyle magazines and shopping districts in city centres. We activate the community with the IXO Style Contest and let it spread itself by collecting likes.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

With a multi-stage, Europe-wide campaign, IXOism was able to spread. During the teaser phase, the IXO Style Contest attracted attention. In the bridge phase, we kept the tension high until the IXO went on sale. And in the launch phase, we went on the offensive to get a wider audience excited and motivated to buy. We used traditional channels as well as digital and interactive media: - Print ads - Posters and Citylight Posters - IXO Style Contest (online) - Social Media - Moving image (teaser and campaign video) - Artist cooperation (influencers and female artist group Eyecandy) - Media cooperation with lifestyle magazines (staging the IXO as a lifestyle must-have) - Installation: interactive game (on a digital Citylight, one could virtually screw eggs to the wall with the IXO)

List the results (30% of vote)

Enthusiastic reactions and comments show we nailed it (and didn’t screw it up). We managed to convince our traditional Bosch target group and inspire the new target group. The risk of repositioning the IXO cordless screwdriver, relaunching the Bosch brand, and winning new target groups, was a complete success. With the IXO Style Contest, we were able to activate everyone, regardless of age or gender. 15,000 IXO styles have been configured, with more than 260,000 votes received. The site was visited over 400,000 times with a 3:13 minute average length of stay. Comparatively: According to the statistics company Nielsen/NetRatings, the average time for a website is around 40 seconds. We achieved 12 million impressions on social media channels. Our media reach was 32 million potential customers.

Please tell us about the challenger brand and how your campaign challenged / was different from your competitors

Power tool manufacturers are still primarily oriented towards men’s needs. The cliché of the strong man in the house who takes care of everything that has to be drilled, screwed or repaired is still there. Even the tools are designed to underline the owner’s masculinity. But do-it-yourself work and creative handicrafts are no longer the male domain! Yet it's about more than equality. Today, men no longer (only) fulfil the role of provider and protector. There are a multitude of life choices and gender roles. Our efforts to create a new awareness paid off: The IXO has become a modern icon that stands for creative self-realization without prejudice or limitation.