2021 Brand Experience & Activation

INDOOR ADS

TitleINDOOR ADS
BrandAXE
Product/ServiceLYNX
Category B04. Use of Print or Outdoor
Entrant LOLA MULLENLOWE Madrid, SPAIN
Idea Creation LOLA MULLENLOWE Madrid, SPAIN
Credits
Name Company Position
Caroline Gregory UNILEVER LYNX/AXE Global Team: Global Brand Director
Jamie Brooks UNILEVER LYNX/AXE Global Team: Global Brand Manager
Alessandro D’Amico UNILEVER LYNX/AXE Global Team: Global Assistant Brand Manager
Claire Fynn UNILEVER UK LYNX UK Team: Brand Specialist
Josh Plimmer UNILEVER UK LYNX UK Team: Senior Brand Manager
Tomas Ostiglia LOLA-MullenLowe Executive Creative Director
Jorge Zacher Lola-MullenLowe Creative Directors
Kevin Cabuli Lola-MullenLowe Creative Directors
Felipe Calviño Lola-MullenLowe Agency Producer
Joaquín Cuadrado Lola-MullenLowe Copywriter
Tom Elliston Lola-MullenLowe Client Services Director
Oscar Fernandez-Baca Lola-MullenLowe Account Director
Maria Garcia Campos Lola-MullenLowe Brand Creative Lead
Ginés Gómez Lola-MullenLowe Art Director
Kiki Holshuijsen Lola-MullenLowe Copywriter
Silvia Naranjo Lola-MullenLowe Social Media Strategy
Álvaro Palma FREELANCE Copywriter
Lucas Rodriguez Head of Planning Head of Planning
Jose Miguel Sokoloff IPG Global Team Chief Creative Officer
Big Sync Music Agency Big Sync Music Agency Big Sync Music Agency Music
Sofie Boyland W Communications PR agency Senior Account Manager
Nico Cabuche LANDIA Executive Producer
Gerard Crichlow IPG Global Team Global Strategy Director
Federico Duberti IPG Global Team Global Business Director
Gabriella Griffin W Communications PR agency Senior Account Director
Alberto López LANDIA Producer
Numu * Numu E-commerce platform development
LANDIA Production House LANDIA Production House
Martin Rietti LANDIA Director
Barney Ware IPG Global Team Global Account Director
Nick Fruin W Communications PR agency Account Manager
Tiffany King W Communications PR agency Account Executive
Renaldo Otto W Communications PR agency Junior Account Executive

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Lynx approached Instagram users—who are >70% Gen Z and Millennials, the brand’s main target audience—with a direct response to their being stuck at home during UK’s lockdown by using their own homes as media. Lynx’s targeted communication and call to action connected with its audience more interactively and more effectively than ever. Participants got paid to share photos of Lynx ads on their Instagram accounts, causing an exponential reach in engagement amongst the target. We gave our target a direct way to become influencers for our brand and cultivated a relationship with them—our audience advertised for us.

Background

We were tasked with furthering Lynx’s cool brand image amongst young men in the United Kingdom. Normally, the most straight-forward strategy would be to wow them using paid media, or big, bold, ubiquitous outdoor ads. But due to the extensive lockdown this past year, the streets were emptier than ever. This made OOH advertising seem like an ineffective use of time and budget. How could we still get the word out and connect with our guys? Well, if the people could not come to our ads, perhaps our ads could come to them.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Lynx created the first ever indoor campaign, in which the brand paid people to display one of their branded ads in their homes and then share them with the world through Instagram. After all, people were sharing and seeing stuck-at-home selfies on the platform every day. The brand set out to use those interiors as media and appear in the backgrounds of Instagram users’ social media content with branded Lynx items consumers could order and own for free. This way, the brand did not only reach these participants, but also their followers. In short: young Britons became paid influencers for the brand—for the first time, anyone could be a “Lynx-fluencer”.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The brand launched a digital Marketplace where consumers could request their Lynx ad for free. All communication had the Lynx voice, bold and bright designs and straight-to-the-point copy with calls to action like “stop posting selfies for free!”. Each available ad also had item-specific copy, such as “get a poster that pays rent” and “count cash, not sheep”. The website guided consumers through each step using clickbait-style calls to action such as “click here to make money” and “sign up before it’s too late!”. To communicate the campaign, Lynx shared short tutorial-style posts and stories on Instagram together with collaborating influencer Calfreezy (young UK lifestyle vlogger, 1.5M followers) to reach our target audience of UK Gen Z/Millennials who are active on the social platform. From then on, the campaign sold itself through word of mouth. The following morning, all of the Indoor Ads were sold out.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

To make sure consumers could easily get one of Lynx’s Indoor Ads, the brand launched a digital Marketplace where consumers could request one of four branded Lynx products: a shower panel sticker; a framed poster; a fridge magnet; or a pillowcase. Both Lynx and collaborating influencer Calfreezy announced the campaign on their Instagram accounts and linked to the Lynx Marketplace’s site. Here, consumers could quickly sign up and order their favourite ad for free. Upon receival, consumers snapped a selfie with their installed ad and after uploading them to Instagram with the hashtag #LynxIndoorAds they were paid their respective amounts, with items priced up to 50 pounds per post. Regardless of their follower count, consumers became influencers for the brand, sharing their content featuring Lynx ads with friends, family and fans, causing an exponential effect in campaign reach.

List the results (30% of vote)

The UK only geo-targeted campaign got hundreds of Britons to put our ads up in their houses, The campaign reached +4.000.000 users and generated €1.300.000 in media. The Indoor Ads all sold out within a day with new sign-ups every 1.8 seconds, +3 minutes on average spent on the website and a 47% conversion rate. The public had a 97% positive sentiment towards Lynx’s campaign. Most importantly, the campaign created a lasting connection between Lynx and its customers by not selling them their products but instead paying them to sell the products on their behalf. It shifted the consumer-brand relationship to being collaborative, and in doing so, modernised and democratised the meaning of social media monetisation.