2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

The Aluminium Sauna is just that – a full-size sauna made completely of aluminium and powder coated to perfectly mimic the look of real wood. It is the first of its kind in the world, and is an innovative marketing tool that gives architects the chance to not just see the product at trade shows, but to truly experience it first hand. It is a brochure that the audience can walk inside and touch. The ultimate proof for skeptical architects, the Aluminium Sauna didn’t shy away from their skepticism, but tackled it head on. Even the most discerning eye has to take a second (or third) look to realize that not a single tree was cut down to produce this sauna.

Creative Execution

Nearly a year in development, the innovation required every piece of the Jotun supply chain to collaborate - from R&D to manufacturing. In the end, Jotun built the world’s first Aluminium Sauna, a structure that proves once and for all that Jotun’s wood effects are just what architects have been waiting for. They perfectly blend the beauty of real wood with the durability that architects demand in harsh UAE weather.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The Aluminium Sauna didn’t just help meet product sales targets of the new Jotun woodgrain collection. Jotun increased cross-sale and up-sell to other products within the portfolio, resulting in a 20% year-on-year category sales lift overall.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The world’s first Aluminium Sauna was an innovative activation unlike any other. It was a three-dimensional, interactive brochure that gave architects the chance to walk through, touch, test and explore Jotun’s new wood effects for metal. Knowing how skeptical architects are about ‘imitation’ effects, the Aluminium Sauna helped convince them that Jotun’s products are truly effects you can believe in.

The strategy that led to the Aluminium Sauna started with truly understanding the needs and concerns of architects in the UAE. Months of interviews and data gathering helped us reach the two cores of the issue: (1) Architects would love to use wood, but the weather just simply doesn’t allow it. (2) Architects are inherently skeptical of anything imitation, and they don’t ‘give it a try’ when it comes to their new 50-story building. We knew early on that the traditional activation wouldn’t cut it with this audience. To convince architects, Jotun had to become an architect. And to prove that their wood effects don’t look fake, Jotun built a ‘fake’ that looks just like the real thing.