2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Not a conventional marketing campaign: When Beko, Turkey’s leading consumer electronics brand, wasn’t known for high-tech products, to promote its smart televisions, we didn’t launch a typical mass media campaign or a standard shopper promotion. Aimed at an untapped audience: Often forgotten by brands (while mothers are (rightfully) celebrated), dads usually don’t ask for much for themselves; except for probably one thing: The remote! A high-tech promotional item to attract dads to Beko's TVs: We created the only TV remote in the world that works only in dads’ hands, ‘The D-Remote’, launched on Father’s Day, as an innovative promotional incentive.

Background.

Despite a declining trend in volume sales, rising average unit prices are driving current value growth in consumer electronics in Turkey. In a time when people in Turkey were focusing on high value products, when it comes to big money items such as televisions, Beko while being a popular home appliances brand, wasn’t seen to be high-tech or a brand for high-tech smart televisions. Beko is a popular home appliances brand in Turkey. But, it isn’t associated with high-tech products, since its primary source of business has been home appliances. Beko was promoting its new range of high-tech, smart televisions. This provided an opportunity to improve perceptions and build preference, among electronic shoppers, for Beko, as a tech brand. Standing out and getting a response was going to be key amidst a slew of promotions from electronics brands across traditional media channels.

Describe the creative idea.

THE D-REMOTE: The only TV remote in the world that works only in the hands of dads, promoted as a new innovative medium, attracting purchases. The technology was designed for and aimed at dads’ favourite place where they spend most of their time when home. Through this remote, as a new engagement channel, we intended to incentivize purchases of Beko’s smart televisions range, promoting Beko’s televisions.

Describe the strategy.

Turkish Dads, just like dads around the word, are often forgotten by brands, while mothers (rightfully so) are celebrated. Father’s Day isn’t that important on most brands’ activity calendars vs. other occasions, including Mother’s Day. But, for Beko, a brand that was aiming to improve its brand’s relevance with men, dads were important and Father’s Day was important too. The truth about dads is that dads don’t usually ask for much for themselves. Except for probably one thing that they really crave control of…THE REMOTE CONTROL! So, when Beko was promoting its entire smart television range to grow its electronics revenue, we didn’t do another promotion like competitors in shopping aisles or across ignored mass media. Instead, to stand out from the promotional clutter, we created a new product on Father’s Day for Turkish dads, to promote Beko’s range of smart televisions.

Describe the execution.

HOW COULD DADS GET IT? All dads who bought from the Beko smart televisions range, on Father’s Day or after Father’s Day, entered into a draw for a chance to win the remotes that Beko had created. HOW DID IT WORK? An integrated scanner was built to store the fingerprint data of all dads who use the remote. And a recognition software could identify when the remote was in the right hands (of dads!). And thus, it remained theirs alone. HOW WAS IT PROMOTED? A video introducing the remote was promoted on Father’s Day and throughout the promotion period of 1 month on social media, targeting all those who were profiled as “Dads”. We also planned influencer marketing with key influencer dads in Turkey. And we also seeded stories on key news channels to give the product the attention and visibility it deserved.

List the results.

The idea’s online video was watched by 7.1 million people. 70% of the views were organic. The views constituted 10% of Turkey’s online population, hence, they are significant. The completion rate of the video was 73%; 40% over benchmarks in Turkey. Social media memes were created by people asking for the remote. Turkish news channels shared the idea, making it more popular. +27% brand relevance with men. +17% quarterly sales volume, exceeding the target by 7% in 1 month lesser than what was targeted.