2019 Winners & Shortlists

PET A PLANT

BrandEXOTICA
Product/ServiceFLOWER SHOP
EntrantLEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
CategoryTravel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
Media Placement LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
Media Placement 2 STARCOM Beirut, LEBANON
PR LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
PR 2 MSL BEIRUT, LEBANON
Production LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

With a strong heritage from the 70s, Exotica was a brand that won the hearts of consumers over the years as a luxury flower shop. However, it wasn’t able to evolve with millenials in terms of communication and product offering. To do so, we created this campaign to mainly connect with the consumer through a social media experience that speaks to our target and strengthens their bond with the brand. It was not a one off campaign but an on going experience that the brand could own on social media when communicating plants.

Background

Exotica is an upscale plant and flower shop established in the 70s that mainly appeals to an older generation. Most young people consider the brand a bit too out of reach and intimidating. We needed to engage with that target audience and rejuvenate our brand, with the goal of eventually increasing our sales.

Describe the creative idea.

We quickly realized that a lot of online content shared by millennials is related to pets. This opened our eyes to the fact that millennials love pets: they love owning them, talking about them, and posting about them. Since we sell plants, we decided to position plants as the new pets for millennials.

Describe the strategy.

Millennials spend a lot of their time on social media, so we decided to reach out to them in their natural habitat. Our main channels of communication were Instagram and Facebook. We knew that if we were going to make plants appealing to young people, we had to speak their language. That’s why our content was witty and fun, while being tailor-made to our chosen platform. Crucially, we wanted our campaign to clearly show the many joys of owning a plant while making the content entertaining and enjoyable.

Describe the execution

We set up an unbranded Instagram page called Pet or Plant. It was filled with fun content that initiated a debate amongst young people: are you more team pet or team plant? The page created a lot of buzz, with young people joining the conversation and posting their own content. In parallel, we asked young influencers to help spread the word on our page. Eventually we made our big reveal: from Pet or Plant, to Exotica’s Pet a Plant. We showed millennials all the benefits that come with owning a plant in a light-hearted way: they’re super cute, they’re great companions and something you take care of. We combined entertainment with informational content. This came in the form of plant profiles, which told people everything

List the results.

We were able to reach our goal, which was to communicate with the youth and provide them with engaging content they could relate to. We received an overwhelming number of user-generated content, as well as direct messages on social media. • Sentiment: 100% Positive Sentiment • Engagement: 600% higher engagement rate than industry standards (source: https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/2018-social-media-industry-benchmark-report/) • Impressions: 1M+ Impressions with a $350 online media budget. With a very limited campaign budget, we garnered an impressive increase in sales: Sales/Revenues: 66% increase in online sales revenue – 1.5 times the amount spent online. 93% increase in online sales vs the same period last year- we almost doubled the online sales of plants, and for each online sale, the amount spent was increased by 1.6, with a higher basket every time.

Credits

Name Company Role
Bechara Mouzannar Leo Burnett Beirut Chief Creative Officer
Youssef Naaman Leo Burnett Beirut Executive Regional Managing Director
Malek Ghorayeb Leo Burnett Beirut Regional Executive Creative Director
Jo Chemaly MSL Beirut Managing Director
Yasmina Baz Leo Burnett Beirut Creative Director
Philippe Araman Leo Burnett Beirut Head of Digital Levant
Mohamed El Tibi Leo Burnett Beirut Regional Communication Director
Roger Hajj Leo Burnett Beirut Associate Creative Director
Charbel Abou Jreich Leo Burnett Beirut Senior Art Director
Noura Atoui Leo Burnett Beirut Art Director
Sabine Haddad Leo Burnett Beirut Senior Copywriter
Christian Manasci Leo Burnett Beirut Senior Copywriter
Lana Khayat Leo Burnett Beirut Communication Supervisor
Chadi Khalaf Leo Burnett Beirut Communication Manager
Zina Ibrahim Leo Burnett Beirut Data Analysts
Alfred Haidamous Leo Burnett Beirut Data Analysts
Rita Chammas MSL Beirut PR & Communication Supervisor
Annie-Rita Kassarjian MSL Beirut Junior Communication Executive
Vanessa Moussan STARCOM ME Media Manager
Josephine Assaf STARCOM ME Senior Media Executive
Tarek Moukaddem Freelancer Photographer
Links
Social Media URL