Client: Yahoo!7
Producers: Hoodlum Active
Creative agency: HOST
Communications agency: Mango Communications

Background

“Me. What can I say? This is my moment in the sun and I could make this up and you’d never know – I’m kewl an’ bewtiful and clever, in fact I’m perfect in every way, yeah. Current problem is, though, I’m a compulsive truth teller – that means I tell the bad with the good – to everyone, all the time.”

This was the start of the groundbreaking 12-week drama, PS Trixi, launched online late last year by Yahoo!7. Aimed at a generation that is highly accustomed to personalising their experiences with interactive media (18- to 24-year-olds), PS Trixi was a cross between an online drama and an interactive game. It comprised over 2000 pages of web content, 140 webcam videos, 22 games, 1000 emails and 30 podcasts.

New Australian actress Erinn Swan starred as Trixi, a livewire local radio DJ in her 20s, who quit her job when a romantic relationship with her love-rat boss turned sour. Trixi soon established a new website and relaunched her popular radio show via her own podcast, aided by her devoted best friend, radio producer and number one fan Hamish, played by up and coming Aussie actor Michael Coughlan. But it was not long before things start to get complicated and events spiralled out of control as Trixi’s party-loving sister, Max (played by Jess Williams), went missing in mysterious circumstances.

The PS Trixi story swiftly unfolded on Yahoo!7 as the audience worked to unravel Max’s mysterious disappearance using a range of interactive content, including streamed video segments, podcasts, emails, blogs and specially-created websites.

The series was produced by Hoodlum Active and penned by acclaimed Australian writers Deborah Cox (creator and co-writer of the popular ABC drama SeaChange) and Marissa Cooke (award-winning writer for the ABC/Austar interactive drama Fat Cow Motel).

Objectives

Yahoo!7’s primary objective was to introduce an exciting new form of online entertainment and advertising model to the Australian market. PS Trixi was created to showcase the opportunities available online and engage this audience. Ultimately, the series was designed to position Yahoo!7 in the industry as an innovative online entertainment company by integrating a number of the Yahoo!7 online properties such as Yahoo!7 groups, video, 360, mail, search, mobile and Flickr. Fans would then be able to access parts of the storyline and obtain the latest clues via a number of different Yahoo!7 and Seven Network products.

In summary, the campaign objectives were to:

• successfully launch an online interactive drama series on Yahoo!7
• drive traffic to Yahoo!7 and its priority products
• generate share of voice in the industry and within target consumer and advertising media, and
• raise awareness of the innovative marketing opportunities available on Yahoo!7.

Strategy

When casting the lead roles of Trixi and Hamish, advertisements were placed in music street press and in local papers. People were asked to register online and fill out a lengthy form asking for all of their interests. It was important for the main actors to be as close in character to Trixi and Hamish as possible. Everything was kept under wraps with over 400 applicants and a series of afternoon sessions held with drama coach Martin Challis. From 60 people, 10 were chosen for final auditions and it quickly became very obvious that Erinn and Michael were the actors for the roles. Other people short-listed played various roles in the PS Trixi series.

The filming of PS Trixi took place over seven weeks, which included two days in a sound booth, 10 and a half days of video shoot and fours days of still photography. It was shot on DV cam with a small crew comprising a director (Tori Garrett), director of photography, sound recordist, art director, costume designer and production assistant.

Markus Barnikel, chief sales officer, Yahoo!7 says, “The Yahoo!7 brand promise centres on creating new and innovative ways for marketers to engage their audience through online. PS Trixi was a clear demonstration of how advertisers could connect with young consumers and invite them in to interact with a brand, via highly innovative and original content, which seamlessly integrates with Yahoo!7’s products and services.”

The major sponsor for PS Trixi was Toyota. Yahoo!7 worked with all the relevant agencies to provide a unique touch point for Toyota and to include the mechanics of the game, style and storyline within the sponsorship. The result: each time fans interacted with each other and completed various online tasks, they accumulated points exchanged for a key. Each key represented an opportunity to win a Toyota Yaris – acting as a reward for the keenest followers and enhancing advertising partner Toyota’s association with this online drama.

Nick Sadlier, national marketing manager, Toyota Australia, adds: “We have partnered many media firsts throughout the years and we certainly were excited about getting involved with Yahoo!7 and PS Trixi. Yaris is one of Australia's favourite small cars, and we were eager to be part of such an innovative initiative that directly reached out to the core Yaris target audience.”

Execution

As PS Trixi was a new concept for Australia, the challenge was launching the campaign into a market that wasn’t tried and tested. Plus, the core objective of demonstrating the power of a strong integrated campaign across the network – Yahoo!7 Australia and New Zealand and the Seven Network – needed to be reinforced throughout the campaign.

Yahoo!7 worked with its partners to ensure the series – which blurred the lines between reality and fiction – created a swell of interest and converted unique users to avid followers. Yahoo!7 extended the PS Trixi experience by working with agency partners HOST and Hoodlum Active to develop an effective above the line campaign with PR support from Mango Communications. Like the drama, the campaign would not spell everything out for the viewer – instead it would give them a reason to discover it for themselves.

Kick-starting the marketing campaign was a series of ‘disruptive adverts’, including 10 innovative television commercials running on the Seven Network over four consecutive weeks. In an Australian first, these ads appeared to interrupt other commercials, giving away a little bit more information each time they aired and mirroring events in the narrative of PS Trixi as it unfolded online. PS Trixi also infiltrated Seven programs with actors on Home and Away wearing subtly branded t-shirts to create intrigue and drive fans to the website.

Marketing support also extended into fly posters, chalk stencils, postcard drops, online ads and street media inserts, all flagged for distribution across university campuses, retail stores, cafés and street poster locations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The central campaign theme for the ambient creative mirrored that of PS Trixi itself, creating intrigue and offering a call to action whereby fans had the opportunity to SMS and receive parts of the ‘story’ on their mobile or jump online to find out how it ended. By following this trail, consumers were drawn towards discovering the PS Trixi website.

Anthony Freedman, managing partner at HOST, says: “PS Trixi was an underground, urban drama and the creative campaign was designed to capture and mirror this mood. We offered our audience teasers that gave them a little bit of information and all the clues they needed to discover the end of the story for themselves.

“Like PS Trixi itself, the campaign was multilayered, taking our audience only so far and then leaving them to close the loop. The TV spots were particularly intriguing and built curiosity to discover what the campaign and PS Trixi was all about,” he continues.

In addition, Yahoo!7 held a launch party for PS Trixi, organised by HOST and Mango Communications. Yahoo!7 recreated the club in PS Trixi, ‘Gyro’, at Dragonfly, and invited profiled Australian celebrities, media and business partners. Mango Communications also secured promotional support through 3D World and mX Sydney via reader ticket giveaways to the exclusive party. Over 40 media attended, including FHM, 9to5, Rolling Stone, Who and Sydney Confidential alongside such celebrities as Kate Ritchie, Justin Melvey and Lara Cox.

Results

PS Trixi proved an enormous success, with 160,000 visitors using 32,000 video streams, spending 42,000 minutes watching videos and each person viewed an average of 21 pages.

“What we saw in PS Trixi was a truly interactive concept, which was a huge success and return on our investment,” says Toyota’s Nick Sadlier.

Yahoo!7’s Markus Barnikel, concludes, “Today’s youth are a generation accustomed to personalising their experiences and communication with peers online. They have grown up with the latest gadgets and, as such, they increasingly filter the flow of advertising messages – letting in only those that are relevant, entertaining or delivering value. Therefore, the challenge for today’s marketers is to identify new powerful channels for reaching youth and encouraging them to enthusiastically engage with the brand. We believe PS Trixi delivered on objective.”

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