Bing launches local campaign

by Marketing ON 14 August 2009

Ninemsn has officially launched Bing’s local campaign.

The integrated campaign, ‘Bing and Good Things Happen’, will cross several channels with print, online and TVC executions. The concept, developed by Moon Communications Group, aims to create an emotional connection by featuring Bing’s unique daily homepage image prominently.

Joe Pollard, ninemsn CEO, explained the challenges and concept:

“Establishing Bing as an alternative search engine in the Australian marketplace is an exciting challenge for ninemsn. One of the best ways to meet this challenge is through building the Bing brand and encouraging trial through education of its outstanding product attributes. The changing daily homepage image on Bing is innovative and inspirational and something that is instantly recognisable. We knew therefore that it was important for our campaign to draw attention to this distinguishing feature.”

The TVC ties to Bing’s daily image feature, employing emotive images to imply inspiration and personal discovery through search. The campaign aims to increase market share and audience within Australia.

“We felt it was imperative to communicate differentiating features including the ability for people to find what they’re searching for more quickly, easily and with better organised results through Bing. Articulating this without sounding too technical or impersonal was challenging, however we’re delighted that our campaign is one that people can easily relate to on a personal level,” said Pollard.

The ABCs of water management

by Marketing ON 10 August 2009

Background

With the drought taking a toll on Australia’s water supply, ABC Innovation sought to educate the Australian public about water management and saving, with a focus on school students.

As part of National Science Week, the ABC intended to launch a website and online game to attract and hold public attention while educating on environmental sustainability and enviro-economic issues.

Brand: ABC Science
Clients: ABC Science/ABC Local Radio, CSIRO and eWater CRC
Agency: Moon Communications Group

Objective

Educate Australians of all ages about water management, and
Create an online engagement suitable for the general public as well as teachers and students.

Strategy

To engage such a broad target audience in science education it had to be made fun. A simulation game was designed that would put players in charge of the entire catchment for a town.

The game would receive cross-media promotion from ABC Radio and through National Science Week.

Execution

Building on the CSIRO’s simulation engine, Moon developed an engaging Flash game whereby users were challenged to balance environmental and economic needs in a set number of moves. The custom environment focused on ease-of-use, education and user enjoyment. The game mirrored real-life conditions by demonstrating the impact of player decisions on the environment and the social and economic wellbeing of the town. Players could decide what activities to undertake: to plant crops, log forests, build factories or set up national parks. The aim for players was to avoid environmental problems and to provide food and wealth for the population.

In addition, unexpected events, such as rainfall, reflected the unpredictable nature of the Australian environment.

To ensure maximum engagement, the gameplay was intuitively designed and information presented only when necessary.

The game was housed within a greater website containing further educational information on water management through video, audio and in-depth articles. A dedicated ‘Teacher Resource Centre’ on the site gave guidance to teachers, providing them with help on the game, ideas on how to introduce it to students and detailed background information on water management in Australia.

Results

The campaign brought the environmental impact of our day-to-day existence to the mind’s of the Australian public by pitting people against a digital unpredictable environment. Awareness raised is demonstrated in the game’s popularity:

250,000 games played to date, and
5,000 continuing to be played each week.

The campaign generated significant involvement from the general population and school groups. ‘Catchment Detox’ was also promoted exceptionally during National Science Week, with a competition between radio celebrities featured on air and the website.

The campaign was awarded an Australian Interactive Media Industry Association award for Best Science, Health, Environment Campaign.

Mercury rises at ninemsn with new cross-platform Windows Live campaign

by Marketing ON 23 April 2009

Ninemsn recently launched its new cross-platform advertising campaign, ‘Mercury’, to raise awareness about the new version of Windows Live and its ability to bring consumers their online world into the one place.

The Mercury campaign utilises the strength of the PBL Media assets, and will appear on Channel Nine, in ACP magazines, Hoyts Cinemas and online across ninemsn. The campaign will be the first time this year that ninemsn has included television and cinema into its marketing mix.

Carolyn Managh, director of marketing at ninemsn said:

“ninemsn has access to the strongest cross-platform media packages in the country with its PBLM partners, and we have utilised the strength of television, magazines, cinema and online to raise awareness, build the Windows Live brand and drive trial.”

The creative concept, titled Mercury, was developed by Moon Communications Group, and visually depicts how Windows Live brings people’s online activity, such as Hotmail and Messenger, together in one place. The image of the well known Messenger ‘Buddy’ icon melts into graphics to represent photos, storage, events and email highlighting that all the features are seamlessly connected and can be accessed with one Windows Live ID.

“Hotmail and Messenger are loved by our audience of over 7.5 million Australians and are two of the most recognised brands in the world. Our challenge with this campaign was to communicate that Windows Live is now the umbrella brand that brings the two together,” Ms Managh said.

“In addition we needed to communicate other great features such as Skydrive, with 25GB of free storage, and the ability to aggregate other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter into Windows Live. We feel that the strap line of Your Life. Your Stuff. One Place really encapsulates that perfectly.”

The campaign will run for 12 weeks and encourages people to visit the purpose-built site windowslive.com.au to download the new version of Windows Live.