Research + Entertainment = Wildly Successful Campaign

A couple of months ago, I touted entertainment value as being the key driver behind the success of some of the most popular viral videos. It turns out that one of those campaigns, Shave Everywhere from Philips Norelco has the stats to prove it.

In its live coverage from the Ad:Tech conference, Promo says that Humor, then WOM Drive Successful Norelco Launch.


With less than $1 million for their budget, Philips created a video on a dedicated Web site to generate awareness, achieve sales goals and generate buzz that could be measured and quantified. The results are impressive:

• 313,675 unique visitors the first week
• 613,632 unique visitors the second week
• 1.7 million visits total
• 31% pass-along rate
• Sales reached 300% over an already "lofty" goal
• Over 500 blogs featured the video

More impressive than the results are the methods undertaken in determining the approach. This was not simply lightning in a bottle - it was deliberately researched and planned.

"We had a lot of pushback, was this right for the brand?" [brand manager Zdenek C.] Kratky said. "[But] we knew that the media spin alone wasn't going to get us what we wanted."

The company performed consumer research and pre-testing, which helped guide the decision.

"That's where the miracle happened," Kratky said of the consumer research, "when you spend more time with the consumer than you do in the conference room."

Lest you think I've abandoned my core focus here - B2B - these principles should apply for any campaign, whether it's B2C or B2B. Audience research, testing and feedback are important factors if you aren't completely familiar with your audience. It can save you a lot of embarrassment and can drive some very impressive results.