Award win for challenging cat poo campaign by Sense for The Economist
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An innovative campaign to increase subscriptions to leading business title The Economist, which took consumers out of their comfort zones by offering free coffee made from feline faeces, was named best Direct and Promotional Strategy at The Drum Marketing Awards 2015.
The initial 12-month activity in London, devised and run by experiential marketing agency Sense, generated a 298% return on investment, and has now been extended into Europe. The judges were particularly impressed with the way the campaign sacrificed volume and breadth of appeal for tightly targeting potential readers and weren’t afraid to turn some people off in order to drive a deeper connection with the right audience.
Targeting business and commuter areas, the activity uses the offer of free coffee as the hook to get people talking about The Economist and taking up a special subscription package. The real hook, however, is that the coffee on offer is Kopi Luwak, derived from beans extracted from the faeces of civet cats, which is the most expensive in the world as this process makes it particularly smooth.
“We’re delighted the judges recognised the success of Sense’s campaign for The Economist particularly within this slightly less obvious category,” said Sense MD Nick Adams. “This is great recognition for how live marketing in the real world can fulfil clear commercial objectives.”
Commenting on the campaign, Marina Haydn, senior vice president, Circulation and Retail Marketing at The Economist, said: “It has been fantastic to see results continually improving through the campaign run-time, and effectively become a new channel that steadily delivers results in the realm of offline marketing.”
“Brands don’t have to be all things to all people, and The Economist is a singular brand so it should embrace that,” added Adams. “The Economist isn’t easy, it’s challenging. There’s a certain kind of person who likes to rise to that kind of challenge. If we can single them out, then they’ll be easier to sell to.”
Cat poo campaign moves on to Ireland and The Netherlands
