TCL, a Chinese brand and one of the largest manufacturers in the global television industry, sought to help Chinese consumers better understand HDTV while raising its own profile and the value of Chinese TV brands overall.
The company had clear campaign objectives:
- To re-position itself as a reliable, fashionable, high-end manufacturer of HD LCD TVs
- To improve the perception of Chinese brands
- To boost sales of HD LCD TVs, while avoiding price wars with international and domestic competitors.
The success of the campaign would be measured by:
- The extent of consumer engagement
- Media responsiveness
- Pre and post campaign research
- Impact on product sales.
Strategy
TCL and Burson-Marsteller conceived a social media-based review campaign that would involve ordinary families, with the theme of 'upgrading to a HD/LCD TV allows families a happier time together at home'.
The heart of the campaign was a ‘100 Happy Families Blog Competition’ that selected 100 families from 11 cities across China from among 660 applications. The lucky families received a TCL HD LCD TV to enjoy for one month free-of-charge and blogged their experiences on a dedicated website and forum.
This created a potent viral marketing and word-of-mouth campaign as the families directed everyone in their social networks to the website to vote, creating an extremely personal and compelling connection to the brand and product for all involved.
At the end of the competition, finalist families were awarded a trip to Lijiang, a famous Chinese tourism destination, to compete in a finale event where one lucky family won the big screen TCL HD LCD TV.
The campaign ran from July to August 2007. TCL and Burson-Marsteller identified and engaged key opinion-leaders, including celebrities and senior media editors, to provide endorsement and attract media interest.
Compelling associations were created between TCL's brand values and those of the celebrities. TCL leveraged the viral marketing, word-of-mouth campaign and award finale event to generate media coverage that maximised the impact of the digital media strategy, thus revitalising the brand.
In addition, numerous consumer touch-points including interactive blogs and call centres were established to promote two-way communication between TCL and consumers and to leverage their strong individual networks.
TCL took a confident, yet risky, approach of allowing consumers to drive the marketing campaign. TCL gave them free reign to publicly post genuine, uncensored comments and feedback about the product and the brand through their blogs and the online forum. This also marked the first time that a Chinese TV manufacturer offered free nationwide product trials.
Results
- Nearly 700 applicant families, half a million page views and over a quarter a million consumer votes
- More than 200 print and online articles and broadcast coverage generated so far, with an advertising value of nearly US$ 200,000
- Three times as many online voters said they would now select a Chinese LCD TV, and more than 90 per cent have greater confidence in the TCL brand
- Sales of TCL HD LCD TVs increased; August 2007 sales grew 69 per cent compared to the same period in 2006.