Brief
• Ann Summers was looking to drive awareness of its brand online and to enhance its ‘edginess’, using new and innovative channels
• Its retained search marketing agency iCrossing proposed a radical solution that would play on the brand’s edginess whilst attracting huge volumes of eyeballs at a relatively low cost
Strategy
• Using paid search as a brand marketing tool – by bidding on high volume, topical keywords with cheeky and humorous campaigns, Ann Summers could generate significant eyeballs online and reputational benefitsoffline
• The strategy was not to deliver clicks – it was toleverage the paid search mechanic to cheekily insert the Ann Summers brand into unusual places
Execution
• Topical campaigns included:
– British Airways strikes – bid on strike-related keywordswith ad copy saying ‘The planes may be grounded, buty ou can still join the mile high club!’
– Budget 2010 – bid on budget 2010 related keywordswith ad copy saying ‘There’s no recession in pleasure
– Snow 2010 – bid on snow-related keywords with adcopy saying ‘Stay in and stay warm with our steamy sex toys’
– Election 2010 – bid on election related keywords withad creative saying ‘Visit Ann Summers & find out why we believe in a well hung parliament’ and ‘We specialist in long, hard elections!’
Results
• The campaigns generated significant volumes ofimpressions, not just from the ads themselves, but alsofrom ancillary PR
• The ads generated over 1.5 million impressions for aspend of less than £4,500 – a CPM of £3
• The campaigns were covered in the national media,with the Independent writing about the budget campaignand the Guardian commenting on the BA strike activity,as well as across social media outlets