Crest Goes Mobile to Reach Gen Y in Social Settings
Crest is tapping into the sensitive issue of bad breath by targeting young people where irresistible fresh breath can really count; when boy meets girl. The SMS campaign is one component in a broader effort to drive sales and brand awareness of its new toothpaste, Crest Whitening Plus Scope Extreme.
All across the country branded napkins began landing under the noses of 18- to 34-year-old females in nightclubs, bars and eateries two weeks ago with a call to action to “take the Crest irresistibility IQ quiz for a chance to win prizes” by playing on their mobile devices.
“We want to make sure we connect with them where they are really thinking about fresh breath and reach them in places where it makes sense,” said Kevin Buss, Crest interactive marketing manager.
Players text the message “IQ” or “Extreme” to the short code 27378 to receive a series of questions based around dating scenarios and written by Samantha Daniels, a relationship expert and author of Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker.
For example, one question asks: Tonight is destined to be special, what do you wear? Three answer choices are: Whatever’s on top of the laundry basket that looks clean; The killer outfit that somehow landed on my credit card last weekend; And, I go with the fallback I haven’t worn in a while. It looks great no matter what. A message bounces back letting the player know whether they are at the top of their game or may need to polish up a bit on their dating skills. The message tells players to check out CrestIQ.com and to try Crest Whitening Plus Scope Extreme, made by Procter & Gamble.
Players can register to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win video iPods, iPod Nanos, iTunes gift cards and signed copies of Nick Cannon’s latest album, Stages. Cannon is the host of MTV’s Wild ‘N Out and was featured on the Web site when it—and the product—first launched in April. The sweeps ends July 31.
The SMS campaign runs on all major U.S. wireless carriers including AT&T-Cingular, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and Verizon. The IQ Test was created by mobile direct marketing company, Flytxt Inc., Seattle, which handles the campaign. Eprize, Pleasant Ridge, MI, hosts the quiz.
“You can see people sitting around the bar participating, taking the quiz and having a laugh,” said Carsten Boers, president of Flytxt..
In addition to the SMS campaign, Crest partnered with popular social site MySpace.com to create a Miss Irresistible profile to promote the quiz. The profile launched in April followed by TV spot and print in May.
