Win Live

Background

Times are changing for crisp consumption.

With people turning to different snacks for nights in and multiple screens in the house, families are less likely to come together to watch the same programme over a sharing bag.

To combat this, Walkers sponsored Saturday nights on the UK’s major independent TV channel, ITV. This created two challenges.

Firstly, they were sponsoring the entire evening, not just an individual show such as ‘The X Factor’ or ‘I’m a Celebrity’, so the task was to integrate with the programmes, not just the ad breaks. Secondly, when families do watch TV together, they disappear into their own world on their phones during the ad breaks. How could these digital distractions be used to bring everyone together?

Idea

Entrants bought a pack of Walkers crisps to get a unique entry code. However, a traditional ‘SMS the code to enter’ mechanic was not going to stand up to the allure of Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. So, rather than compete with them, Walkers was put front and centre on Facebook Messenger, where consumers entered the competition via a chatbot. After taking entry details, the chatbot entertained people for the rest of the ad break with a gameshow-style quiz, prompting families to discuss the answers with each other and thus creating a shared family moment.

Questions were tailored to the shows on TV that evening, helping to make Saturday nights a time to enjoy together again.

The competition was promoted through on-pack advertising. Consumers scanned the Facebook code with the Messenger app to open the entry chatbot. Ad spots throughout the evening encouraged viewers to locate the code on their crisp packet while Facebook advertising supported the same message, putting the chatbot one click away.

Winners were contacted via the chatbot and email with giveaways enticing them to try new flavours and have another go next week. To make the prize draw a bigger family moment, in the final ad spot of the evening, brand ambassador Gary Lineker opened an envelope to reveal the winner’s name, which was added in real time.

Results

Almost a third of those who engaged with the chatbot entered the competition twice or more. 48% of users adopted Chatbot as their preferred entry route, beating the target by a whopping 60%. On top of all this, it was the first ever Facebook competition to connect digital entries to a live TV draw, something now being considered by other PepsiCo brands.

Our Thoughts

One of the major themes of our time is how the mobile phone encourages people to live in their own personal bubbles. Even when the family is together, they are apart, heads bent over their devices. So, for me, this is really smart thinking. Not only does the chatbot inspire real chat, the idea connects terrestrial TV with everyone’s handheld devices to create a single, enhanced experience.

And then to have the evening’s winner announced pretty much in realtime, that doesn’t blur the line between social and traditional media, it eradicates it altogether.

ITV must love this campaign too as further proof that TV still has plenty of life left in it.