Haus of Versant
Fuji Xerox New Zealand
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
Republik New Zealand
Creative Team
Andrew Sims Duncan Blair Craig Ross Melissa Turkington
Production Team
Craig Abbott
Other Credits
Paul McNamara Lisa Brooks Amber Henderson Steven Caunce Alistair Egan
Date
2015
Background
In the market for digital printers, there was not much differentiation between either the products themselves or the brand manufacturers. Result: a cluttered market, where the target audience was bombarded with print samples and brochures.
Ultimately, the proof was in the printing, so the task for marketing was to get an up-close demonstration into the hands of buyers.
But that's what everyone did, so the trick was to do it with imagination and flair.
Idea
Republik centred its efforts for Fuji Xerox's Versant 2100 around a fictitious French fashion designer, Alfonso Versant. He wrote to buyers explaining how he had created a fashion range using only paper stocks printed on the Versant 2100.
The mail shot included a 'look-book' filled with musings on his inspirations and experiences, with a VIP pass to a New Zealand fashion premier, the Fashion Collection de Papier.
Republik commissioned NZ Fashion tech to create 12 looks from the 'Haus of Versant'. At the show, models cruised the runways in clothes created on the Versant 2100.
Results
The target was to sell 20 units within the first three months. Fuji actually sold five on the evening of the launch and 49 in total during the first three months. Sales in NZ, a small country, have outperformed every other Asian market and, according to Republik, achieved an ROI of NZ$105 for every NZ$ spent on marketing.
The 'Haus of Versant' garments are now on display in Fuji Xerox's New York HQ foyer, and the marketing idea has been repeated across Asia.
Our Thoughts
Selling printers is essentially all about a product demonstration, and direct mail is the best way to display that to buyers.
But printers themselves are dull products, and it's not easy to create a sense of excitement around the launch of yet another.
So bringing a printer to life via direct mail is one thing, but bringing it to life in a physical environment is another. The idea of creating a fashion show from paper garments adds a whole other dimension, but it's the sense of fun and attention to detail involved in the creation of the fictitious Alfonso Versant that lifts this out of the ordinary.
It also has the added bonus of making Fuji's rivals look dull and boring. And it must have been so much fun to do.