Media: Strategy Analysis - Zoo finds six ways to spend £10,000

Media: OMD

Creative: Mother, Poke (interactive)

STRATEGY

The men's weekly magazine market has two dominant players - Zoo and
Nuts. However, the two brands are totally undifferentiated by their
target audience of young men. In an attempt to "drive Zoo preference
over Nuts", Mother dispensed with the traditional method of
communicating weekly editorial content, in favour of a model that would
distinguish Zoo through the creation of a bigger brand idea.

Instead of communicating typical Zoo editorial content ("Zoo reading"),
Mother created original branded content by bringing to life the notion
of "what it's like to live life according to Zoo?" This was called "Zoo
living". Mother created Zootube, an entertainment channel brought to
life through TV, online, cinema and the magazine itself. The site was
set up with the aim of satisfying the young male thirst for comedy and
titillation in a way which isn't possible on TV.

EXECUTION

- Online: Online videos were produced featuring the in-house Zoo
marketers Steve Shanyaski and Richard Connolly. The videos were all
based on the same premise: Steve and Rich were given a £10,000
budget to make a series of ads. How they spent the budget was entirely
up to them. Their adventures were filmed in the style of a
documentary.

The idea was to capture Steve and Richard spending the video budgets in
the same manner that the typical Zoo reader would want to. Their
adventures were featured on Zootube.co.uk.

- TV: Steve and Rich spent £60,000 on six stunts, which were used
to create five 20-second TV spots. Also, 15 viral films of varying
lengths were uploaded to Zootube.co.uk.

- Press: Stills from the ads were adapted into advertorials in Zoo and
one of the commercials ("bouncy castle") became the theme for an entire
issue.

RESULTS

The novelty element of the campaign has led to substantial PR. The Cab
Ride Challenge (which saw Steve and Richard travel as far as they could
in a black cab for £10,000 - they got as far as Marrakech) was
featured on London Tonight, Metro and the Evening Standard. ITV has
produced a one-hour documentary covering the making of the campaign. The
"Keeley Lingerie Shopping" and "Keeley Crazy Golf" videos on
Zootube.co.uk entered the top 100 most viewed on YouTube. The activity
resulted in three of the year's biggest weekly sales.

THE VERDICT - Jon Forsyth partner, ODD

On first glance, you might dismiss this campaign as a typical "tits
sell" lads'-mag stunt. But in a category devoted to indulging this
marketing cliche, it deserves praise.

First, it is a fantastic example of agency and client collaboration. The
idea was completely dependent onintegrationacross editorial, creative
production and media strategy.

Second, it placed the target audience at the heart of the idea without
putting them in it. The stereotypical attempts at capturing "real lads'
antics" on viral clips etc are a bit worn and often appear cheesy.

Being asked to spend £10,000 on anything you want is a
20-year-old's dream, but seeing the guys at Zoo do it is just as
entertaining, as you'd expect them to share the same mischievous
mentality.

And finally, it did something rare within the lads'-mag category by
acting like a brand. The campaign avoids the formulaic product-driving
tactic of promoting a front cover, and instead created some living
editorial.

With such a concentrated top-shelf market, Zoo living's attitude and
humour differentiated the magazine by existing outside of being just a
magazine. Given the increasing demand for 24/7 mobile interactivity,
this has got to be the way forward for brands that survive on "of the
moment" information and news. Zootube was a literal example of this and
a great way of extending accessibility of the idea.

I was slightly surprised the stunts themselves weren't a bit edgier.
Given the target audience and available channels, I would have expected
some really risque content that could be released virally. However, I'm
sure the campaign will re-emerge, so there's loads of scope for
more.

In terms of accountability, it will be interesting to see how well the
title performs versus Nuts and whether investing into brand
differentiation pays off. However, if the ITV documentary of the making
of the campaign happens, I'm sure accountability will be
unquestioned.

So, in summary, I think this was a great campaign and successfully
created an opportunity for a very fickle audience to step inside Zoo and
enjoy the personality of the brand beyond the staple flow of weekly
titillation.

Score: 4 out of 5.