Elkjøp Nordic to the final of Aller Best 2017

Steam cleaners are all the rage, but still an unknown phenomenon for many. Torhild Viken and Kathrine Røst Nilsen, Strategic Group Account Managers at Aller Media, were given the challenge of telling the good stories about the product in an environment where the target group finds it interesting and relevant. The primary objective was to reach the target group of environmentally conscious women with small children and a healthy lifestyle.

- We chose to create articles that tell consumers how to solve different challenges and what they need to do so. In addition to writing articles, we also made a movie, which was very well received by readers. The first round was run with native articles on Dagbladet and KK to build awareness of the steam cleaner product category and the Shark Klik'n Flip product, in combination with a test pilot, where we got the consumer to test the product's various uses and tell us about it. In the follow-up campaign, we wanted to reach those who had already read about the product, and to reach a wide audience with a tactical banner campaign," says Røst Nilsen.

Product with great utility function

Aller Media wanted to show the products' properties and areas of use in a situation that consumers found realistic. Test subjects were used to try out the products in different situations and the content generated was used to write good articles with the product in focus and good references to where it can be purchased.

- We believe that many people don't see the full range of uses for the products in the category, and to increase awareness and purchases, we need to make the consumer realize that the products are not "just another semi-smart gadget to put in the cupboard", but products that have great utility in several areas," says Røst Nilsen.

Two-part campaign

The good stories were told via content on KK and Dagbladet to get consumers to test and be ambassadors for the product. In the banner campaign, good quotes from the test pilots were implemented and looped, as well as the test pilot logo with '9 out of 10 recommend'. The product was displayed in full size and included specific images to show the benefits of the product.

- The first round was built on content from test pilot and native articles, respectively. Through the articles, we increased awareness of the product, its area of use, utility functions and benefits of the product. The second run consisted of further distribution of the results case for the test pilot, as we saw that it was well received by readers and produced fantastic results, as well as to build a retargeting leg in combination with reaching out widely on the tactical banner campaign. Madington produced material and there was a focus on large formats with good creative leeway, to implement much of the good content we already had from the native articles," says Røst Nilsen.

Amazing results after 13 days

Shark Klik'n Flip scored well on the test pilot, with 9 out of 10 stating that they would recommend the product to others. The native article delivered a long reading time and a high volume of page views, proving a high interest in the content and the product, helped by the fact that the article was not unnecessarily long. The click-through rate from Dagblad's female readers was also very high. The banner advertising that ran from December 11 to 24 delivered good results across the board.

- Testpilot results story spent half a day on Dagbladet and delivered a huge volume of views and was among the top stories on Dagbladet that day. "The combination of long reading time and many page views results in 1,171 hours consumed with Shark Klik'n Flip content, and shows that there is clear interest in the steam cleaner product category and that readers are interested in knowing more about the product," concludes Røst Nilsen.

Steam cleaner for cleaning floors

For Christian Nævdal, Sales Director at Elkjøp, it was the total mix of content marketing in combination with a tactical message that made the choice fall on Aller. He is now very pleased with the execution of the campaign.

- Marketing a relatively new product group, and not least a new way of cleaning your floor, is not something that can be done via traditional banner or print advertising. In the brief, the main emphasis was on educating customers about the benefits of using steam versus the traditional bucket and cloth. Our main objective was therefore to spread the message and create awareness of steam as a home floor cleaner. Increased sales was a secondary short-term goal," says Nævdal.

The task was solved well in terms of the creative outlet, as well as by targeting the message to the right segment. The use of Testpilot, among others, has been very valuable both to get honest feedback from real users, but also to spread the message. This has been used in Elkjøp's own marketing channels such as Facebook and digital newsletters.

- In terms of results, we have seen a nice increase in sales of Shark steam cleaners in December, but we are very pleased with the most important KPI, which was to make even more people aware of steam as a better alternative to bucket and cloth for floor cleaning. We can see this in the increased number of clicks to our product pages and landing pages on the topic - and not least the good read time on the articles. Overall, we are very impressed with the ownership Aller took of the entire campaign, both in terms of creative, implementation, optimization and follow-up," concludes Nævdal.

See the case film here: