Beyond utilises Internet interactive games for Wrigley's brand-building

Beyond Interactive claims it has successfully utilised all the

strengths the Internet has to offer to create an effective

brand-building campaign for Wrigley's chewing gum without having to

resort to traditional advertising at all.

Beyond, part of Grey's global advertising network, created a purely

brand-building site for the FMCG company with banner and other types of

ads placed in sites frequented by Hong Kong youngsters. It also rented

an email database list of youngsters to initiate an email marketing

campaign.

Kenny Wong, Beyond's general manager, said, "We're not using the Web to

inform people about how chewing gum is manufactured. Neither are we

asking them to buy online."

At www.wrigley.com.hk, people learn about the core values of the four

main sub-brands belonging to Wrigley's - Juicy Fruit, Doublemint, Extra

and Spearmint - through playing games online. For instance, consumers,

learn that Doublemint can rid them of bad breath and Extra can help in

the fight against tooth decay.

The target market of the campaign was 15 to 25 year olds, a group

described by Mr Wong as treating the Internet as a lifestyle.

"Attempting to reach them through traditional media was in our view not

viable. Because they are more likely to be on the 'Net looking for

information or chatting with friends, we knew that our ads had to be on

sites they are likely to be on.

"In addition, we had to make it interesting and compelling for them to

click onto Wrigley's website by telling them that they could compete

against each other in online games and that great gifts could be won by

the most outstanding players," Mr Wong said.

Beyond regional co-founder and CEO Viveca Chan said one of the important

insights that was built into Wrigley's site was that young people are

very competitive.

She, however, stressed that the real power behind the website was the

tracking systems at the backend that could determine whether a certain

strategy or site was effective. If not, then the style of an ad or its

placement could be changed in real time so that traffic to Wrigley's

site could be optimised.

"You can see how the campaign is progressing. With just a click, you can

see how many people have registered and even how far people have gone

into the game.

"But our biggest asset is being able to optimise the media and creative

strategy on the fly and for the Internet this is important because most

campaigns are very short, maybe just a couple of weeks," said Ms

Chan.

A viral marketing mechanism is also incorporated into the site so that

if people are impressed with the games, they can tell their friends

through a convenient email facility.

The results speak for themselves. In the first three weeks of the

campaign, 36,000 players were registered.

However, Beyond is not resting on its laurels. Ms Chan said, "We're

still on the learning curve up. The Internet is a medium that is always

changing.

New technology can make obsolete what was cutting edge very quickly. So

we have to remain on our toes."