The ‘Are you smarter than a 5th grader’ campaign is centred on a team of children in an adventure camp. A teaser TV ad plays out different obstacle courses and scenarios that the children have to deal with before being led on to the Smartkids website.
On the website, the malt drink’s credentials are further promoted to its audience of kids between six and 12 years old, while nutritional information is made available for parents.
Berndt Kodden, marketing manager for Dutch Lady Vietnam, said: “Ovaltine came out of nowhere a year ago and today we have a 22 per cent share in a category that is yet to take off in Vietnam. A large part of the success of Ovaltine has been due to the fact that it cleverly appeals to kids and yet manages to give mothers the right nutritional information.”
The campaign is further supported by print, outdoor, point-of-sale and activation work in schools to drive consumers to the website. The Smartkids website has 2,000 daily visitors to date, and has attracted over 15,000 visits since its launch last month.
Ram Kapoor, MD and ECD of Y&R Vietnam, commented: “The creative strategy revolved around Ovaltine’s key brand promise of ‘smartness’. It’s hard to outsmart a kid, so we needed something with the ‘wow’ factor.”
“The shoot was challenging as well, as we had to make sure that the kids we cast would exude confidence and look the part of the Smartkids team. We were shooting in Thailand, but we wanted kids who would pass off as native Vietnamese.”
Ovaltine is the agency’s first digital client since the launch of its digital unit to address the growing market for online ads.
“A key advantage we have over agencies in this market is our dual office setup - we have access to the CRM expertise of Wunderman and the above-the-line skills of Y&R,” added Kapoor.
