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Though Saatchi & Saatchi Direct missed out on the top three finish
by a whisker, the mood is upbeat in the agency. “This is the first
time Saatchi & Saatchi Direct has entered an international competition
and it is a real feather in the cap of the team, which created the
baby campaign as it is popularly called. We are thrilled
as we did not expect to reach this far,” says agency’s executive
vice president Malavika Harita.
The Echo Award jury, which scrutinises entries from 40 countries
across 12 business categories, nominates five pieces of work for
the final ceremony. “The top three are announced on the day of ceremony
but the fourth and fifth are informed in advance. We have won the
`leadership award’ for the fourth place and we and the client will
be receiving plaques for our effort,” adds Harita.
For eligibility, the jury considered direct marketing campaigns
produced, printed and/or aired, and had response results tabulated
between 1 January 2002 and 31 March 2003. The jury goes through
three rounds, evaluating agencies on the basis of strategy, creativity
and results.
“It is an exhaustive process, which not only goes by strategy
and creative work but also takes into consideration the results
managed in the marketplace in terms of customer response. The campaign
helped HP manage a 46 per cent increase in sales over the previous
quarter as well as a month-by-month increase in the three months
that the campaign ran on TV, periodicals and at the point of sale
and was remarkable by any standards,” says Harita. The campaign
was launched in May last year.
According to the agency, the three-month period during which the
campaign was released, was not just the traditionally dull season
for office equipment but also a recessionary period that the hardware
industry was going through. “We had people coming to the retail
outlet asking for the HP Baby Printer, which proved the effectiveness
of the campaign,” says Harita.
The campaign depicts a situation where a baby is weeping while
the mother is away. When baby is shown the image of his mother,
a print out from HP Deskjet printer, he falls asleep.
Saatchi & Saatchi Direct was briefed to position HP as a leader
in `image quality’ rather than just market share. Accordingly, the
agency moved out of the technological space and worked on building
an emotional bond with the buyer. “The baby neutralized the tech
feel and provided the acid test for the photo-realism,” according
to the agency.
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