How do you seize a brand new viewers in a longtime market?
Do the alternative of what most entrepreneurs do.
Content material company OTW wished a recent idea to draw individuals into the world of sailing on behalf of their shopper Volvo Penta, provider of marine propulsion expertise for leisure and industrial vessels.
Many campaigns within the sector deal with the “marine leisure” market with visuals like these, based on a sizzle reel OTW offered in its Content material Advertising and marketing Awards submission:
Within the first picture, a younger girl walks onto the deck carrying a tray with a drink. She wears a white, short-sleeved shirt, and you may see a sunny day within the distance.
Within the second picture, two males in blazers and two ladies in sleeveless clothes maintain champagne flutes on an expensive-looking energy boat.
Within the Volvo Penta content material, you don’t see servers, something resembling the dressed-up and ingesting model of leisure or the solar.
You do, nonetheless, see surfers. Moist-suited, boat-driving ladies surfers deal with waves within the Lofoten archipelago within the northern reaches of Norway.
These artistic choices propelled the video Discovering Hidden Waves within the Arctic and its supporting marketing campaign to land as a finalist for Mission of the 12 months within the 2023 Content material Advertising and marketing Awards and because the winner for Greatest Subject-Particular Video as A part of a Content material Advertising and marketing Program.
Right here’s a take a look at what makes the work award-worthy.
The specified viewers (not the product) will get a star flip
Volvo Penta charged the OTW company with reaching a youthful viewers to develop the marketplace for its merchandise. It wished the idea to help the model’s desired positioning as an “enabler of adventures and distinctive experiences at sea.”
The company put the product apart in favor of what would encourage a brand new era to get out on the ocean. As a substitute of that includes Volvo Penta’s engines, the marketing campaign revolved round three younger ladies catching waves the place few surfers dare to go.
What do they should get there? A dependable boat. The Volva Penta product powers the journey for the adventurers, as seen on this video and the article on the model’s web site.
Content material flips a drained script
“By no means earlier than had a younger group of feminine surfers promoted marine expertise,” the company wrote in its award software, “and it created rings on the water all through the business.”
The content material package deal included a number of hero movies, quick technology-driven clips, nonetheless photos, and articles printed throughout Volvo Penta’s owned digital platforms and social media.
The story-driven movie clips with breathtaking backdrops and compelling leads performed effectively on social media. You possibly can see wholesome engagement with this collection of Instagram posts.
The primary two of the 9 give attention to the story of the ladies heading out to seek for hidden waves. The next posts speak about modern expertise – like Assisted Docking – and the significance of dependable gear, and the way this provides as much as create a novel expertise on the water. However they body that Instagram content material by way of what these options allow you to do – search journey, take management, uncover hidden gems, and (most significantly) get dwelling safely.
The marketing campaign acquired outcomes
Volvo Penta and OTW invested in an intensive distribution plan to ensure individuals would see the video and supporting content material.
Paid and natural approaches ensured the messages reached current followers and the brand new audience of youthful adventurers. The company reviews spending the equal of about $4,500 on a marketing campaign that returned greater than 6.5 million impressions and greater than 725,000 ThruPlays – watching to completion or not less than 15 seconds.
Greater than 1,000,000 individuals watched not less than 25% of the content material, based on OTW. The trailer for the marketing campaign reached an viewers that was 43% ladies. For comparability, the company says a benchmark determine for the normal product-led campaigns within the section is about 90% males.
You possibly can educate an older business new tips
The disruptive marketing campaign sparked conversations internally at Volvo Penta and on social media, the company mentioned, and Volvo Penta ultimately noticed comparable storytelling initiatives from its rivals.
And that is sensible. As OTW venture supervisor Karin Andersson says on the company’s web site:
“The movie exhibits that you would be able to mix spectacular views with robust storytelling with out the product in focus – and nonetheless obtain a implausible end result.”
MORE EXAMPLES FROM 2023 CONTENT MARKETING AWARD FINALISTS
Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising and marketing Institute