SOFTSWISS
A Sizzling Hot OOH Campaign
The Brief
Preparing the Right Ingredients for a Spicy Recipe
Keen had been tasked to support SOFTSWISS with a successful Out of Home (OOH) Market Research, Entry Strategy & Campaign Execution in Malta.
Our team at Keen started by drawing up a communications plan and media strategy after first understanding and defining the goals and objectives SOFTSWISS wanted to reach with this particular market entry campaign and support it with the necessary research and key insights into the market.
Following the initial brief from SOFTSWISS, the research and strategy unit at Keen started identifying valuable key insights with regards to the macro and micro environment in Malta that created the foundation for the strategic market entry plan.
A comprehensive research report was put together highlighting the key findings from studying the competitive landscape, the macro socio-economic factors and defining the target market and its segmentation according to their products and services.
A cohesive campaign concept was then developed delineating a roll out on selected channels to stand out and generate a marketing buzz.
The media plan and budget were mainly focussed on OOH efforts that were executed by
Keen consecutively between October and December 2022.
The Challenge
Weathering the Campaign Heat Building Up
The Campaign offered a series of challenges that hinged around a very tight time frame to plan, organise and execute the campaign strategy.
One of the biggest challenges was to find impactful out of home (OOH) advertising spots in this short period of time, such as billboards, bus shelters, radio spots, and other media outlets.
Similarly, another challenge posed was that OOH ad investments are often bigger and less flexible than digital campaigns and therefore a really solid plan was needed to target the right audience and personas for this market entry aimed at awareness and new client acquisition.
A number of options were considered when coming up with the campaign strategy that included looking for digital and traditional billboard space, curb-side barrier banners, and finding marketing partnerships in core igaming hubs in Malta. Guerilla marketing tactics were also considered and included considerations such as pop-ups right at the door steps of targeted offices to treat prospects.
The Execution
Putting all the ingredients together
In October 2022, a teaser campaign was rolled out with much excitement from both the SOFTSWISS and Keen’s marketing teams as the plan had been coming to fruition for a couple of months and a lot of preparation had been put into the whole project.
Advert placements were critical to the success of the campaign and therefore particular efforts were put into the planning and execution of such placements making sure that they would provide the farthest reach and biggest impact in terms of brand exposure.
The advertising used three main media areas: Out of Home (OOH) ad placements, digital screens and digital banners for online ad networks and media partners.
Blazing In and Kicking It Off
Starting up the Fire with the Teaser Campaign
The kick-off campaign with the ad tagline ‘Blazing in’ was intended to build up as much interest, curiosity and anticipation as possible around the brand, keeping in mind the main objective of the campaign was focused on creating brand awareness as part of a market entry strategy in Malta.
Incoming and outgoing visitors to the island’s igaming events during this period, were targeted through 15 second videos at the arrivals, departures and baggage reclaim areas of the Malta International Airport and through a feature on Air Malta’s in-flight magazine ‘Bizilla’.
Large format print adverts were also placed in chosen strategic placements – the Mriehel Footbridge and the Msida skatepark. In connection with the public transport, wrap ads were put up on buses while bus shelter ads were also placed on numerous different locations.
Last but not least, digital channels were also used to complement the kick-off campaign and extend the reach further. Social media campaigns were set up on Linkedin and Facebook amongst others, together with press release initiatives through main news and media outlets such as but not limited to Times of Malta and Malta Today.
Turning Up the Heat
Rolling out the second and main campaign
The teaser was quickly followed by the main awareness and activation campaign ‘Bringing the Heat’, a quirky and flexible concept that was designed to capture attention and make an impression.
It illustrated SOFTSWISS bringing a new level of competition, new power, and intensity to the game, and to the Maltese igaming industry.
This second stage of the campaign was rolled out between November and December 2022. Some of the same advertising channels for the Kick-off campaign were used together with other new ones as more effort and budget was allocated to this phase according to the media plan.
Fanning Out the Fire with BTL Campaigns
Activating the Chili Bathtub Challenge & the Ice-cream Truck
On well selected dates, an ice cream truck was sent out around, and in front of, pre-defined igaming office locations with a selection of 7 different ‘spicy’ ice cream flavors to treat teams so as to create a buzz through this direct approach. Around 1,000 portions of ice-cream were enjoyed in the two day initiative.
Following this first success, the Chili Bath Challenge was launched at Sliema waterfront in St. Anne’s square, the perfect spot to engage igaming stakeholders. The challenge required participants to dive into a bathtub full of chillies and in a short 30 second find a key in the tub, then rush to a branded wall with secret boxes and try to unlock the right box to win a gift. Apart from creating a marketing buzz and attention, the objective behind the bathtub challenge was also to invite igaming representatives to meet the experts at SOFTSWISS at the Sigma event which took place in the same period of the campaign.
Our team brainstormed a distinctive merchandise gift that could be handed out as a sparky reminder to current and new collaboration partners met at the SIGMA igaming event 2022 in Malta. A local artisan hot sauce producer crafted a combination of two unique hot sauces in the SOFTSWISS corporate colours and Keen took care of the unique packaging concept, design and production. A spicy twisty treat that left an impact!
The Flaming Hot Results
Upon a close post-campaign analysis and review, both Keen and SOFTSWISS came to the conclusion that the main campaign objectives were satisfactorily reached. The breadth and depth of the campaign achieved through strategic media planning, agile execution and using multiple channels working synergistically, gave a substantial amount of brand exposure to the target audience as part of the market entry strategy.
The creative input and the ‘surprise element’ in the campaign was the essential component that drove a lot of attention and curiosity towards the brand giving an overall higher impact in terms of reaching the desired objectives.
Opinion surveys carried out by SOFTSWISS with regards to the OOH campaigns, particularly with the below the line advertising (BTL), were overall positive and exceeded expectations.
The bottomline is that the OOH campaign for SOFTSWISS was truly a blazing hot one from start to finish both in terms of the challenges and efforts required to plan and execute the campaign in a relatively short time frame but also with regards to the overall success that were achieved in collaboration with all involved teams and stakeholders.
Testimonial
WHAT OUR CLIENT HAS TO SAY
Keen helped us achieve a very cool campaign, which is still being talked about not only in Malta and within the company, but everywhere! This is our great joint achievement!I also want to note Keen’s professionalism and readiness to be involved in the project at any level and whenever necessary. And another important thing is the swift and professional communication – top notch! Thanks to Keen’s creativity and team work, our market entry campaign project turned out brilliant!
MARKETING AT SOFTSWISS