Marketing

04/06/2007

Revolution

Whether it's online services dedicated to making customers' lives easier or major online ad campaigns, the web has been leapt upon by consumer brands chasing lost audiences from traditional channels. Some of their work has been among the best of digital ...

Peter Ebsworth, consultant and former head of digital marketing at Heinz My choice of consumer site of the decade may surprise some people, as it is one from the early pioneering days of the web. It was launched in 1999 - an era when men were men, Flash was a smart suit, Java was just an island, and fast internet access was a 56k dial-up modem. So many consumer web sites today, particularly in FMCG, look as if the decision to build a site went ahead of any clear compelling ideas about why a consumer should ever want to visit. But the Irn-Bru site was a great idea brilliantly executed and it did exactly what it said on the can - it provided the largest, funniest and original collection of wind-ups ever found in one place - with the result that people just kept coming back for more. The ability to pass on some of the great downloads to friends plus the option to wind someone up with a personalised spoof email meant that there was no need to spend money promoting the site - one of the earliest and best examples of viral marketing. This was a classic campaign - funny, innovative and anarchic, the website complementing the offline campaign but pushing the boundaries still further, providing Irn-Bru's target audience with just what they wanted and giving the client a staggering level of brand exposure for their money.