The Norm and Co campaign was developed to launch Vodacom's Prepaid Blackberry Internet Service. Like most online campaigns, it utilised banners, MMSs, SMSs and email while uniquely including an online and interactive virtual world, inspired by the popular TV television series,
The Office, sited on a mini site.
The role of the more traditional and more widely used online elements was to drive traffic to this mini site,
www.normandco.co.za. Visitors logging into the virtual world ‘joined the virtual world's workforce' and interacted with their virtual ‘co-workers', whose personalities make for a laugh a second. At the same time as they navigated through the site and the various scenarios that had been programmed, they were exposed to numerous facts and helpful tips about Vodacom's Prepaid Blackberry Internet Service.
The team responsible for this initiative included Richard Fitzgerald (creative director), Hosana Mthembi and Adriaan van Vuuren (senior designers) and Stefan Kiener (Flash designer).
Commenting on the campaign, Draftfcb Impact executive creative director, Marthinus Duckitt, said Vodacom has always been in a very strong position to market its products at the push of a button, given its 22-million subscribers. It has also consciously been placing a stronger strategic emphasis on using online as a medium to communicate with its customers for many of its products, and on making more effective use of this medium going forward.
“The brief to the agency specifically requested that the campaign for this product be driven through a strong, interactive online and direct campaign,” he said. “And I believe the Impact team responded with a very creative response, which respected Vodacom's desire to focus on online as a medium while using the interaction to evolve the relationship between the brand and its users.
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www.normandco.co.za has provided users with a novel and engaging environment and pastimes that cut through the clutter of flat static executions. It has been so well received in fact, that we may be forced to continue expanding the virtual world so that Norm's real-life ‘employees' aren't left with nowhere to go!” he said.
