De vijf van morgen
How five students got the world to scroll for Logitech®
How five students got the world to scroll for Logitech®
It all started with Mathijs Kraai and Bas Uytdenhouwen, who had set agoal for themselves to graduate from the Communication & MultimediaDesign programme at the Avans University in The Netherlands in aspectacular manner. In contrary to the individually performedinternship and thesis, the ‘free project’ offered the option to form ateam and formulate a worthy project to graduate with.
Mathijs’ and Bas’ first task was obvious: finding the best and mostambitious Communication & Multimedia students of our year. Itdidn’t take long for us to get Bart van Delft on board, who Mathijs andBas recently did a project with for Philips Design. They also followeda half year long minor program with him at the University of Twente.
Mathijs and Bas both chose the specialization Interaction Strategy,which focuses on strategic aspects of campaigns, but also on marketing,management and concept development. Bart chose Information &Interaction, with which he specializes on converting the above to thereal world.
After the first brainstorm session, organized before the project itselfhad started, the three decided to present themselves to the ‘realworld’ and potential employers in a highly distinct and unique way.
Even though there were no concrete plans yet, they realised thatdesigners should not be lacking in this project group. Hence, thesearch for new blood continued, which resulted in hooking up withHester Naaktgeboren and Jeroen Bijl. Both of them have specialized inMultimedial Design, and it shows. The composition of this group thatwould operate under the name ‘De vijf van morgen’ was born.
Method
As soon as we consolidated our formation we started thinking aboutdiverse ways to position ourselves on the labor market. Our aim was toput ourselves on the map as young professionals that possess all thespecific competences our branch requires of us.
We decided to piece together a cross medial media offensive in the formof a hoax. As soon as media attention would reach its peak, we wouldmake our entry as the main players in this spectacular play.
To accomplish this we would use unconventional means of advertising.These not only have the advance that they can be adjusted to thepractically inexistent budget, but also that they, if used properly,will spread themselves.
Global concept
In essence, the concept consisted of a stealth campaign we developed tocreate positive publicity for a randomly chosen company. This campaignwould be executed completely independently, without notifying thecompany itself. Basically, we made free advertisement.
After generating a certain amount of publicity for the ‘real’campaign, we will step out from the shade and present ourselves as thebrain behind this action.
By using this technique we wanted to prove to be capable of developingan effective campaign for any company, any product and any message.
Choice of company
The choice for the company we developed our campaign for was the resultof three phases. First, we selected a number of companies from allkinds of countries and branches. This includes widely known and a fewlocal companies.
After that, we quickly analysed these companies to determine thegeneral information of the company, main products, markets, recentadvertisements and the look and feel.
Lastly, we had to make a choice. In style with the project we chose ourown method: a cork pin board with printed logos of the thirteencompanies taped to it. A dart from the blind folded Hester struck theLogitech logo, our lucky winner.
Logitech
During the extensive analysis of Logitech and its products, weautomatically looked at the computer mice that Logitech has beendeveloping since 1982. It is obvious that Logitech has been veryinnovative in this field and still continues today with enhancing theirmice with new technologies.
One of these technologies is the MicroGear TM Precision Scroll Wheel,which Logitech patented and introduced in 2006. This allows the user toswitch the mouse wheel to ‘free wheel’, removing the clicks after eachscroll. Not only does this result in much more precise scrolling, it isalso up to fifty times as fast.
We found this aspect of Logitech very interesting, and combined withthe fact that they frequently aim their products at gamers, we decidedto base our campaign on it.
Concept
The complexity of this project lead us to separate it into threephases. Each phase will have its own identity and goal.In phase one our primary goal was to generate exposure which couldlater be connected to Logitech. We decided to do this by using one ofthe primary features of Logitech’s new generation of mice and making itexcel in the eyes of the public. In order to do this, we developed anonline game called the “Scroll Wheel Challenge”. This game challengedpeople to use their mouse wheel to scroll as fast as possible in thirtyseconds. Each ‘click’ in the mouse wheel registered as one ‘scroll’,which was used to calculate an average of ‘scrolls per second’. Afterthe thirty second long challenge, players could submit their score tocompare it with others.
Because of our analysis, we were convinced that Logitech mice with thepreviously mentioned MicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel would win thecompetition with a huge advantage to its competitors. This would causethem to be noticed, because they would constantly fill the toppositions on the high score list.
By giving players the option to challenge their friends to beat theirscore and being able to sort the high score list by mouse type, weencouraged players to keep on playing even without a new Logitech mouse.
For the real fanatics who were enthusiastic more than they were fast,we created a secondary competition, ‘Style’. The ‘Style Award’ was allabout scrolling in original ways, filming or photographing this, andsending it to us. The winner of this competition was determined byvotes from visitors to the scroll wheel challenge website. Competitorswere given full freedom to use any hardware to enhance their score,which resulted in the most ingenious constructions with electricdrills, treadmills and mountain bikes. Our research indicated thatthese methods would only participate for top speed if used incombination with a Logitech or other specific gaming mouse. This iscaused by a limit on the scrolling speed that can be registered byregular mice, which is way too low to compete for top speed.
With the international ambitions of the group, especially Hester andBas, who are applying for universities in Madrid and Milanrespectively, it was an easy choice to aim the game and the website,www.scrollwheelchallenge.com, at the international market. Hence, thesite was in English and the bulk of our promotion was international.
This promotion had to be done with a minimal budget. We did this byapproaching popular weblogs and internet communities. Next to that, wecreated a promotional video and a bunch of other viral videos to put onYouTube, hoping for a snowball effect to occur.
We also had a bunch of analog promotional material. In one and a halfweeks time we spread around 2500 stickers and an equal numbers offlyers across the country. We handed them out, amongst other places, onUtrecht central station and put them in free newspapers in trains.Our last method of promotion was a third, smaller competition called‘Spread the word’. We asked visitors from all over the word todownload, print out and photograph our promotional material on a greatspot, specific to the country they live in. These pictures were thenplaced on the www.scrollwheelchallenge.com website.
The website was a direct hit. Over 50,000 unique visitors from over ahundred countries caused 2,5 million hits. An important moment for uswas placing the game on one of the largest Adobe Flash communities inthe world, New Grounds. It worked out well, the game was received withenthusiasm. It scored a 7,8/10 and 3,66/5, which labeled it as an‘awesome game’. In the end, the Scroll Wheel Challenge was linked tofrom over 750 websites.
Some quotes from user reviews on New Grounds:
“Yet one of the greatest Flash games on the internet! Great fun! Lets people think of creative ways to get a really high score!” - Cheesio, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
“Strangely addictive. Very good!” - Aidmum, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
“Brilliant! I’m in love with this game. Less is more!” - FlashGameFanatic, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
Stealth campaign
After having received many visitors, players and submissions, it wastime for phase two in the project. Two weeks after launching the ScrollWheel Challenge it was time for Logitech to come into play in thistrilogy.
Upon reaching the deadline for the ‘first season’ of the Scroll WheelChallenge, the winners of the most important award, ‘Speed’, confirmedour analysis. Players with new Logitech mice occupied eight out of theten highest positions and the same for places eleven through twenty.The enormous traffic on the website made it exciting down to the wirefor players in the top ten. After all, they would receive a smallamount of prize money. On Tuesday, 7th of April 2009, at noon GMT (2pmlocal time), the moment was finally there: the winners would bepresented and the new season announced. This is exactly what we did,however, with a twist.
The Scroll Wheel Challenge website had completely transformed from thebright and shining orange colors to an official Logitech website. Thewinners were proudly announced along with, of course, the brand andtype of mouse they had achieved their score with. The brand newcommercial layout of the website presented the winning mouse models,its specifics, prices and a link to the related product page on theofficial Logitech website.
The website also offered a press release in which ‘Logitech’ announcedits involvement and explained the many participants and the new season.This new season promised new and great prizes, amongst which the newLogitech G9x. Not completely accidentally had the little brother ofthis mouse, the Logitech G9, won the competition because of theMicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel:
“The new Logitech G9x Laser Mouse will make its first appearance onthe American and European markets this month. This model has improvedat almost every aspect compared to its winning brother, the Logitech G9Laser Mouse.” - 7th of April 2009, www.scrollwheelchallenge.com/logitech/press.php
The primary goal of phase two was to be noticed by advertising- andmarketing weblogs, to get one step closer to the ultimate target group,advertising and graphical design bureaus. Unknowingly that we werebehind it all, Andrew S. Lennon, CEO of Red Anchor Media, mentioned:“Sounds like a pretty crafty campaign”, adding that he would dedicatean article to it next week. Unfortunately for us, this would also beone week too late for phase two, but it’s a great complimentnonetheless. A similar reaction came from Matthijs van den Broek,editor of Marketingfacts and freelance journalist for amongst others DePers and Bizz: “I wonder what the deal is exactly, so I’ll dig into it.But it’s definitely interesting for Marketingfacts.”.
Rabbit out of the hat
Finally, it was our turn. On Friday 10th of April 2009, the day ourmost loyal scrollers returned for the new season and advertising- andmarketing blogs who were keeping an eye on us, we changed our layoutand identity one last time. This time, to our own, De vijf van morgen,Hester Naaktgeboren, Jeroen Bijl, Bart van Delft, Mathijs Kraai and BasUytdenhouwen. Pleased to meet you.
During the last couple of weeks we had been watched by 50,000 people.Whether they were interested in the game, the supposed Logitechcampaign or our actual project, we managed to pique interest and kepton surprising. Comments from experts in our field have, so far, beenvery positive.Logitech has never contacted us up until today, which is probably agood thing. After all, we deliberately took the risk to use and copytheir good name and identity. Although, from minute one, we have doneeverything we could to represent and promote the terminal values fromthe Logitech brand in the best way possible.
Mathijs’ and Bas’ first task was obvious: finding the best and mostambitious Communication & Multimedia students of our year. Itdidn’t take long for us to get Bart van Delft on board, who Mathijs andBas recently did a project with for Philips Design. They also followeda half year long minor program with him at the University of Twente.
Mathijs and Bas both chose the specialization Interaction Strategy,which focuses on strategic aspects of campaigns, but also on marketing,management and concept development. Bart chose Information &Interaction, with which he specializes on converting the above to thereal world.
After the first brainstorm session, organized before the project itselfhad started, the three decided to present themselves to the ‘realworld’ and potential employers in a highly distinct and unique way.
Even though there were no concrete plans yet, they realised thatdesigners should not be lacking in this project group. Hence, thesearch for new blood continued, which resulted in hooking up withHester Naaktgeboren and Jeroen Bijl. Both of them have specialized inMultimedial Design, and it shows. The composition of this group thatwould operate under the name ‘De vijf van morgen’ was born.
Method
As soon as we consolidated our formation we started thinking aboutdiverse ways to position ourselves on the labor market. Our aim was toput ourselves on the map as young professionals that possess all thespecific competences our branch requires of us.
We decided to piece together a cross medial media offensive in the formof a hoax. As soon as media attention would reach its peak, we wouldmake our entry as the main players in this spectacular play.
To accomplish this we would use unconventional means of advertising.These not only have the advance that they can be adjusted to thepractically inexistent budget, but also that they, if used properly,will spread themselves.
Global concept
In essence, the concept consisted of a stealth campaign we developed tocreate positive publicity for a randomly chosen company. This campaignwould be executed completely independently, without notifying thecompany itself. Basically, we made free advertisement.
After generating a certain amount of publicity for the ‘real’campaign, we will step out from the shade and present ourselves as thebrain behind this action.
By using this technique we wanted to prove to be capable of developingan effective campaign for any company, any product and any message.
Choice of company
The choice for the company we developed our campaign for was the resultof three phases. First, we selected a number of companies from allkinds of countries and branches. This includes widely known and a fewlocal companies.
After that, we quickly analysed these companies to determine thegeneral information of the company, main products, markets, recentadvertisements and the look and feel.
Lastly, we had to make a choice. In style with the project we chose ourown method: a cork pin board with printed logos of the thirteencompanies taped to it. A dart from the blind folded Hester struck theLogitech logo, our lucky winner.
Logitech
During the extensive analysis of Logitech and its products, weautomatically looked at the computer mice that Logitech has beendeveloping since 1982. It is obvious that Logitech has been veryinnovative in this field and still continues today with enhancing theirmice with new technologies.
One of these technologies is the MicroGear TM Precision Scroll Wheel,which Logitech patented and introduced in 2006. This allows the user toswitch the mouse wheel to ‘free wheel’, removing the clicks after eachscroll. Not only does this result in much more precise scrolling, it isalso up to fifty times as fast.
We found this aspect of Logitech very interesting, and combined withthe fact that they frequently aim their products at gamers, we decidedto base our campaign on it.
Concept
The complexity of this project lead us to separate it into threephases. Each phase will have its own identity and goal.In phase one our primary goal was to generate exposure which couldlater be connected to Logitech. We decided to do this by using one ofthe primary features of Logitech’s new generation of mice and making itexcel in the eyes of the public. In order to do this, we developed anonline game called the “Scroll Wheel Challenge”. This game challengedpeople to use their mouse wheel to scroll as fast as possible in thirtyseconds. Each ‘click’ in the mouse wheel registered as one ‘scroll’,which was used to calculate an average of ‘scrolls per second’. Afterthe thirty second long challenge, players could submit their score tocompare it with others.
Because of our analysis, we were convinced that Logitech mice with thepreviously mentioned MicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel would win thecompetition with a huge advantage to its competitors. This would causethem to be noticed, because they would constantly fill the toppositions on the high score list.
By giving players the option to challenge their friends to beat theirscore and being able to sort the high score list by mouse type, weencouraged players to keep on playing even without a new Logitech mouse.
For the real fanatics who were enthusiastic more than they were fast,we created a secondary competition, ‘Style’. The ‘Style Award’ was allabout scrolling in original ways, filming or photographing this, andsending it to us. The winner of this competition was determined byvotes from visitors to the scroll wheel challenge website. Competitorswere given full freedom to use any hardware to enhance their score,which resulted in the most ingenious constructions with electricdrills, treadmills and mountain bikes. Our research indicated thatthese methods would only participate for top speed if used incombination with a Logitech or other specific gaming mouse. This iscaused by a limit on the scrolling speed that can be registered byregular mice, which is way too low to compete for top speed.
With the international ambitions of the group, especially Hester andBas, who are applying for universities in Madrid and Milanrespectively, it was an easy choice to aim the game and the website,www.scrollwheelchallenge.com, at the international market. Hence, thesite was in English and the bulk of our promotion was international.
This promotion had to be done with a minimal budget. We did this byapproaching popular weblogs and internet communities. Next to that, wecreated a promotional video and a bunch of other viral videos to put onYouTube, hoping for a snowball effect to occur.
We also had a bunch of analog promotional material. In one and a halfweeks time we spread around 2500 stickers and an equal numbers offlyers across the country. We handed them out, amongst other places, onUtrecht central station and put them in free newspapers in trains.Our last method of promotion was a third, smaller competition called‘Spread the word’. We asked visitors from all over the word todownload, print out and photograph our promotional material on a greatspot, specific to the country they live in. These pictures were thenplaced on the www.scrollwheelchallenge.com website.
The website was a direct hit. Over 50,000 unique visitors from over ahundred countries caused 2,5 million hits. An important moment for uswas placing the game on one of the largest Adobe Flash communities inthe world, New Grounds. It worked out well, the game was received withenthusiasm. It scored a 7,8/10 and 3,66/5, which labeled it as an‘awesome game’. In the end, the Scroll Wheel Challenge was linked tofrom over 750 websites.
Some quotes from user reviews on New Grounds:
“Yet one of the greatest Flash games on the internet! Great fun! Lets people think of creative ways to get a really high score!” - Cheesio, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
“Strangely addictive. Very good!” - Aidmum, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
“Brilliant! I’m in love with this game. Less is more!” - FlashGameFanatic, 31 maart 2009, NewGrounds.com
Stealth campaign
After having received many visitors, players and submissions, it wastime for phase two in the project. Two weeks after launching the ScrollWheel Challenge it was time for Logitech to come into play in thistrilogy.
Upon reaching the deadline for the ‘first season’ of the Scroll WheelChallenge, the winners of the most important award, ‘Speed’, confirmedour analysis. Players with new Logitech mice occupied eight out of theten highest positions and the same for places eleven through twenty.The enormous traffic on the website made it exciting down to the wirefor players in the top ten. After all, they would receive a smallamount of prize money. On Tuesday, 7th of April 2009, at noon GMT (2pmlocal time), the moment was finally there: the winners would bepresented and the new season announced. This is exactly what we did,however, with a twist.
The Scroll Wheel Challenge website had completely transformed from thebright and shining orange colors to an official Logitech website. Thewinners were proudly announced along with, of course, the brand andtype of mouse they had achieved their score with. The brand newcommercial layout of the website presented the winning mouse models,its specifics, prices and a link to the related product page on theofficial Logitech website.
The website also offered a press release in which ‘Logitech’ announcedits involvement and explained the many participants and the new season.This new season promised new and great prizes, amongst which the newLogitech G9x. Not completely accidentally had the little brother ofthis mouse, the Logitech G9, won the competition because of theMicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel:
“The new Logitech G9x Laser Mouse will make its first appearance onthe American and European markets this month. This model has improvedat almost every aspect compared to its winning brother, the Logitech G9Laser Mouse.” - 7th of April 2009, www.scrollwheelchallenge.com/logitech/press.php
The primary goal of phase two was to be noticed by advertising- andmarketing weblogs, to get one step closer to the ultimate target group,advertising and graphical design bureaus. Unknowingly that we werebehind it all, Andrew S. Lennon, CEO of Red Anchor Media, mentioned:“Sounds like a pretty crafty campaign”, adding that he would dedicatean article to it next week. Unfortunately for us, this would also beone week too late for phase two, but it’s a great complimentnonetheless. A similar reaction came from Matthijs van den Broek,editor of Marketingfacts and freelance journalist for amongst others DePers and Bizz: “I wonder what the deal is exactly, so I’ll dig into it.But it’s definitely interesting for Marketingfacts.”.
Rabbit out of the hat
Finally, it was our turn. On Friday 10th of April 2009, the day ourmost loyal scrollers returned for the new season and advertising- andmarketing blogs who were keeping an eye on us, we changed our layoutand identity one last time. This time, to our own, De vijf van morgen,Hester Naaktgeboren, Jeroen Bijl, Bart van Delft, Mathijs Kraai and BasUytdenhouwen. Pleased to meet you.
During the last couple of weeks we had been watched by 50,000 people.Whether they were interested in the game, the supposed Logitechcampaign or our actual project, we managed to pique interest and kepton surprising. Comments from experts in our field have, so far, beenvery positive.Logitech has never contacted us up until today, which is probably agood thing. After all, we deliberately took the risk to use and copytheir good name and identity. Although, from minute one, we have doneeverything we could to represent and promote the terminal values fromthe Logitech brand in the best way possible.
