To increase awareness of its IdeaPad S10 netbooks, Lenovo launched an innovative marketing campaign integrating S10 netbooks with a "Add Love to LIVE" photo contest on Windows Live Spaces, banner ads on the MSN network, and a customized Personal Expression pack on Windows Live Messenger. The Personal Expressions were downloaded over one million times, and helped create awareness and increase sales of S10 netbook models in Southeast Asia.
Campaign Objectives:
- Raise awareness of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbooks
- Reach its target audience of young adults and consumers who seek a mobile solution to stay connected
- Increase sales of S10 netbooks
Campaign Details:
Lenovo is one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers, producing a range of laptops, desktops, workstations, and servers. Entering the fray in the ultra-portable laptop market, Lenovo launched the IdeaPad S10 netbooks, aimed at consumers who seek a portable
and lightweight solution for their basic computing needs. In a keenly contested market for netbooks, Lenovo wanted to increase awareness and make its S10 netbooks a popular choice for young adults and consumers who want to stay connected in Southeast Asia.
Lenovo discussed its business objectives with Microsoft Advertising, and initially planning to conduct a co-branded marketing campaign to coincide with Valentine’s day. “MSN has an audience base that closely aligned with our target audience for the S10. By partnering with Microsoft Advertising, we saw the value in creating awareness and driving purchase considerations within our focus target audience,” says Serene Chua, Consumer Marketing Manager, Lenovo.
After a thorough assessment of Lenovo’s marketing plans for the S10 netbooks, Microsoft Advertising and Lenovo developed the “Add Love to LIVE” Windows Live™ online contest. Running from January to March 2009, the contest challenged participants to send in photo dedications to their partners, friends or family. “Add Love to LIVE” was run on Windows Live™ Spaces, hosted by an enigmatic blogger called the Love Guru. Lenovo sponsored ten S10 netbooks for the winning entries of the campaign.
Microsoft Advertising deepened Lenovo’s S10 campaign audience engagement by introducing custom theme packs to tie into the “Add Love to Live” contest. The extended theme pack campaign leveraged on the reach of Windows Live™ Messenger, which has 11 million users spread across Southeast Asia. By using Lenovo’s iconic character for the S10 series Coco the Bear, Microsoft Advertising created a series of dynamic display pictures, emoticons, winks and themed backgrounds, for the vibrant Coco the Bear Personal Expressions pack available on Windows Live™ Messenger. Lenovo’s S10 netbooks received maximum marketing exposure during the campaign, with prominent product placement in the “Add Love to Live” blog, endorsements of the S10 netbook and Personal Expressions pack by the Love Guru, as well as S10 banners on the MSN network across Southeast Asia.
Results:
The integrated Lenovo S10 marketing campaign was a resounding success. With the viral effect resulting from interactive online advertising, the Lenovo Personal Expressions pack was downloaded a total of 1,125,712 times, setting a new MSN global record for Personal Expressions user interaction, and vastly exceeding Lenovo's expectations. This result was achieved in a short timeframe of four weeks.
By integrating the S10 netbooks to "Add Love to Live", Lenovo could build positive associations between its netbooks with fun and engaging activity. The contest saw over 1,500 photo submissions from contest participants across the region. Huge Consumer Demand Lenovo was buoyed by the positive reaction of consumers to the campaign. The award winning S10 netbook was in high demand, with the popular pink S10 netbooks selling out. Microsoft Advertising delivered an integrated approach through its sales, marketing communications, and product marketing teams to deliver a value-added campaign for Lenovo, greatly enhancing awareness of the S10 netbook with the target audience and increasing sales.
