ASIA-PACIFIC – BEIJING, CHINA, MAY 14, 2012: Nestlé Ice Cream and Social@Ogilvy, a cross-discipline team of social experts from OgilvyOne and Ogilvy Public Relations in Beijing, have launched a digital campaign to promote BenNaNa, a peelable, banana-shaped ice cream, in mainland China.
The playful two-part campaign consists of a microsite (http://bnn.qq.com) based on the kid-friendly theme of a magical island conceptualized and created by OgilvyOne. The second part is a hugely popular corporate Sina Weibo account (http://weibo.com/nestlebnn) complete with bespoke funny videos created and managed by Ogilvy PR that has seen close to three million users share posts or upload their own BenNaNa pictures.
BenNaNa Ice Cream is an unusual ice cream stick that is eaten just like a real banana. The playful eating experience starts when you take a bite from the top of the peelable jelly shell, which you then roll down like a banana skin to reveal a delicious ice cream core.
Ogilvy PR conceptualized and manages Nestlé BenNaNa’s Sina Weibo account which entertains visitors with amusing stories of BenNaNa’s magical peel-ability and invites them to share their own BenNaNa stories through posts and pictures. Popular Sina Weibo hashtags such as #LegendaryNestléBenNaNa and #EatingABananaWithoutSpittingOutTheSkin spread the joy of peeling and eating a BenNaNa Ice Cream and encourages users to share their own jokes and experiences. “BenNaNa” was ranked as the number one trending topic on Sina Weibo two weeks after the official Weibo account launch in March 2012 and has since been ranked among the top 10 Weibo searches a total of seven times.
In addition to the social media promotion, OgilvyOne’s media agency partner Mindshare tapped social networking giant QQ as the digital platform that would host the interactive microsite. Set against a fun tropical island backdrop full of monkeys, the microsite is packed with animated BenNaNa Ice Cream games that encourage netizens to earn QQ’s virtual currency, learn magic tricks and vote to win prizes.
“The peelable, edible skin is the most exciting part of BenNaNa Ice Cream so this was our key selling point. To highlight this unique eating experience, we created a colorful and whimsical theme for the microsite that piques your curiosity and is massively interactive. The result is an entire digital campaign of light-hearted fun that appeals to the young and the young at heart,” said Lily Tung, managing director of OgilvyOne Beijing.
Running through the hot and sticky summer season, the BenNaNa microsite will be live from April-September 2012 and the Sina Weibo account will be keeping fans entertained until summer 2012.
