Tile Chirstmas
In project collaboration with Cortney Peters, we created a “Tile” Christmas campaign. Our objective and goals were to increase holiday sales, increase customer awareness and engagement (both in-store and online) as well as get media coverage of our wandering Ernie mascot in downtown Toronto. We chose to tackle the sales portion of this project by selling an Ernie the Panda plush toy in-store and online – something that Tile has never done before.
In doing this, we chose to use the already-loosely-established mascot "Ernie the Panda" that Tile has introduced in a previous commercial, as it points to children and uses them as an opportunity to introduce the Tile product to parents. As this was a holiday campaign and we wanted to target families, we wanted to build a relationship with children and Ernie. The idea "Giving You A Silent Night" was crucial, as children often can’t sleep during the holiday’s and parents find themselves stressed trying to get their children to bed on Christmas Eve. We furthered the concept with a free downloadable book, which offers added value to the purchase of the plush toys, and also aid in the “get your children to sleep” concept.
More about the concept
Pitch
Most children have a hard time getting to sleep, so we wanted Tile to help! Tile has used a panda bear in their previous ads named Ernie. We wanted to bring Ernie into the homes of consumers by selling him as a plush toy, and each purchase comes with a Tile Mate attached to Ernie’s pocket (as seen in previous Tile ads).
We know that Teddy bears help children sleep, and a good book usually helps too. With the plush bear and a free (downloadable PDF) children’s book surrounding Ernie’s story, children will be able to sleep knowing that their new favourite toy is in arms reach, and parents will be happy that their children are going to bed without a hassle. The idea behind the campaign is “Giving You A Silent Night.” Creating a need for this plush toy and sharing Ernie’s story – children are creating the demand for their parents to get a Tile this holiday season.
Story Idea
Ernie, the bear, gets separated from his home and ends up wandering the noisy streets of Toronto. He keeps looking for his owners, but he can't find them anywhere, so he gets a little scared and sad. Then he hears the song Silent Night go off in his pocket. His owners end up finding him because they used their Tile to play the song and find him. The family is reunited on Christmas Eve, and they have a great sleep before Santa comes!
How It Works
In our free downloadable book "Ernie's Silent Night" – Ernie gets lost in the city of Toronto. So, we wanted Ernie to actually wander around the city to create some buzz! We conceptualized a person in an Ernie suit wandering around, taking pictures with people, and giving out little "Tile" flyers that will allow people to download his PDF story to their smart device (Kindle, iPhone, etc.) This hand-out will also have a link to the company website where you can buy Ernie and his Tile for yourself, so you can help your kids get to bed the night before Santa comes to town!