In April 2010, Guinness World Records (GWR) made a play in the digital arena by launching its first iPad App, Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips. Bite’s London team was brought on board to help GWR take the brand from traditional publishing into the digital age. The team was tasked with launching the app, generating online buzz and, most importantly, driving downloads.
Because the iPad was heavily covered in the press and apps for the new device were being produced rapidly, the team’s main challenge was to make Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips stand out in an already saturated marketplace.
Using a blended, multi-channel, trade and consumer approach, the team achieved outstanding results that translated into a 700% increase in downloads. The focal point of the campaign was the iPad UK launch day where the Bite team organized a photo opportunity using the Guinness World Records world’s tallest married couple who were placed in the queue at the Apple store dressed in their wedding clothes. The tallest married couple captured the attending media’s attention and ensured that the Guinness World Records brand and app were referenced in over 15 pieces of tier-one coverage on the launch day. To support this, the Bite team also worked with Guinness World Records to set a new world record live from the iPad queue for the ‘Fastest time to type the alphabet on the iPad’. Further coverage was secured around the winner of the record and the fact that all iPad queue members were eligible to take part.
iPad owners across a wide array of audiences learned about the app through coverage in multiple consumer and trade outlets, including Zoo, Shortlist and Digital Arts and in the UK national newspapers and online outlets such as The Daily Telegraph, The Metro, The Sun, BBC.co.uk, Aljazeera, Pocket-lint and Wired.com.
The campaign achieved a clean sweep of target publications, generating international interest, stimulating widespread online conversations and buzz and reaching an audience of over 80m. The guerrilla street and queue promotion activity reached approximately 5,000 consumers, and 3,678 new contacts through Twitter.
Guinness World Records has seen a rapid increase in the downloads of its app, pushing it into the top 10 free apps chart, and is now well-positioned for the launch of its paid-for app which coincides with the release of the 2011 traditional print book.
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