The campaign is differentiating Rascals from other confectionery products by bringing the brand alive through a memorable consumer experience that would encourage strong brand associations. Modelled on the story of Charlie's Chocolate Factory, which gave ten children free passes to the chocolate factory if they could find the hidden golden wrappers, a consumer promotion was launched for "tweens" (children between the ages of eight and twelve) to find the gold-coloured Rascals inserted in random packages. The winners would be the first children to experience a fun-filled day on the Rascals Castle.
A separate promotion was launched for a pack collection drive with over 2500 schools nation-wide. Giving something back to schools, which are increasingly being targeted by marketers wanting to reach the youth market, the winner got the opportunity to host the Rascals Castle's launch and have a fundraising fete. A call centre was also established for children to claim their space on the Rascals Castle and for schools to report their weekly progress.
The response from this competition was overwhelming. As a very aspirational target audience that views brands as essential icons to provide them with the right "label" for belonging to a desired group, the status associated with being one of the Golden Rascals elevated the winners of the competition to an almost cult-like state amongst their peers. In addition, their conditioning to expect instant gratification, which makes them respond well to promotions with a high degree of interaction and instant or added-value items, further contributed to the success of the promotion with thousands of packages collected through the schools competition.
The campaign was promoted using SABC's YoTV (the Rascals media partner), who made daily announcements for the competition on their show and filmed the launch of the Rascals Castle at the winning school, Morester Primary in Springs - an event that was very much enjoyed by the school and Golden Rascals alike.
"Today's consumers are much harder to reach than ever before, being more distracted and less accessible through all the media clutter," says Raymond Kieser, JWT Cape Town's Managing Director. "Through innovative marketing and advertising tactics, we have been able to differentiate the Rascals brand from competitive products by creating memorable brand experiences for our target audience around the launch of the Rascals Castle."
"The success of an experiential marketing campaign lies in the holistic approach to managing each interaction with the brand as a positive experience for the consumer. By continuing to ensure Rascals's target market of favourable brand interactions for relationship building with the brand, we are confident of Rascals maintaining their competitive edge in the local market", Kieser concludes.
