Clever Creative: An Answer to a Problem

Have you ever heard of a town named Tschlin? After today’s “Clever Creative” you’ll know exactly where it is. In a new ad created by communication agency Jung von Matt/Limmat, you are transported to the quiet little village with a population of only 166. The ad was created to promote tourism to Switzerland’s Graubünden region, a picturesque area surrounded by serene mountains that will make you feel like Julie Andrews skipping through the hillsides as she sings with the von Trapps. However, the hills are not alive with the sound of music in Tschlin, because it’s actually known to be one of the quietest villages in the world. It’s so quiet that when the village-square telephone rings, (yes, they have a telephone for the whole village) it can be heard throughout the entire town. In a six-day promotional stunt, people were invited to call the phone and test this theory.

So what makes the ad so clever? The Swiss communications agency turned it into a contest. Call the village’s telephone and if a resident doesn’t answer, you could win a trip to Graubünden, amongst other prizes. The coverage of this promotion lead to people’s participation with over 30,000 attempted phone calls, more than 4,000 conversations, 1.5 million video views, and 500,000 website visits. Eventually, people were just calling to engage in a conversation with the townsfolk of Tschlin rather than to try and win prizes. Out of all the calls that went through, only 68 went unanswered. So even though Graubünden had a problem with tourism, they found the answer with this clever creative.

Why our GEMites liked this clever creative:

The most obvious reason why we liked this ad is because of the humor in it. You can’t help but giggle when you see the villagers drop what they're doing to sprint to the phone and answer. One of our favorites was when the rancher whips open the gates and abandons his oxen to run to the phone. However, our favorite part of this ad is the warm-fuzzy feeling it leaves you with. The simple fact that people became more concerned with having conversations with the village’s people, rather than winning prizes, is what made us love this ad. In today’s tech-centered society, we forget how gratifying a conversation can be. We love that this ad allowed people from different areas to connect with each other, and that a little town like Tschlin is now known throughout the world because of it.

Why our fellow creatives should like this:

We think you guys should like the Graubünden village-phone promotion because it is the ultimate call-to-action. When people called the phone, they were able to go online and see who they were talking to. This feature had a huge impact on the success of the campaign, because people’s interest in communicating and seeing the residents of Tschlin drove traffic to their site. There, people could see where Tschlin is located, view the prizes and click-through to the main Graubünden site where you can do more exploration. A lot of companies try and pull promotional stunts, but 9 times out of 10, they fall short. Usually they are successful at getting exposure, but it commonly ends there. People will usually remember the stunt, but not the company, and that could be because they aren’t driving people to their website where they can make a more lasting impression. This ad drives people to the Graubünden website first in order to make the call, and then encourages them to take further steps. Our fellow creatives should love this ad because it’s ingenious call-to-action provides an answer to a problem.

Let us know what you think, and look out for next week’s installment of Clever Creatives!

If you’re looking for some clever creative of your own, feel free to contact us.

Tags

Scroll, or tap/click a list item to filter posts by that tag.

• Advertising
• Creativity
• Art
• Clever Creative
• Call-to-action