How Panasonic launched its blu-ray disc recorder with ‘The 28 Day Persecution of Rommy Gulla’ campaign via The Campaign Palace, Sydney
CB Exclusive – Case Study: Panasonic launched its new Blu-Ray disc recorder in October with a quirky online campaign featuring Rommy Gulla, a 26-year-old from Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
‘The Persecution of Rommy Gulla’ was the brainchild of Reed Collins and the team at The Campaign Palace, Sydney.
For 28 days Rommy Gulla volunteered to be pranked every day for a month starting Monday, October 3. Fans are also invited to participate and suggest pranks during the 28-day period, with the best becoming a reality.
The project was designed to launch the new 1 terabyte Panasonic BWT800 3D Blu Ray Disc Recorder which is capable of recording 28 days, or 684 hours of high-definition content.
Says Palace national chief creative officer Reed Collins: “We could have gone down the normal route and produced against a whole bunch of well-trodden channels with lots of product features but then we would end up being like any other recording device. We wanted to single out its biggest defining feature and demonstrate how truly gigantic one terabyte is. After all it’s an entertainment device – why wouldn’t the advertising be just as entertaining?”
Viewers could watch Rommy’s daily pranks and others that they may have missed through Facebook and YouTube. They also had the opportunity to contribute their own ideas on how to make it the longest 28 days of his life. The submissions were voted on by other fans and they won some awesome prizes in the process.
“We decided it would be much more interesting to put him in a situation where he knows something’s going to happen every day for 28 days, but never what, when or where. His task was to survive the longest 28 days of his life and hopefully with his dignity intact,” added Collins.
CAMPAIGN CREDITS:
Client: Panasonic
Director, marketing communications: Gemma Lemieux
Marketing communications manager: Rachel Bartrop
Agency: The Campaign Palace
National Chief Creative Officer: Reed Collins
Senior Creative: Hywel James
Senior Creative: Gerhard Myburgh
Group Account Director: Toby McKinnon
Agency Producer: Stefan Puskar
Designer: Samantha Hornitsky
Digital: Suede
Digital Strategy: Martin Hoegh-Guldberg
Digital Account Manager: Karin Hansen
Information Architect: Ralph Wayment
Digital Design Direction: Hallvard Nakken
Social Media Strategy: Tom Williamson
Designer: Casey Frendin
Front End Developer: Karina Arias
Flash Developer: Matt Bonnington
Developer: Alex Zui
Project Manager: Sarah Davies
Production Company: Film Construction
Director: David Wood
Production Company Producer: Warwick Boulter
Post Production: First Light Digital
Editor: Bruce Flint
Audio house: GAS
Media Company: Universal McCann