The chocolate-maker is aiming to create an iconic character out of its gold bunny with the launch of an interactive storybook app.
Lindt has set the bar high for its spring campaign; it’s working to make the Lindt Gold Bunny as synonymous with Easter as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is with Christmas.
To do that the chocolate-maker has changed up its strategy, swapping out contests for an interactive app aimed at families with children between the ages of 5 and 10.
“We wanted to get out of contesting, because people who enter contests are usually contesters and not necessarily consumers,” Mona Alishah, marketing manager at Lindt & Sprungli, tells MiC. “One of the key strategies for Lindt is to engage with consumers further.”
The free interactive storybook app, called “The Bell that Rang in Easter,” was written by Canadian children’s author Ashley Spires, and tells the story of the friendship between a small bunny named Theo and a little girl named Emma.
Each time the storybook app is downloaded, Lindt will donate $1 (up to a maximum of $50,000) to the Children’s Aid Foundation.
The app and campaign around it was developed with creative from Grip, media planning managed by Willow and media buying from Active International. It’s being promoted to parents and families through a mix of digital programmatic and social media advertising, closed captioning TV buys and experiential events.
“The media is focused on quickly engaging with potential consumers in a way that will result in immediate app downloads,” says Alishah.
Those events include a 10-day family event at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, ON, running from March 16 to 26, and will see the storybook brought to life with a 1,400 square-foot installation. On March 18 the author will be on hand for live readings throughout the day. The author will also be at the Shops at Don Mills in Toronto doing live readings on March 17.
The storybook app is available for download through iTunes and Google Play.
