Steffan Postaer/Leo Burnett/Executive Creative DirectorMark Faulkner/Leo Burnett/Executive Creative DirectorJamie King/Leo Burnett/Account DirectorTom Wilson/Leo Burnett/Copywriter The goal of the Valentine campaign was to create awareness of the LoveTin as the hip Valentine’s gift, and drive consumers to purchase theproduct over the expanse of other Valentine candies. The team wanted tobuild awareness while creating a “curiously strong” interactiveexperience consistent with the brand campaign. Consumer research revealed that the target audience consideredValentine’s Day a “sappy” holiday, so Starcom sought to communicate asexy message in an unexpected way that would break through the clutterand capture consumer attention. By making shareable creative in theform of Valentines, the media forged a relationship with consumers.Bar and Restaurant Post CardsThe team chose to distribute postcards in the #1 environment where thetarget market flirted: in hot bars and nightclubs. Sassy postcardsserved as a perfect medium for communicating the product message via itspass-along potential. Hipsters not only took cards for themselves, butgave copies to friends and those they wished to be “more than friends”,thus prompting big word of mouth returns.PrintStarcom “turned up the heat” on print ads by developing a unique insertthat featured four pop-out “Love Tin” Valentines. The card-stockinserts were placed nationally in the February issues of Rolling Stoneand Cosmopolitan, each featuring the e-card web address to furtherextend campaign reach. Media took the print even further with adplacement, nestling Love Tin ads between sex and love editorials inCosmopolitan.Internet e-cardFinding that Internet greeting cards were especially popular with thetarget during Valentine’s day, media secured an animated e-greeting sitewhere consumers could send “Love Tin” greetings for free. Recipients ofthe e-cards were also able to forward greetings to friends. The viralspread amidst consumers made the cards the most popular greeting onYahoo during the two weeks prior to Valentine’s Day. In a cluttered and highly competitive seasonal window, Starcom wasconfronted with the challenge of building awareness for anunconventional Valentine’s gift—breath mints.The media team considered the creative: a series of sassy illustratedprint ads that played on grade school cartoon valentines. Starcom sawan opportunity: the ALTOIDS “Love Tin” ads featured unexpected, “grownup” messages which if made portable, would be the perfect platform forflirting, and simultaneously spread the brand message.Starcom romanced the campaign to a “shareable” Valentine Greetingformat. The print ads evolved into a unique insert, featuring four“pop-out” cards for wanna-be Romeo and Juliets to share. The teamcontinued to grow the idea by strategically extending the program topostcards and e-greetings, selecting points of contacts that would spanthe target’s social lifestyle. Although Valentine’s Day traditionally marked a major spike in candysales, the ALTOIDS “Love Tin” was left behind with low awareness, unliketraditionally romantic gifts, such as a box of chocolates.The Starcom media team needed to communicate the “Love Tin’s” positionas the perfect “pick up” mint to young urban hipsters who were searchingfor alternatives to boring heart-shaped box candies.Starcom sought out appropriate media outlets where young hipsterssearched for advice, love, and interaction: within pages ofromance-related magazine editorials, and in bars and cafes where theyflirted and shared antic dotes with friends. Finding that e-cards wereespecially popular with the target audience, the team also created ane-greeting for a viral effect.The result? Love at first sight. By marrying media and message themedia team was able to capture the attention of their audience, and getthem excited about the product. 96% of “Love Tin” bar and restaurantpost cards were snatched up and distributed among urban hipsters.

Rolling Stone and Cosmopolitan reported the valentine inserts being tornfrom magazines at newsstands, and the insert received mentions in gossipcolumns like the New York Post.By the end of the campaign, the “Love Tin” was not only considered aValentine treat—it became the Valentine confection of choice (#1 sellingconfection SKU of the season.)

In a cluttered and highly competitive seasonal window, Starcom wasconfronted with the challenge of building awareness for anunconventional Valentine’s gift—breath mints.The media team considered the creative: a series of sassy illustratedprint ads that played on grade school cartoon valentines. Starcom sawan opportunity: the ALTOIDS “Love Tin” ads featured unexpected, “grownup” messages which if made portable, would be the perfect platform forflirting, and simultaneously spread the brand message.Starcom romanced the campaign to a “shareable” Valentine Greetingformat. The print ads evolved into a unique insert, featuring four“pop-out” cards for wanna-be Romeo and Juliets to share. The teamcontinued to grow the idea by strategically extending the program topostcards and e-greetings, selecting points of contacts that would spanthe target’s social lifestyle.