Ralph Palamidessi/ACDPhilip Nicholas/ACD The goal was to create awareness of and preference for Epson’s new Stylus C80 color printer among the target audience: consumers with a PC at home, particularly families with children (which have a high incidence of using a color printer for photos and school projects). For years, Epson has been embraced by professional groups, such as the photography industry, as a leader in manufacturing high-quality color ink jet printers for photos. However, unlike its better-known competitors Hewlett-Packard and Canon, Epson has not enjoyed the same top-of-mind brand recognition in the high-volume category of affordable consumer ink jet printers. For this reason, as well as the perceived product parity in the category, we challenged ourselves to create a breakthrough platform that would communicate the message of Epson’s incredible image quality on plain paper. Because of the uniqueness of the idea and the visual impact of the insert, the media team chose a “blitz” strategy to simultaneously reach as many different consumers as possible. The media team recommended that the best way to give consumers a reason to believe was to provide them with an actual print sample (on plain paper) from an Epson C80 printer. It was equally important to demonstrate Epson’s incredible image quality story in a credible environment. Print samples from demo products at retailers are unreliable and direct mail is often thrown out before opened. Neither was a viable solution to get the sample to consumers. As a solution, the media team proposed the idea of using consumer magazines to deliver an actual plain paper print sample into target consumers’ hands using a preprinted “interactive insert” as the delivery vehicle.Capitalizing on the targetability of magazines, the media team selected a list of publications that would reach a large concentration of home PC owners, particularly families with kids. Some of the magazines included on the plan were Martha Stewart Living, Discover, Family Fun, Oprah, and Yahoo! Internet Life.Responding to the media team’s idea, a full-size insert was developed that included a 3½” x 5” color output sample attached to it. The print sample itself could be easily removed to reveal a message underneath about the printer. The print sample was designed as a photo greeting card. This demonstrated two things: the incredible image quality of the Epson printer and an example of a way the printer could by used by a home PC owner. The backside of the insert incorporated a “Seeing Is Believing” sweepstakes, in which consumers could enter to win a family trip to one of four international destinations. The project was a major undertaking – it took over 700 Epson printers running 24 hours a day for 6 weeks to generate over 11 million output samples for the interactive insert.During the month following the appearance of the interactive insert, Epson saw sales of the Stylus C80 increase by 92%; throughout the holiday period, sales were sustained at high levels. In addition to the notable sales increase, there were two other obvious indications of the impact of the program. It was observed in post-campaign interviews that awareness of the interactive insert was the sole reason that led many consumers to either purchase the printer or at least consider it. We have been made aware anecdotally that Epson’s competition noticed the interactive insert and inquired with some of the magazines about how they could do a similar program! After seeing first-hand the phenomenal output of Epson’s new Stylus C80 color printer, it was the media team’s idea to bring the actual sample from the printer to the consumer. Being experts on print media, the competitive landscape, and the Epson brand, the media team realized that Epson did not enjoy high brand recognition among the target audience; therefore it was imperative to develop a breakthrough approach to cut through the clutter. The media team led the charge with its unique idea for an “interactive insert” – an actual photo print sample attached to a magazine insert, with the ability for a consumer to remove the sample and see its quality for themselves. The biggest challenge to marketing low-priced ink jet printers today is that it is a category filled with parity products – all manufacturers tout superior image quality. To combat this, Epson has made a priority of demonstrating its superiority in image quality whenever possible. With the launch of the C80, Epson had a new color printer with the ability to print incredible photo images on plain paper. This was a unique and powerful product story to tell, but it was impossible to demonstrate it using traditional media in a traditional way. Furthermore, there was a desire to present the story in a way only Epson could – showing and not telling. Traditional ROP ads would simply not fulfill these objectives.Faced with three challenges standing out from the competition, convincing consumers of Epson’s image quality story, and presenting it in a way that was distinctly Epson – the media team suggested the idea of an “interactive insert.” By using a traditional medium in a creative way, DDB was able to effectively extend Epson’s message of “seeing is believing” by delivering an actual print sample into target consumer’s hands.

After seeing first-hand the phenomenal output of Epson’s new Stylus C80 color printer, it was the media team’s idea to bring the actual sample from the printer to the consumer. Being experts on print media, the competitive landscape, and the Epson brand, the media team realized that Epson did not enjoy high brand recognition among the target audience; therefore it was imperative to develop a breakthrough approach to cut through the clutter. The media team led the charge with its unique idea for an “interactive insert” – an actual photo print sample attached to a magazine insert, with the ability for a consumer to remove the sample and see its quality for themselves.