Marketing objective was to consolidate market leadership against Men 16-24 by year-end 2001 via increasing regular usage from 48% to 51%ACHIEVED 54%The first communication objective was to increase brand health measures of “ coolness” against Men 16-24 by year-end 2001 from 31% to 50% ACHIEVED 60%The second communication objective was to increase awareness of TVC against Men 16-24 by year end 2001 greater than 80%ACHIEVED 82% Our media idea was simple yet effective through an innate understanding of the target audience/young males. OWN a property that would attract ‘masters of cool’ in droves and deliver aspiration, originality and risqué-ness through integration with the content of the show. We identified that TV was their late evening companion through the week with little viewing outside this period. We understood ‘masters of cool’ so clearly that we were able to review the TV program line-ups for the coming year and identify Big Brother ‘Uncut’ (9.30pm) as the one program that delivered our requirements. We committed 100% of the campaign budget to this 1 program. We worked with the TV network to create ‘Lynx Big Brother Moments’ which promoted the upcoming Thursday night episode of Big Brother. This was all unpaid activity valued at $200,000 (significant in this market) and not only were we increasing our brand health measures; we were also increasing our reach.By running a different ‘Lynx Big Brother Moment’ every week for 10 weeks, we made Lynx appear bigger than it actually was, with fresh moments, all communicating the brand values … again freshness without paying for it!We took the TV idea and negotiated with the Internet provider to replicate it on the Big Brother Internet site. An ‘uncut’ section was created on the web with Lynx clearly owning this area. Visitors were able to interact with the housemates through a ‘mix & match body parts’ quiz. This would encourage further interaction with the ‘moments’ and aid in word of mouth amongst other ‘masters of cool’. WE MASTERED TARGETING TO YOUNG MALES ! Universal McCann redefined the target of young men as ‘Masters of Cool’ and recognised the need to be risqué, aspirational and original. We took a calculated risk and diverted 100% of monies into one TV program. If it were not for the passion we had behind this idea, it would not of come to fruition. The challenge for Lynx was to inject ‘coolness’ back into the brand against men 16-24.

We identified a common link amongst these males in that ‘image was key’ – we therefore redefined the target as ‘masters of cool’.

A thorough understanding of ‘masters of cool’ enabled us to recognise that the media idea needed to be risqué, aspirational and original to cut through. This was a big ask given all we had on hand was an international TVC that could only run post 8.30pm.We identified one program – new Big Brother reality series, specifically Thursday Night UNCUT which delivered ASPIRATION as it aired on 9.30pm, ORIGINALITY as it aired exclusive footage and was RISQUE as it showed “the sexual” footage. This one program was perfect for Lynx, and all media monies were diverted into Thursday Night Uncut – one property only. Traditionally LYNX distributes television monies across multiple programs therefore this approach WAS risky!Lynx owned Thursday night ‘Uncut’ and created TV & Internet ads from the footage. ‘Lynx Big Brother Moments’ became the executions, which pre-promoted this one program.The risk paid off with LYNX achieving the best results ever across both brand health and sales measures.

Universal McCann redefined the target of young men as ‘Masters of Cool’ and recognised the need to be risqué, aspirational and original. We took a calculated risk and diverted 100% of monies into one TV program. If it were not for the passion we had behind this idea, it would not of come to fruition.