Cannes Lions

Meowgorithm

ALMAPBBDO, Sao Paulo / MARS / 2019

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Overview

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Credits

OVERVIEW

Background

Internet algorithms always offer more of what people already like: news about the same subjects, videos with the same themes, bands with the same styles. And that jeopardizes their curiosity.

Whiskas is the brand that feeds curiosity and decided to do something about it.

Idea

We created the Meowgorithm. A browser extension that works as an algorithm, but the other way around.

Instead of showing more of the content you're already used to, it identifies your searches (in Portuguese) on Google, YouTube, UOL or SoundCloud and offers you completely different results. But always with a fun link with the searched terms, to stimulate the user's curiosity.

If the user searched for “soccer”, for instance, Meowgorithm would suggest the following: “Soccer is very popular. But a sport that’s a lot less popular is chess-boxing. Check it out:”

But Meowgorithm didn’t show up in every single search. Otherwise from a fun brand experience it would turn into an annoying ad. So, it would only work every 5 to 10 searches. And if the consumer wanted to “call” Meowgorithm any sooner, all they had to do was to search for Whiskas that it would quickly appear.

Strategy

We programed Meowgorithm to be able to find different answers to more than 60 thousand search terms. So we would turn the consumer search terms into brand content.

As for the target audience, we targeted all our consumers that are online, basically. In Brazil, 70% of the homes have access to internet. That means, around 150 million people. So, our target audience were cat owners with access to desktop computers, connected to the internet.

And these are the people we targeted when we advertised the Meowgorithm on social media – inviting them to download the extension and feed their curiosity.

Execution

We launched a Google Chrome extension called Meowgorithm and made is available for download, for free. Then we advertised it through social media.

All consumers needed to do was to go to our website, download the Meowgorithm and install it in their browser.

Then, when searching for anything (in Portuguese) on Google, YouTube, UOL or SoundCloud, a kitten would appear offering completely new content.

But Meowgorithm didn’t show up in every single search. Otherwise from a fun brand experience it would turn into an annoying ad. So, it would only work every 5 to 10 searches. And if the consumer wanted to “call” Meowgorithm any sooner, all they had to do was to search for Whiskas that just like any real cat, it would quickly appear.

Meowgorithm was launched on April 2019 and there are no plans or date set to take it offline.

Outcome

We launched Meowgarithm too close to the entry deadline for this award. So, there was not enough time to measure deep results. But we are happy to say that in the first week alone, we had over 230% increase in traffic on our website. And that was twice what both we and the client were expecting.

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