Tontine are the largest manufacturer of pillows in Australia. This campaign was created to stop declining sales due to home brand competition getting stronger. The idea gave them a unique point of difference, permanently. We knew that people were keeping their pillows for way too long. They were oblivious to the fact that pillows really deteriorate over time and also didn’t really know how old their pillows were. We told Tontine to date-stamp every pillow with an expiry date so people would know when to change it. We then ran a campaign to explain why having a date-stamped pillow was a good thing. The date-stamp is more than a campaign it’s a permanent product innovation.

A business changing idea that’s also a media idea:We created a ‘best before’ stamp for Tontine pillows; a hard working medium that acts as a constant reminder. But a stamp alone is not sufficient reason to change your pillow. We needed media to make it impossible for them to continue sleeping on their current pillow.

We created an intense 5-day media activation that: a)Leveraged the power of media channels close to bedtime - making it difficult for the audience to sleep that night.

b)Used breakfast media to remind people when they woke up - to trigger conversation and purchase.Creative executions were tailored to the specific time of day and media context. We used the combination of concentrated weight and unsettling content to multiply the reach of paid media. The activation started on Wednesday evening leading up to the weekend when we had an integrated retail event.

Our idea changed the entire company. From the machinery they use and the production line, to the way they are packaged, advertised and sold. More importantly, it changed peoples’ perceptions about keeping pillows for too long.During the week of the campaign, sales rocketed giving Tontine +345% increase on regular sales.

Perhaps more importantly, the sales growth has maintained averaging +50% per week.This proves 3 things:1)the strength of a genuine breakthrough idea, 2)a short term blitz can have long term effect, 3)the date stamped pillow is sustaining sales – it’s a medium in and of itself.