We needed to distribute 40,000 packs of Orange Mint samples in a crazy, cool fashion that would leverage Stimorol’s brand and give them great exposure.

Orange Mint was not the most popular sub brand, so we used that exact product intrinsic - its distinctly orange flavour and noticeable orange packaging - as way of leveraging the campaign amidst the very hot and topical subject in the media: gingers.

So we arranged a flash mob of orange-haired people to hand out the Orange Mint gum at Synergy Music Festival. We used blogs, social media, radio and guerrilla marketing to recruit the gingers and position Stimorol with a fresh angle, as loving and supportive of the oppressed ginger community.In the end we transformed our Orange Mint sampling campaign into a pro-ginger movement. We achieved the original goal by distributing all the gum, but we did so in a way that leveraged Stimorol’s brand, gave them great exposure on numerous blogs and websites, strengthened the consumers’ perception of them as a fun and quirky brand, and made a positive impact on the negativity surrounding ginger-haired people.

We created a movement for gingers that ultimately mobilised ginger-haired people to be part of our sampling campaign at a major music festival.We created an online community on Facebook and Twitter for gingers and pro-gingers, called HeartGingers. We used this as a base for our campaign and for recruitment for the ginger flash mob. We used targeted Facebook ads and Guerrilla marketing. We targeted opinion leaders who run popular blogs, sending them personalised media packs. We visited popular local radio stations, spreading “GingerLove” and promoting the campaign. We even used a well-known ginger-hater to deliver a live read. We finally gathered enough gingers - via our Facebook page and Gmail account – and set them loose at the Synergy Music Festival. Branded with Stimorol and pro-ginger messages, the gingers distributed branded caps, t shirts, stickers, and of course Orange Mint samples in a crazy ginger flash mob.

We transformed what could have been just an Orange Mint sampling campaign into a pro-ginger movement. We achieved the original goal by distributing all the gum, but we did so in the a way that leveraged Stimorol’s brand, gave them great exposure on numerous blogs and websites, and strengthened the consumers’ perception of them as a fun and quirky brand.

The campaign also made a positive impact on common perception of ginger-haired people. Roughly 6,000 people were exposed to the flash mob at Synergy and it generated an estimated R586,000 worth of PR on radio alone - helping Stimorol maintain their position as the number one chewing gum brand in the country.