Cannes Lions

The Ariston Comfort Challenge

WUNDERMAN THOMPSON , Milan / ARISTON THERMO SPA / 2019

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OVERVIEW

Background

Disko Island, Greenland is one of the most extreme and coldest places in the world. This is also why it retains an impressive amount of useful data for scientists to study the effects of climate change. In the colder months, however, research is forced to stop due to weather conditions, thus slowing down a project which is key for our future. Transporting a 58-square-metre shelter in such conditions was a remarkable feat of endurance, which required over 18 months of work and an endless list of means of transport, including animal-driven ones. For this reason, the involvement of the whole local community and the University of Copenhagen was key to the success of the operation. In particular, we established a partnership with the University, gifting the shelter to them after its completion.

Idea

The Ariston Comfort Challenge: a mission to bring comfort to those who gave up theirs for the health of our planet. A remarkable feat to build a 'comfort zone' in one of the coldest places in the world, Disko island, Greenland, which implied the design of the construction material and its subsequent transport via aircrafts, icebreakers, dogsleds before the final installation. A 58-square-metre housing module heated by one of the most sustainable boilers ever made, the comfort zone was used to shelter researchers coming from all over the world to study the climate changes endangering the existence of phytoplankton, the set of micro-organisms living in the oceans, responsible for producing 50% of the world's oxygen. This is why their research is of vital importance. Where there was only an expanse of ice, today there is a sustainable installation donated to the University of Copenhagen, for the future of our planet.

Strategy

After an in-company recruitment procedure on a global scale, with more than 250 candidates participating, we chose the 3 best Ariston installers, who were from Italy, China and Russia. Then, we took on the challenge to build the comfort zone on the ice of Disko Island, Greenland. In the first phase, the campaign promoted relevant corporate communication, with the installers playing the lead roles themselves, aiming at reinforcing the sense of identity of the sales force. The subsequent implementation of the comfort zone was accompanied by a storytelling project resulting in 6 online episodes and a long TV format, on air in 17 countries. The goal was to give life not to a single 'flight,' but to a communication platform that allows the brand to reach all the stakeholders: employees, professional technicians and final consumers, through a completely new language for this product market.

Execution

Over a total of 18 months, we created a 58-square-metre comfort zone designed to resemble the shape of the Ariston logo, and we heated it with the most sustainable boiler ever made. Then, we transported it by various transport means, including animal-driven ones, onto Disko Island, Greenland, to subsequently donate it to the University of Copenhagen and give researchers coming from all over the world a chance to carry out field studies on the effects of climate change. The campaign narrating this epic feat went on air in 17 countries, through different touchpoints: social networks, the brand's Youtube channel, TV, cinema, events,

Outcome

250 internal applications submitted during the installer recruitment phase. A total of 210 million video views; 85 million social interactions. 4.5 million visits to the website; 1 58-square-metre housing module built and powered through extremely sustainable solutions, which can be replicated over and over, but also disassembled and reassembled elsewhere to support other and more urgent scientific research projects. But, above all, there is a result we are extremely proud of: 1 scientific research project of vital importance for the future of the planet can now finally carry on and give hope to Greenland as well as all future generations.