We’re going to use babies to sell bottled water.

Now there’s an idea you might never have thought would leave a boardroom. Last week, we took a look at how your ICO marketing and some Superbowl ads have more in common than you may think. Today we’re looking at a family friendly and adorable campaign that held America’s attention for nearly a decade and has now garnered attention on the world stage.

Roller Babies still image, Evian

The bottled water industry can be considered one of the most competitive and marketing reliant industries in the world. When the areas your target customers inhabit tend to have access to tap water and a filter at minimum, you must convince them that your bottle of the same clear, splashy liquid is somehow better than their practically free water and, at the same time, better than your competitor’s bottled water which may only have a slightly different bottle design. Some companies use bragging rights over natural springs, some use fancy packaging, others add a little fizz and a few drops of juice, and some, like Evian, use clever advertising to bring new consumers to their side.

Evian’s campaign started with a simple question. How literal could one take the tagline ‘Live Young’? Turns out, you can get far on a motto of only two words. In 2009, the Roller-skating Babies advertisement hit the scene and quickly rose to hold a record of the most viewed TV ad on the internet from the Guinness World Records.

The iconic commercial that started it all.

The Roller Babies advertisement, featuring CGI infants on roller skates doing impressive tricks and looking like they are having the time of their lives gained traction immediately. They were everywhere from posters to television to social media pages galore. While not all parts of the advertisement push after the Rollerbabies were successful, a couple of successes really stood out.

Hot on the the Roller Babies’s heels.

Next on the train of success came the Baby Inside stage of the campaign. This was remarkably one of the few times a company intentionally hit viral success on the head twice in a row. This stage emphasized community interaction. Anyone from the average Joe to sports stars could get their hands on a t-shirt imprinted with images of three different babies on them and dance on camera.

Evian “Baby Inside” advert featuring Melissa Reid

This footage was then cut and edited to help create the “longest music video ever”. It’s hard to say how many people participated fully and how many of those t-shirts were sold, but it was an instant hit with those looking for something fun to participate in.

To this day, the Live Young campaign is still going strong with an adaption utilizing popular influencers. Evian is still staying true to their roots, with images of youthful babies highlighting many of their ads. It’s safe to say this out of left field strategy is paying off for Evian.

The Roller Babies video alone grossed over 200 million views across several channels and continues to stay relevantly popular online through people editing the original footage. It was also featured as the #1 ad of 2009 in Time magazine.

Alright. Let’s get to the juicy part.

How can we take that viral marketing soup and distill it down into a refreshing glass of ICO success?

Let’s take a look back to the first lesson that was taught in “What does a famous superbowl commercial and your ICO have in common?”

Learn how to have fun.

Today’s lesson goes hand in hand: embrace your company’s inner creativity. To break it down, you must come to terms with your brand’s humor, and learn to nurture it. I can almost guarantee that nobody in the Evian boardroom that fateful day was expecting to hear about babies on roller-skates. Viral ads must be something that will get people talking.

Image courtesy of RyanMcGuire

For this strategy to work, you must keep your branding subtle. Did you notice that a good portion of the Roller-Babies advertisement did not even have Evian’s branding?

Bottles were used as part of the set, but not the ultimate focus.

Evian let the representment of babies and their ‘Live Young’ message do it’s work while they sprinkled their product in to subtly point out that you too can experience the active lifestyle that these babies lead. If Evian plastered their logo on every one of the toddler’s shirts, viewers would likely have shrunk away from the ad due to overabundance.

You want your audience to love the content of your advertisements, while barely knowing they’re advertisements.

Ask your community to participate.

Figure out a way to increase audience participation with something fun. Have a project everyone of any skill level can participate in that helps boost your brand awareness. Fostering the relationship between your community and your marketing is key. Remember that most of these people are your biggest fans and want to see you succeed too.

I’ll leave you with this last lesson for today. Even the most well laid plans and successes do not always translate into short term profit. The same year that Roller Babies became a smash hit, sales fell for Evian due to the waves of the recession hitting their key markets. Roller Babies may have been one of the factors that prevented a harsher decline in sales for the company. They kept with what was a provably winning idea despite the overall setback, and now they are in nearly every corner of the US and the UK.

What is Evian up to now?

One of their new products is a nitrogen propelled water spray for your face. I want you to think that over for a moment. They put water and air in a can and are now selling it as a beauty product. If that’s not an indication that your marketing team is skilled in hitting home runs, then someone please tell me what is.

How do I manage a community based event?

Trying new marketing tactics can be really stressful at times and running a campaign requiring customer participation requires all hands on deck. That’s where Ngaged comes in and exactly why I started working with Ngaged. By providing a trained team of 24/7 community managers around the world, Ngaged helps prevent ICOs and blockchain companies from getting overwhelmed.

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About the author: When not writing down his knowledge for others, Derek spends his time helping build up successful, disruptive technology companies. He has assisted with building companies in 3d printer manufacturing, crypto trading, blockchain training, and consumer portfolio tracking softwares. Now, Derek brings his expertise to the ICO space with lessons and ramblings for any willing to listen.