SPEED-UP LIFE'S PROJECTS.
When the tools you use on the job site are as efficient as Stratum, you might be tempted to see if they’ll speed-up other parts of your life. With a few heavy-duty consequences.
*THIS IS A SPECULATIVE CAMPAIGN
DEVELOPMENT
Stratum Power Tools’ long-lasting equipment get you off the job site fast, but how do you convey that to consumers? Create a super-speed experience that anyone can engage with - even if they don’t own power tools.
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We designed the Stratum Speed-Up App to be the core of our campaign. Downloadable for free via iOS or Android, customers use augmented reality (AR) & their phone’s camera to simulate drilling, sawing, & nailing in a 3D space. Each of the five challenges are timed, &, through the submission of an email address at the end of the experience, customers can enter for a chance to win $5000 of free Stratum power tools, with the world’s fastest time taking home the prize.
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To promote the app (&, simultaneously, Stratum’s speed), we told the story of your average construction worker who, off the job site, is trying to similarly speed-up their life in unconventional ways. Crimping a pie with a heavy-duty crimper. Chasing-off clogging Appalachians with a sewer sectional machine. For every tool, we used a literal interpretation of what it did & took that to the extreme, with the downloading of the Stratum Speed-Up app bringing that cartoonish persona to life. “What an oddball,” construction workers will say to themselves, while frantically dashing around their living room pretending their phone is a hammer.
Rough sketch of the Stratum campaign's visual design.
MESSAGING
SPEED-UP LIFE'S PROJECTS: Off the job site, construction workers want the same level of efficiency that Stratum Power Tools provide. This campaign comically stretches the definition of a project with blunt titles & absurd visuals, showing through ads & apps the odd consequences that result.
ASSETS
We’re advertising to tough folks who are a little rough around the edges, so we reflected that in our campaign’s design.
Tablet Gothic is a bold typeface with all the subtlety of a jackhammer, & the body copy, Indivisible, takes inspiration from rugged instruction booklets over sleek editorials.
Postwar newspaper presses used to churn out comics with 4- or 5-colors, offset from the linework thanks to a speedy printing process. We kept our colors simple to match this industrial process, relying on the reds, blues, & yellows often seen in comic book heroes.
The icon & artwork style was inspired by hand-drawn tool adverts & boy scout pamphlets, with simpler shapes & figures chosen to enhance readability from a distance.
We took inspiration from the modern brutalism movement to further highlight the industrial roughness of Stratum & its customers. Repeating titles, misaligned colors, & cramped text showcase this perfectly - loud & raw, but approachable.
CHANNELS
PRINT (FULL-PAGE ADS)
DIGITAL (DISPLAY ADS)
RADIO
RADIO SPOT TRANSCRIPT:
Open with Appalachian clogging music. Dancers hoot & holler as the sound of wooden clogs clack rhythmically to the music.
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NARRATOR
Spectrum Power Tools get you off the job site faster than any other brand. Like our sewer sectional machines - so quick at stopping unwanted clogging that you’ll want to test the limits of just what kind of clogging it stops.
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ANGRY HOMEOWNER
It’s 3:00 in the morning!
ANGRY HOMEOWNER revs up his sewer sectional machine.
APPALACHIAN CLOGGER
Stop! He’s got some weird machine thing!
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NARRATOR
Before the Appalachians hate your guts, download the Stratum Sprint app, available for iOS & Android. Get the fastest score in the world to win $5000 of free hardware.
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ANGRY HOMEOWNER
Stratum Power Tools: Get off the job site-
Sewer sectional machine revs.
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ANGRY HOMEOWNER
-& onto your next project.
DIRECT (EMAIL)
AFFILIATE (JOB-SITE POSTERS)
APP
SOCIAL (PAID)
PAID FACEBOOK VIDEO AAD TRANSCRIPT:
MAN: Hey, crocs, it’s the Gator Rater, & today, I’m gonna show you how to use your Stratum Sawzall to cut butter. That’s right, fellas: we’re cutting butter. Now, only try this if you get off the job site early & your wife isn’t home. Fellas, you’ve been warned.
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VOICEOVER: “Got too much time on your hands? Play Stratum Sprint instead. Drill, saw, & ratchet your way to VR victory. The world’s fastest score gets $5000 of free Stratum Power Tools.
RESULTS
The following results only include data from the three-month run of the campaign.
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The total number of job-site-poster QR scans was 35,235. Compared to job sites who didn’t request extra posters, job sites who requested extra posters increased their average power tool reorder size by 27%.
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Compared to previous Stratum ad campaigns, our display ads saw a 49% increase in click-through rate (CTR). 53% of customers who clicked on a display ad downloaded the Stratum Sprint App.
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98,245 people downloaded the Stratum Sprint app. 89% submitted their score at least once. 74% submitted their score at least twice. 25% submitted their score at least five times. Out of the customers who submitted a score with an email, 12% used the same email to purchase more tools directly from Stratum’s website.
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Total revenue increased by 24%. Geographically, the areas where radio ads played saw a general average revenue increase of 7%.
