Tipp- Ex Embraces Gamification with Viral Interactive Video
Tipp-Ex is to Europe what Wite-Out is to the U.S. — the leading brand of correction fluid that’s become so well known its name has become the generic word for the product. But with the use of emails, texting and the backspace button, it would make sense for the brand to become irrelevant in today’s world. Tipp-Ex, however, has figured out a way for the brand not only to survive, but also to go viral outside of its own market in a modern social marketing ploy.
In 2010, the brand introduced its first interactive YouTube video, “A Hunter Shoots a Bear,” which offered viewers the opportunity to replace “shoots” with over 42 alternative actions as a part of the brand’s “White and Rewrite” campaign. Well, nearly two years (and 20 million views) later, the brand is at it again, but this time Tipp- Ex’s latest video has upped the ante in terms of engagement and interactivity.
Its latest video uses the same hunter and bear gimmick, showing the pair celebrating a party in 2012 before a meteor threatens the end of the world and, consequently, their party. Immediately, the video gets gamified—allowing the viewer to select whether or not to end the party and use the giant animated Tipp-Ex tape to “white and rewrite” the year of the party. Tipp-Ex takes advantage of the human psychological predisposition to engage in technology by encouraging the viewer to input a new date to “relive the party.” The number of years that can be entered is infinite, and the video presents unique and funny storylines depending on which years the viewer selects– from thousands of years B.C. to the distant future, and everything in between.
But the thousands of potential years available for input are hardly the end of the gamified features. There are several truly engaging (and historically accurate) scenarios that require viewer involvement and effectively pull the audience in. Input the year -10,000,000, and attempt to defeat the dinosaurs. Try the year 500 and use the mouse to pull the sword out of a stone King Arthur-style. 1980 turns the video into a game of Pac- Man, and 1989 calls on the viewer to knock down the Berlin Wall. The more users dive in, the more engaging “game-like” features they’ll discover, including one that even requires viewers to blow into a microphone to put out the candles.
Through the “White and Rewrite” campaign, Tipp-Ex is able to connect with viewers effectively and in a way that is original, silly, a little bit crass and interactive. These factors ensure that the audience will commit time (whether it’s 30 seconds or an hour) and thus establish the Tipp-Ex brand as more than just your standard, outdated office supply company.
More than that, though, this unique marketing campaign highlights the fact that consumers no longer want to be marketed to. They need to be a part of marketing. That’s marketing for a social world.
