DVDO Advertising Campaign a case study

Introduction
DVDO by Anchor Bay Technologies, approached dystrick design Inc, in early November of 2003 looking for a new advertising campaign. The contract was bid on by two additional firms, local and east coast based, as well as by dystrick design. The client was operating on a condensed schedule and needed to make their decision within one weeks time. Five days later, the client listened to presentations and reviewed submitted compositions from all three agencies on the same day. dystrick design Inc, was granted the contract later that same afternoon on basis of creativity, Brand consideration/extension, and quality despite a quick turnaround.

Advertising History DVDO’s advertising history has always revolved around aesthetically impactful imagery with a cutting edge feel. Combined with equally impactful messaging, this proliferated the company’s brand and conveyed a very specific image to their clientele. Recent Advertising campaings, as well as their web presence, revolved around a character who was internally dubbed, “Mr. BYG”. Big Yellow Guy. A tall, thin gentlemen in an “off the wall” yellow suit. The character fit very well in the company’s brand and his image became a distinct indication to their current clients that “This is a DVDO Product.”

Mr. BYG advertisement in an industry publication

However, the photographs were taken by a photographer in the UK, and the photos were rights managed. The model was also unreachable for further photography, making any further use of Mr. BYG nearly impossible. Hence the need for a new campaign.

Facing another tight deadline and with no decision made on the new direction the advertising campaign should take, the staff at DVDO released the “Holiday” ad. Keeping the trademark yellow coloring, and adding a festive “confetti” theme for the holidays, it would at least be immediately recognizeable to DVDO followers. The final ad also included messaging (not pictured) indicating an upcoming release of a new product. The future of the company’s advertising was the project on hand.

The Challenge
The challenge presented by DVDO was this, Develop an advertising campaign that accomplished all of the following…
    •  Migrate away from Mr BYG for obvious reasons
    •  Retain Brand Recognition with current Niche Customers
    •  Appeal to a broader target audience since the new product was being marketed to mainstream retail stores
    •  Directly target the 95% Affluent Male target audience
    •  Stay true to past advetising campaigns and the company brand

As with any other project, dystrick design Inc, made a full team collaboration to tackle the problem at hand and provide the appropriate solution to DVDO.

The Solution
dystrick design’s solution was a two phase campaign that first transitioned from the current running ad and then migrated to the new Ad Look and Feel. The first ad, the “Transition” was a mixture of familiar imagery with new, Powerful messaging.

The “Definition” ad was a resounding hit with DVDO. It unveiled the new product with a powerful image and message, kept the trademark Yellow feel, AND it built on the Holiday Ad by showing the confetti settled around the new product. This ad will be run in numerous industry publications, starting as a full page ad, and later migrating to smaller page placements.

Phase 2 would be complete the challenge fulfillment by targeting the larger, predominantly male audience and keeping the Brand recognition intact. The dystrick answer was the “Feather Head” advetisement.

This ad (currently in production) acheives all the specified goals with the added bonus of building on the Mr. BYG brand by passing on the legacy to a Ms. BYG! The brand recognition factor, with the added “sex appeal” for the (mostly male) target audience was another resounding success with DVDO. This advertisement will also be run in numerous industry publications, starting as a full page ad, and later migrating to smaller page placements. The imagery will also be adopted for many other uses, such as signage at industry trade shows.

Conclusion
The proposed campaign provided DVDO with a full solution to all of their needs, and allowed them to move forward under tight time constraints without sacrificing quality in the least. The client was so happy with the result, that they have since retained dystrick design as their full turnkey marketing agency for all print, web, tradeshow, and advetising initiatives.