Supermarket chain Albert Heijn is handing out stuffed toy mascots for the European soccer championships. They're called Welpies (Dutch). For Windows Live Messenger (former MSN Messenger) a free Welpie Emoticonpack is available. With the animated Welpies of the Welpie Emoticonpack users can, with sounds and images, show that they support the Dutch national team during the coming soccer championships.This package of wink and emoticons turns out to be a big success: in a week's time 300.000 Windows Live Messenger users downloaded and installed it.
Customers of Albert Heijn who spend €15 in the supermarket receive a free welpie at the check-out counter. A welpie is a pettable lion in orange, red, white or blue with adhesive feet. The Welpie Emoticon package, consisting of a collection of winks and emoticons, can be downloaded for free from MSN.nl or the AH website.
Future Vision by Erwin Van Lun on this article
In a time in which brands can reach the consumer less and less through traditional media they’ll use existing customers to shape the brand increasingly more often. Both the physical as the virtual world will receive a complete role. Messenger is extremely suited for this. This campaign shows this beautifully.