Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Adnan Arnautlija
Title picture: Proud friend of The Goodness Gang, Lejna (Carrot Maki got lost somewhere)
The weather in Sarajevo has been quite… indecisive lately, to put it quite mildly. We got to see four seasons in a single day, and I could swear sometimes it was even more than that. It’s a virus playground here.
Partly because of the weather, partly because of my wife who brought a beautiful little girl to the world just two weeks ago, and partly because of my older kid, my minion Lejna, I’ve spent most of the past two weeks at home, working from a corner table which I like to call “my office”. My apartment was both a home, a workplace and a playground for days now.
While browsing through the materials we received for the portal, I came across a press release from Konzum BH, about the success of their Zdravoljupci campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the initial period of collecting points to get discounts for the cute plush toys in the form of vegetables and fruits, these toys started popping up in kids’ hands like mushrooms after the rain.
According to Konzum, they’re selling 2,000 plushies per day. I was not the least surprised. How would I, when just the day earlier I toured the stores with my older kid, looking for Roko (plush broccoli). The same answer in most of them: “They went out like crazy, garlic as well. But don’t worry, we’ve ordered more.” Luckily, we managed to find it. I must say, in spite of my expectations, many children fell in love with the vegetable part of the offer, including my minion.
As I was reading about Zdravoljupci, the rain started pouring for the tenth time that day. I asked Lejna to close the balcony door, “we’ll catch a cold”. “But dad, cold and flu can’t do me no harm, with a single breath I can topple everyone,” she quipped, referencing to the lyrics of the campaign song and waving her Olie the Garlic doll. After my repeated request she closed the balcony door, grabbed her plush veggie friends, and pranced off to her room.
Let’s be clear about one thing – Konzum didn’t invent hot water with this campaign. It’s a standard loyalty campaign with collecting of points for discounts, the likes of which we’ve seen a number of times on our regional markets. And Konzum was not the first to use the Goodness Gang, originally created by TCC Global, which has already rolled them out in numerous markets in collaboration with several retail chains.
But Konzum’s marketing team has done one thing perfectly – they recognized the main element that is at the core of many successful campaigns today – the emotion. It is the emotions that the Goodness Gang, or Zdravoljupci, stir in us. And I’m not ashamed to admit that, when I first saw these plush toys, a little voice in my head started singing a song from a certain cartoon about a kid roaming the world and catching all sorts of creatures into red and white balls. “Gotta catch em alllll” says the voice in my head while I plan with my daughter which one to get next. Will it be the eggplant Toby or Keli the pear?
As I’ve said, countless campaigns with a similar concept have been done with cutlery, pans, pots, linen and who knows what else. But did you ever want to collect them all? Of course you didn’t. Because these campaigns sold convenience for practical people, and practical people know they don’t need every single pan and pot. You know, because they’re practical. But we’re all emotional, so these little plushies pull the strings on the child in all of us.
How many such “children” are in the world? To illustrate, I will share with you the information I received from the TCC Global after I reached out to them to find out a little more about The Goodness Gang. Tena Pernicki, Campaign Manager for Adriatic Region at TCC Global, says that campaigns with Goodness Gang has been conducted on dozens of markets around the world since 2009, and so far, over 60 million plush toys have been sold globally!
However, although sales results are stellar, they are not the only goal of these campaigns. The Goodness Gang’s purpose is to promote healthy lifestyle. “In addition to exceptional sales results, TCC is particularly proud to raise awareness of healthy diets in children around the world,” Tena added.
And this note about promoting healthy diet was the segue for my next question. Where did the idea of developing The Goodness Gang come from?
“Research shows that adults and children eat too little fruit and vegetables. Given that nutritional habits of parents are generally passed on to children, the problem of daily consumption of fruits and vegetables is systematically addressed by changing eating habits of children at an early age. Based on these insights, TCC Global has developed the ‘Goodness Gang’ license, which is based on cute plush toys in the shape of fruits and vegetables, which in a fun way stimulate the positive changes in eating habits of children, with a focus on consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables,” Tena explained.
Given that my minion utterly enjoys eating garlic just so that she can creep up behind me and breathe toward my face, and then run off hysterically laughing when I tell her to wash her teeth, I would say that they have somewhat succeeded in their approach.
And what about the concrete results of the campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Best to hear it from Selma Karasalihović, PR manager of Konzum BiH.
“With a figure of 2,000 plush toys sold daily, we already exceeded all expectations and sales estimates. However, this figure has been greatly surpassed in recent days, and the sale of these toys is constantly rising. Now it has exceed incredible 3,300 plush toys per day! No one could have ever assumed this kind of results. The euphoria has spread to schools, kindergartens, social networks … At Konzum, we receive emails, comments, photos, videos all day long, all related to the Zdravoljupci. The enthusiasm is enormous especially among those who have gathered all Zdravoljupci toys. The project is coming to an end soon and I would take the opportunity to note that the collection of stamps lasts only a few days more, and ends on 02.06. All customers who have collected a sufficient number of stickers can get their favourite plush toy at a great price by 16.06. Finally, I would particularly emphasize that we are very proud because this project has a humanitarian character, and we will donate part of the proceeds from sales to homes for children without parental care in four cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
This morning, as I dropped Lejna to kindergarten, where she proudly took her Roko, at the door I was asked by one of the teachers to wait while she grabs a pen. As she returned, she took Roko and wrote Lejna’s name on its label. I look around and only then I noticed the fruitlike plush toys sitting on the hangers of almost every single child. They say they might even make a doll play with them.
Which got me thinking – these toys really are perfect for some additional content. Some kind of a sponsored cartoon would be an absolute hit, I’m certain of that. But Tena from TCC couldn’t comment on this. When it comes to plans for the future, she just briefly said “The next chapter of the Goodness Gang will bring some new faces and innovative prizes, as well as a refreshed communication message.”
In hope that those new faces will come to our parts as well, and that we will see some interesting added content, I leave you now, since I need to go plan which toy will be the next member of our family. You know, the campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina is coming to an end soon, and as I said, the little voice in my head is singing “gotta catch em all”.
