The "WHO IS R?" campaign was a unique marketing campaign in Bulgaria for the LG KC910 Renoir mobile phone. It involved creating an imaginary persona named "R", portrayed by an actor who interacted with people in the city over 10 days without revealing the purpose. The campaign gained popularity for the phone and brand through mystery "teasing" and "reveal" phases using guerrilla marketing tactics like distributing ice hearts and posters around the city, as well as maintaining an online presence through blogs and social media. This unconventional approach generated buzz and intrigue.

1. “ WHO IS R?” CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW (teasing and reveal phases) Client: LG Electronics Product: Mobile phone, KC910, Renoir Agency: MediaBASKET

2. The “WHO IS R?” campaign was unique for Bulgaria. Neither the offline guerrilla actions, nor the blogs are yet popular communication and marketing tools. This campaign gained popularity of KC910 on one hand and built an image of LG as a modern and innovative brand.

3. CREATIVE CONCEPT Humanise the phone –We are all set of different skills and qualities. We are unique - so is LG Renoir phone. Tell a n everyday story from the other site - what if the phone is a human being ? What would it feel and what would it say? What if KC910 is a living man? What if Renoir is a modern good-looking man?

4. TEASING REVEAL BOOST Visits>>> The whole concept of the “Who is R?” campaign is based on buzz marketing techniques. The timeline of the campaign contains 3 main phases: The “ Teasing ” phase raises interest of the audience by online and offline means The “ Reveal ” phase presents the product to the already raised wave of interested audience The “ Boost ” phase is popularizing the campaign itself and informs about the project PHASES Time>>>

5. Creating the imaginary person “R” TEASING AND REVEAL PHASE WHO is he? R is a photographer, who loves to travel. He is young, intriguing, in love… WHAT does he do? He meets people, makes friends, travels, he takes pictures, he loves, he writes his own blog and does some other thing to express his personality. HOW? (communication tools) A blog was created. An acto r (photographer) was roaming in the city meeting people and giving a business card with his initial “R” and the domain name of the blog “whoisr.bg”. Ice hearts were spread around the streets in Sofia. And pictures were posted on the blog. R had his profile in social networks and commented on blogs and websites to express his opinion. Posters were distributed around the city.

6. OFFLINE/ONLINE COMMUNICATION The communication methods used in the campaign aim generating “Word of mouth”. Both online and offline activities are not conventional advertising methods, therefore provoke interest. A blog is used as an “end point” of the campaign. It is the platform where the people could learn about the whole story.

7. THE ACTOR The actor was introducing himself as “R” for 10 days. His real name is N B, he is 25 years old, professional photographer. He has met around 80-100 people , male and female, aged 20-35. He has discussed with them the “secret project” he is involved in, without giving much detail. The actual project was the project in his role. He’s been talking about photography, travelling and mobile gadgets. He’s been using LG KC910 Renoir . People were interested in the phone and the actor has shown them the functionalities it has. He has been in more than 20 locations (in most of them at least twice). OFFLINE

8. THE ACTOR/locations OFFLINE

9. ICE HEARTS 300 Ice hearts were spread around the city in 5 days, in the most crowded areas. The heart made of ice is a symbol of R’s love and sensibility . The acts of placing the ice figures was drawing walkers’ attention. A group of three people, wearing LG t-shirts were parking a minibus in key locations in Sofia, placing the frozen figures and taking pictures of the “happening”. Their mysterious actions did not only draw traffic to the website, but also emerged to a “urban legend and did provoke “Word of Mouth”. Labels “Who Is R?” with the logo of LG were attached to the hearts. OFFLINE

10. ICE HEARTS/Locations The locations were selected according to the target group. OFFLINE

11. POSTERS 2,000 posters were posted In 3 days around Sofia. OFFLINE

12. ONLINE A team of four people was playing “R” online. The topics in his blog were meticulously selected in order to fit the overall image of “R”. The postings contained variety of features of R, that depicted functionalities of the phone (camera, touch screen, GPS, Dolby mobile, jogging buddy). R had a blog roll of 21 of the most influential bloggers in Bulgaria, they were selected according to the targeted audience. He was commenting on more than 50 other blogs in order to “make friends”. R had a profile in the radio/music social network Last.fm , where he was able to express his taste and opinion.

13. THE BLOG 23 posts 4 categories 32 tags 90 comments 89 approved (16.01.2009) Teasing phase (24 Nov – 10 Dec): 5,220 visits 9,043 pageviews 4,408 absolute unique visitors Reveal phase (10 Dec – 15 Jan 2009) 2,210 visits 4,385 pageviews 1,606 abslute unique visitors ONLINE

14. Profile in Last.fm (radio/social network) 11 friends 6 groups 1 review of a concert 570 plays since 28 Nov 2008 30 Loved Tracks 11 shouts WhoisR’s Library (246 artists) ONLINE

15. Posts in Svejo.net Svejo.net is a popular Bulgarian website with user generated content. Logged users post interesting links to other websites. We have posted 3 articles. The most visited/interesting articles are selected in a special header section. One of the “R” articles was presented there. ONLINE

16. The story of R was sent in newsletter to all the registered users of svejo.net. ONLINE

17. ONLINE Gbg.bg gbg.bg is one of the most popular online media in. The “selected” section from svejo.net is being posted as RSS feeds on gbg.bg.

18. ONLINE POSTINGS in other blogs The mysterious R provoked publications in other popular blogs.Bloggers were trying to guess who R was and did analyze the happening . sveja-idea.com sveja-idea.com (Fresh idea) is a blog for marketing, management and business by Margarit Misirdjieva. The subject of the posting is “Who is R? – the answer” The campaign is described as “new and interesting for Bulgaria type for advertising”. The posting continues with: “ Congratulations LG! Successful, unostentatious and exceptionally creative campaign!”

19. theplamen.blogspot.com theplamen.blogspot.com is a personal blog of “The Plamen”. The subject of the posting is “Various 46”. It contains different things that have impressed the author. There is a picture of the hearts and text: “ You might have seen them yesterday in the morning – groups of three ice hearts in different locations in Sofia, with flyers attached. Good idea. The flyers are labeled “Who is R?”, but the surprise alas, is spoiled by the logo of LG.”

20. blog.m3college.com blog.m3college.com is the blog of an education center for marketing, PR and business communications. The author is Elitza Gancheva. The subject of the posting is “A campaign that deserves attention”. The author describes the ice hearts that she saw in “locations typical for Sofia” as “beautiful” and “bringing good mood”. The posting continues with: “ For me it was very pleasant and impressive! Congratulations!’

21. ONLINE WHO IS R in the blogosphere “ Who is R” by LG was depicted as “the best advertising campaign of the year” by one of the bloggers, feeding the most read blogosphere of Bulgaria.

22. TOTAL REACH OF THE CAMPAIGN: av. 8000 people were directly engaged with “Who is R?” through the blog, actors, ice hearts and online activities. “ Who is R” generated enormous “Word of Mouth” effect.