Sign up for afaqs! Newsletters
MentosFriendsline.com asks you to share your troubles
Perfetti has launched a new website called MentosFriendsline.com where people can express themselves
After creating a buzz in the online advertising industry for MentosHelpline.com, Perfetti Van Melle has rolled out a new website, MentosFriendsline.com. The micro site will work as a listening post for people to share and discuss their thoughts with others by posting pictures, videos, text messages and blogs. The site describes itself as a place for people “who can see the humour when others see heartburn” and for people “who can get wacky when others get worked up”.
Namita Gupta, group product manager, Perfetti Van Melle, says MentosFriendsline “is a platform where people can write about what is of concern to them. We wanted to take MentosHelpline to the next level. We also wanted to generate more traffic to the MentosHelpline site through Friendsline.”
Perfetti's MentosFriendsline |
The MentosFriendsline site has been designed by OgilvyOne Worldwide, who also designed the MentosHelpline site, which was launched in March. MentosHelpline.com is a spoof call centre that offers humorous video responses to the problems of customers. The site has received more than 100,000 visits so far (See case study).
Elaborating on the creative brief for MentosFriendsline, Navin Kansal, creative director, digital, OgilvyOne Worldwide, says, “We had to find ways to increase stickiness to the MentosHelpline and take its success further. Mentos falls into the impulse category and the audience for Mentos is definitely online and the best way to engage them with the brand is by giving them a platform to express themselves and create content.”
Kansal says the site has had about 11,000 visits so far, and referrals are driving traffic to the MentosHelpline site, too.
Perfetti is running banner campaigns to promote the site on various sites such as Yahoo!, Cricinfo, Rediff, Zapak and the Google Network (See campaign). Perfetti is promoting MentosFriendsline only on the Internet, and does not have plans to promote it on any other medium, says Gupta. According to Gupta, Perfetti has spent about Rs 10 lakh on the designing of the site and its online promotion. She adds that the company expects 30,000 visits to MentosFriendsline within a month.