Students at college and university campuses across Toronto are digging through ball pits to hunt for prizes during Frosh Week, as part of an experiential activation for Kijiji aimed at reaching the elusive millennials.
Four students at a time are encouraged to “take a plunge” into an over-sized inflatable ball pit that’s filled with more than 65,000 multi-coloured balls. They have 30 seconds to find silver balls to win prizes.
Prizes include Bluetooth speakers, Beats by Dre headphones, Nikon and GoPro cameras and Apple TV. Students who don’t find the silver-coloured balls receive promotional items as consolation prizes.
The classified site is running the activations from Sept. 2 to 21 at five Toronto area campuses.
Kijiji usually conducts Canada-wide mass campaigns, but this time opted for a Toronto-focused effort, says Marc-André Hade, manager, strategic marketing at Kijiji.
While Toronto is Kijiji’s largest market in Canada, “it’s still like white space for us,” Hade says. “Toronto is a tough market for marketers. It’s very competitive; there’s lots of noise. So we really wanted to approach the market in a smart way.”
Kijiji hired Environics Research to conduct a “massive” study to “deep dive” into the Toronto market and focus on and identify key segments. One such target was millennials.
“It made a lot of sense,” Hade says. “They’re the customers of tomorrow.” But, “it’s a tough segment to connect with. You really have to be creative and surprise them.”
Research found millennials like to negotiate and hunt a great deal, he says. “Even finding a good deal for them can be a source of pride and empowerment,” and can even play into their need for status.
The activation’s “thrill of the hunt” theme “is a way to showcase you can find pretty much anything on Kijiji,” and the site is easy to use, Hade says.
In addition, Kijiji is hosting a GIF photo booth that lets students choose from four backgrounds — beach, basketball, Canadiana and gamer. Students get photos of themselves in three poses.
The on-campus activations complements a six-week integrated out-of-home and digital campaign for Kijiji that launches Sept. 13 with the tagline “Find What Moves You.” It is also aimed at millennials.
Veritas handles public relations for Kijiji, while Free For All Marketing is running the experiential campaign. CloudRaker does creative and Denneboom manages media planning and buying.
