Age-o-Matic: Viral Campaign Allows People to See How They Will Look in the Year 2057 -- Or If They Stay in a Bad Job
WHO:
* CareerBuilder.com
* Cramer-Krasselt: Design and art elements
* Oddcast: Web design and technology
WHAT:
When we were thinking about how to engage people online, giving them a chance to play with the brand seemed like the right thing to do. Like Monk-e-mail before it, Age-o-Matic does just that. It supports the strategy of putting CareerBuilder in the center of the emotional driver of the category -- job dissatisfaction. It playfully lets you see how job dissatisfaction prematurely ages people.
WHEN:
Age-o-Matic launched January 18, 2007.
WHERE:
www.CareerBuilder.com/age-o-matic
HOW:
Age-o-Matic lets you upload a photo of yourself (or whomever). You then answer questions highlighting how much your job sucks. Based on your answers, a scientific algorithm (not really) ages the picture you uploaded. It's what you'll look like if you stay in your soul-sucking job.
Then you can make this old version of you say whatever you want -- and email it. Age-o-Matic works because it's personalized. It also takes one of our most common activities, email, and makes it feel new and surprising again.
Outside the cost of creating Age-o-Matic, we've spent nothing to promote it. All we did was put it up on a few CareerBuilder sites and start sending. From there, it took off -- online and otherwise. Age-o-Matic garnered nearly 50 million media impressions across major television, print and online outlets in one month, without a single dollar being spent. It was featured on over 40 news broadcasts and on national programs including CNN and E!. Articles appeared in national publications, including USA Today (twice), AdWeek, and Advertising Age. Users showed up too. To date, there have been nearly 2 million unique visitors and each visitor has been spending an average of over 4 minutes with Age-o-Matic.
Credit Information
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Client: CareerBuilder.com
Agency: Cramer-Krasselt
Budget: Development/Production = $200,000; Marketing = $0
Date of Campaign: January 18, 2007
Case Study URL: www.CareerBuilder.com/age-o-matic
