Launching Best Buy's Insignia 4GB Bluetooth MP3 Player

Situation:

Best Buy, a Fortune 100 growth company, launched its Insignia 4-Gigabyte Bluetooth-Enabled MP3 Player, the first of its kind in the marketplace, exclusively on BestBuy.com. Best Buy needed to publicize the product via online avenues to drive traffic to their Web site for product purchase.

Challenges:

- Distinguish the Insignia Player from the crowded MP3 marketplace, including iPod.
- Execute campaign with no additional advertising or traditional public relations support.
- Promote Insignia Player sold only at BestBuy.com.

Target Audience:

Affluent male/female suburbanites and urban trendsetters, 25- to 45-years-old.

Strategy:

Allotted 30 players to distribute to online outlets. With limited product, developed strategic list of top influential sites in several niche categories to seed product, including music aficionados, technology and parenting sites.

Results:

- Secured 29 online placements; 20 from direct outreach and nine from viral effect of other sites linking back to the original posts.
- Images, brand messaging and positive product reviews appeared on sites such as CNet.com, Geeksugar.com, Gadgetell.com, TheFinalSprint.com and BusyMom.com.
- Generated more than 3.5 million online impressions.
- Placements produced six of ten first page links in Google search for "Insignia MP3 player."
- Inventory of nearly 500 units of Insignia Players at BestBuy.com were sold-out predominantly from online outreach efforts.
- CrunchGear.com feature led to a placement in The New York Times. CrunchGear's editor also contributes to Times.
- "Tiny MP3 players are a dime a dozen nowadays -- but how many have Bluetooth? The Insignia 4-Gigabyte Player can transmit stereo MP3 music and video soundtracks to a pair of headphones over a wireless Bluetooth connection." - NYT
- The Times article drove interest in the Insignia Player to print media across the country and garnered coverage in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cox News Service, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News and WIRED.

Credit Information
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Client: Best Buy
Agency: Manning, Selvage & Lee Digital
Budget: $9,000
Date of Campaign: March - April 2007