This campaign hacked Apple stores to promote refurbished phones

Earth Day push from BackMarket used AirDrop to promote its services to Apple's prospective customers

Published On
Apr 26, 2022

Editor's Pick

An Earth Day campaign from BackMarket, the French online marketplace for recycled and refurbished devices, targeted Apple Store customers right under the retailer's noses using its own technology.

BackMarket used Apple's AirDrop to send messages to people shopping in Apple stores, telling them that there was a "greener" as well as cheaper way to purchase a new phone—buy a refurbished one instead. The campaign, by Publicis-owned Paris agency Marcel, took place on Earth Day in six different stores across in Paris, Berlin and London and included message such as: "This iPhone 12 comes in pink, blue, black and greener." The messages also directed people to the Back Market website where they could buy the same model. 

"Thanks to the ADEME study [French public agency for ecological transition], we had incredible figures," explained Sebastien Jauffret, associate director at Marcel, in a statement. "But habits die hard, and figures, even as strong as these, can hardly compete with a well-established behavior. Especially when this behavior is maintained every day by brands that make their new items more and more desirable, and the need to enjoy them more and more imperative.We quickly realized that an awareness campaign on these numbers would not be enough. So, we decided to focus our efforts where and when they would get the most attention: the consumer’s buying journey and delivering our message at the very moment they were about to make a new purchase. And to do it at the time when it would have the strongest PR resonance, for Earth Day 2022."

 

Credits

Date
Apr 26, 2022
Client :
Back Market
Agency :
Marcel
Co-Chairmen :
Pascal Nessim
Co-Chairmen :
Charles Georges-Picot
Executive Creative Director :
Gaetan Du Peloux
Executive Creative Director :
Youri Guerassimov
Creative Director :
Clement Sechet
Managing Director :
Benjamin Taieb
Associate Director :
Sebastien Jauffret
Account Director :
Yani Oukid
Copywriting :
Aurel Cablan
Copywriting :
Claudia Illan
Copywriting :
Alexandre Dodille
Copywriting :
Antonin Jacquot
Art Direction :
Hugo Wahledow
Art Direction :
Céleste Nessim
Art Direction :
Vincent Boursaud
Strategy Lead :
Thomas Cleret
Project Manager :
Flavie Parize
Social Media Manager :
Calliste Garrabos
Traffic Creation :
Mélanie Coupey
Traffic Creation :
Laurène Ametowoglo
Edit :
Julien Hannedouche
Motion :
Julien Taillez
Motion :
Vincent Iweins
Marcel Tech :
Christophe Serret
Marcel Tech :
Edouard Danesse
Marcel Tech :
Lotfi Harrabi
Director :
Guillaume Talvas
Production :
Valéry du Peloux
Production :
Sixtine Busetti
Post-Production :
ADF L’ATELIER

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