If you watched last night’s game, I hope you had a chance to see our spot launching our new Buy Back Program. It was our first time advertising in the Super Bowl and we had a blast making the spot with Justin Bieber and Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne. We only bought this spot because we had big news that warranted the biggest media stage in the US – that’s how much of a game-changer we think the Buy Back Program could be for Best Buy and our customers.
We started this work nearly a year ago, beginning with a simple but powerful insight: consumers are reluctant to buy technology they fear will soon be obsolete. We think the Buy Back Program will help customers embrace new technology no matter how fast it changes. It’s pretty simple: customers purchase the Buy Back Program with their mobile phone, laptop, netbook, tablet or TV, and when they want to upgrade, we’ll buy back their product back for up to 50% of the original price.
Three big benefits make this program stand out in the marketplace: (1) Customers will always have us as a trusted buyer when they’re ready for the next new thing. (2) They’ll know upfront what their product is worth with our transparent Buy Back schedule, without having to guess or haggle about the price. (3) We’ll buy it back instantly and conveniently at any of our stores – without the hassle of finding someone online then arranging for payment and delivery. To fully lay out these benefits, we’ve also produced a two-minute animated video complementing the Super Bowl spot that explains the program in an entertaining but simple way,
Over the coming weeks, you’ll see us make the case for the Buy Back Program across paid, owned, social and earned media. We think we’ve developed the new muscles needed to integrate our message across these channels to reach consumers in unique and compelling ways. First, we activated our PR engine in the lead up to the Super Bowl in a way like never before, and they were able to generate 655 million impressions through 678 media placements. Next, we’ll be featuring the Buy Back Program on many of the biggest audience stages, sustaining its momentum through the initial launch. We’ll then attract and engage consumers who want to learn more by telling a complete story via print, digital and direct e-mail vehicles. Finally, and most importantly, you’ll see us leverage our best customers to champion the program and become advocates for it in social media.
For the launch campaign, we knew we needed to make a compelling statement. So we’ve jumpstarted things with an exciting offer: through February 12th, the Buy Back Program is free when you buy a mobile phone, laptop, tablet or TV (through February 26th for mobile phones). Pairing this promotion with a great value proposition should be a powerful reason to shop Best Buy in the coming weeks.
You can see our initial Super Bowl ad and the Director’s Cut, which is the cornerstone of the campaign, here. We’ll also showcase new twists on this spot over the next few weeks. And, for the first time, we’ll experiment using “crowdsourced” selections from almost 100 hours of footage for the spot to create a “trilogy” of landmark ads.
Our integrated campaign also includes national, full-page ad in all major dailies; significant online display advertising weight during February; customized direct e-mail for our most loyal customers; and, a significant presence on the global home page of bestbuy.com.
Strong new program and great introductory offer (free), not sure the :30 spot did it justice as a standalone…which is why you built the comprehensive integrated campaign to really bring it to life
Really looking forward to seeing how the crowdsourced experiment works out, sounds pretty cool.
BTW – love the :60 Director’s cut.
Mr. Judge,
I am a very loyal Best Buy customer. The new buy-back program is brilliant. Great way to differentiate yourself from discounters and online-only competitors. It is too bad that the message was lost in your Super Bowl spot. You don’t need the distraction of celebrities–especially polarizing celebs–when you have a compelling point of difference. Good luck in the future.
Joe Sciara
The Super Bowl commercial was yet another failed attempt by our people that handle ad campaigns. Kenneth the elf’s; the worst radio spots I’ve heard; and now this. People look to the Super Bowl commercials to be wow’d, shocked, and put into fits of laughter. We offered a cheap pop shot at a rough juxtapose for an easy chuckle. It wasn’t a memorable spot. And while a lot of people said it was in their top 5 or top 10, all the ads this year were sorely lacking.
In my opinion the extended cut is WAY better than the Super Bowl 30 second commercial. The extended cut actually shows more about what the Buy Back Programs is.
The cartoon that explains the program is spot-on. Nice work!
I like the buy back program. I do have a question and this could be a another blog post. With buying back all this technology how integrated is the recycling of all this tech?
Knowing Best Buy and great people you have working with you I am sure it is, but it would be interesting how and what it took to hook these people, process, technology, communities together.
Glad to see you back!