:: adgruntie :: Mary Woodbridge viral

+ Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett in Zurich Switzerland have recently moved their viral campaign featuring an 85-year old woman who had bought herself a Mammut jacket and suddenly found herself wanting to conquer Mount Everest with her dachshund Daisy, into a cross-media campaign for Mammut.

According to the press release I was sent, the story has been making headlines around the world in newspapers, internet chat rooms, on the radio and on news portals. Some of the stories reported on the "story" are linked to on the website. The first comments on the site date back to December 19, 2005. Mary even joined a forum for climbers where the site was appreciated, once people stopped worrying that she might hurt herself and realized it was a viral. The large warning by Mammut ("Warning: Equipment this good can cause loss of common sense")on the site was also a bit of a give away, although that might be a more recent addition.

Now Mammut is featuring Mary Woodbridge in its current advertising, and she figures in a million new Mammut inserts (in no fewer than six languages!) being distributed with magazines. On the site you can download a PDF of the flyer, which very nicely ties Mary into the layout. The website also has some films to watch, one of which is a behind the scenes.

Directed by Chris Niemeyer and production by Plan B Film, Switzerland, the spots feature Mary Woodbridge played by Sheila Latimer, Daisy played by Mr. Ben, and of course, jacket styling by Andres Lietha. Agency credits include: Peter Brönnimann, Raul Serrat, Sabien Roder, Mathias Stådeli, and Sebahat Derdiyok.

All and all it's a good campaign. It's engaging and totally all about the product. And it's fun. And from the responses on the climbing forum that I saw, it looks like it was well received by the target audience too.