With the new year you traditionally get new year’s resolution. But in Holland many people don’t think that’s quite enough to make a positive start to the year, so we have created our own little tradition. Since 1960 large groups of Dutch people have flocked to the beaches on January 1st to have a refreshing dip into the ice cold water. We call it De Nieuw Jaar’s Duik, or the New Year’s Dip.
You may have noticed that almost everone in that picture wears the same orange hat. Orange is obviously Holland’s national colour, but it is also the colour of the main sponsor of this event – Unox.
Steeped in Tradition
Unox has been around since 1937 in Holland and is widely associated with the winter period. Most traditionally produced Dutch dishes, such as ‘erwtensoep‘ and ‘boerenkool met worst‘ are almost always prepared with Unox products. In the Netherlands Unox is to winter what Google is to search.
The funny thing is that Unox is now so intrinsically linked with this event people even bring their own Unox hats just to make sure they feel they are part of the event. Unox is not just a brand, it’s part of our cultural heritage.
Marriage Made in Heaven
So the sponsorship of The New Year’s Dip by Unox makes perfect sense.
From a branding point of view the benefits are obvious: it’s a tie in with a hugely popular tradition and it provides Unox with an inobtrusive way connect people and their brand and products. Everyone coming back out of the water is greeted by a nice and warm cup of green, guey Unox soup (trust me, Dutchies love it!). And the event is widely reported, including on national news shows.
Furthermore, it’s a memorable experience for thousands of people each year. As a brand it is becoming harder and harder to set yourself apart, which is why we believe that creating a genuine brand experience is hugely important to earn the attention. With this event Unox has found a way that they not only earn attention, but they have strengthened their link with the cold, dark months of the year and found a way into people’s hearts….and stomaches!
Dipping Toes Into Digital
It is pretty obvious I am a big fan of Unox as a brand, but also as a sponsor of this event. What I like even more is that they have taken this event from the beaches of Scheveningen to the megabytes of the internet. There is a campaign website where you can read more about the event, find event related content and images of everyone that had their picture taken on location. There is also a fan page on Dutch social networking site Hyves and the ability to pimp your own profile.
Soup It Up
However, there are a few points of improvement – whilst they have got the offline event down to a tee, there are ways in which the digital experience can be improved even further. Currently the website lacks interactivity, it provides content and information, but no way for people to provide feedback, add their own content and share their stories.
Adding social elements could help people connect with each other after, or even at the event. And there must be a huge amount of content, such as images, videos and blog posts that are produced related to this event which are currently hidden away on personal profiles and in e-mails. This could be a great way for the brand to connect with the participans on an even deeper level.
All in all this is a great event and recurring campaign and any brand that makes dark, cold winter nights like this one just that little bit more bareable gets a big two thumbs up from me!
