2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

STAEDTLER has long been a vital companion to artists, helping bring creative visions to life. But when the brand set out to unveil a groundbreaking lineup of IRL artist tools, digital alternatives like Midjourney were captivating (both positively and negatively) the creative world. How could STAEDTLER make their pens – and their reason for being – feel relevant?

Canada was serving as the test market for launching the new pigment Arts pens, so the brand had to show they could drive both interest and sales.

For business, the brand needed to show stakeholders (retailers and global leadership) they could move product to justify keeping it in production and on shelves. At minimum, the brand aimed to hit 52% sell-through rate within the first 8 weeks to prove sales velocity potential, based on industry benchmarks.

The campaign needed to resonate with those who value a quality artist’s tool. These aren’t average pens or markers for aimless doodling – their vibrancy and brilliance make them a revelation for those who create, either as a serious passion or profession. However, with mostly ecomm distribution, they couldn’t try it for themselves before buying: proof of efficacy in their communications was critical.

Making AI the brand’s mutual enemy became their biggest opportunity. Increasingly, Creatives specializing in physical media are feeling that their livelihoods are threatened by it. While historically they were the companion of these artists, they would now also become their advocate-- a protector of their vision far beyond what AI is capable of today.

Technological advancements in AI were meant to make creativity more accessible, but instead AI is diminishing the creative output for humanity.

Show that AI could never measure up to the brilliance of human artists.

Leveraging the cultural drama around AI provided the jumping oZ point to break through and connect with their niche audience. Across communications, STAEDTLER made AI the punchline and demonstrated that there was still value in art created by human hands – especially when armed with the right physical tools.

Social media is flooded with people attempting to replicate different challenges, tricks and twists they see. For the brand’s own man vs machine idea, they knew they needed to create one powerful example, and let others try their own hand at the challenge.

The brand partnered with artist and influencer Leah Probst to create the ultimate artist showdown of human creativity vs artificial intelligence. They gave her and AI (Midjourney) the same prompt. The prompt– two people holding hands (something they knew AI struggled with) – was intentionally vague, allowing space for each opponent to bring their own personal expression to the task.

Viewers watched as the artist built a beautiful work of art using the pens. The piece depicted two hands embracing one another in a way that wordlessly told a story of deep connection and intimacy. The beautiful, vibrant colours leapt on the canvas conveying a warmth and passion that could never be exactly replicated. The AI creation was in every way its opposite – cold, emotionless, and void of any understanding of human complexity (not to mention the creepy, twisted extra fingers it injected into the piece).

The brand pushed their Artist vs AI feature across YouTube, supported by Meta and Pinterest – channels where both artists and art enthusiasts turn to soak up visual brilliance and stories.

Influencers followed up with content through a combination of Instagram and TikTok. Once the brand’s target saw the brilliance, they retargeted with harder conversion-driving social that spoke to the pens’ unique features and led to ecommerce.

The campaign surpassed benchmarked impressions by 145% and earned nearly 9 million views and was even featured in some of the artist community’s favourite international publications like Hi-Fructose.

Artists from around the world took on the same prompt, adding their own unique interpretations to the ask.

Artists (and art fans as a whole) jumped into comment sections to lift up the brand’s message and stand with human artists. Showing global relevance among the niche artist audience, the brand got global pickup
almost immediately.

The campaign was picked up across 16 markets in 4 continents for STAEDTLER’S global rollout of its new pigment Arts pens.

And did the pens sell? Absolutely. The core 12 pack sold out... and then sold through 42% of the backorder (that’s a 142% sell-through rate, nearly triple their target!).

Most importantly, STAEDTLER proved they understood the irreplaceable value of human artists in a big way.

Credits

Agency: DonerNorth
Chief Creative Officer: Lance Martin
Creative Directors: Daniel Bennett & Jill Mack
Art Director: Daniel Bennett
Copywriter: Jill Mack
Integrated Producer: Will Bodak
Chief Strategy Officer: Adrianne Gaffney Wotherspoon
Strategic Planning Director: Maria Jurewicz
President: Catherine Marcolin
VP, Managing Director Account Service: Raluca Kostovski
Account Supervisor: Kathryn Lapointe
Media Director: Rob Middleton
Digital Media Manager: Erfan Pirhooshiar
Production Company: Campsite Studios
Executive Producer: Katie Christensen
Director: Jesse Hunt
Line Producer: Vince Hattrup
Director of Photography: Nik Pilecki
Post Production: Campsite Studio & School Editing
Editor: Genevieve Latour
Post Producer: Jesse Hunt
Transfer/Colourist: Nik Pilecki
Post F/X: Fort York
F/X Producer: Pallavi Joshi-Firby
Audio Production: Eggplant Music & Sound
Audio Producer: Laura Mettett
Voice Director: Jamie Pennock