iRobot - Holiday Creative Campaign

The ask

Develop an integrated campaign to support Roomba and its differentiating digital experiences during the holidays, historically one of the biggest sales seasons of the year.

The challenge

This isn’t going to be like holidays of the past. The virus may flare up again, people may not be traveling to see loved ones, shoppers will be watching their budgets more closely given the financial impacts of the pandemic and thus, competitors will be flooding shopper feeds with promos and sales, making for an even more cluttered and price-driven holiday than usual.

Cultural backdrop

In lockdown, we’ve seen people go above and beyond to make missed celebrations even more special, from decked out living room proms to carside silly string birthday parades.

With the pandemic continuing to keep loved ones apart, the winter holidays will be no different.

Our way in

Get creative - MAKE this year’s holidays extra special

Try the family recipes, make the handcrafted gifts — even if gets messy — iRobot’s robots take cleaning away to let you focus on the fun stuff.

Creative idea

Speaks to the new digital experiences (Clean-By-Object) and nods to the idea that the holidays may be happening in different places and ways this year

ask for Roomba.

Video

We want to capture and tell a human story of this unique season in a unique way that reflects the new realities of the lives we’re all living. We’ll work with a filmmaker to create a film within their own home (perhaps with their own kid) using a handheld camera or iPhone for an authentic, unpolished, truly human feel.

“A new story” (:15 or :30 spot)

[Open on a young girl sprinkling a shaker of sprinkles over some cookies. The lid pops off and they pour out and onto the floor. ]

GIRL: Ask Roomba to clean under the counter.

[We see Roomba cleaning up behind her. Cut to see the girl sitting at a dining room table, some small scraps of paper fall to the floor. She speaks again.]

GIRL: Ask Roomba to clean under the dining room table.

[Cut to the girl placing a few cookies and folded paper into a box, along with a storybook. We see her drop it in the mail.]

[Cut to Christmas Eve night we see the girl sitting cross-legged with a plate of cookies and milk in front of an armchair with an iPad propped up on the chair. On the iPad screen is the girl’s grandma, who takes a bite of her own cookie and begins reading a story from the book.]

SUPER: Wherever the holidays happen, ask for Roomba to help make them happier.

END: iRobot. Goodbye cleaning. Hello clean.

Social

As you learn, we learn.

Story videos will show process-montages of people learning new holiday activities or skills, with iRobot learning about the messes these activities make.

Influencers

#RoombaDelivery

Let’s engage influencers to use Clean-by-Object commands to surprise-deliver gifts to their family members atop Roomba robots. For example, we see a mom say, “Ask Roomba to clean in front of the couch” on Christmas morning, then see her kids excitement as a new puppy comes riding into the living room atop the robot vacuum. We see someone say, “Ask Roomba to clean in front of the kitchen counter” where a woman is washing dishes, then her surprise as she opens a small box atop the robot vacuum to find an engagement ring. We can even have people use the app to command their robots instead of through voice to show how loved ones can surprise and delight each other on Christmas, even from far away.

The simplicity of the interaction and the humor and emotion it will evoke makes it both shareable and repeatable — so if we seed it well with influencers, we could see it snowball into a trend across social.