The Challenge
After Shock™ has been the leading shooter drink since its introduction back in 1997. Its distinctive flavour and hot/cool sensation when drunk has made it a hit with 18-28 year old drinkers. The success of the product reinvented the shooter market in the UK.

With increasing competition in this space, Jim Beam Brands faced a difficult question. How do you attract the attention of trendy youths and get them to buy After Shock™.

The Solution
After a detailed planning exercise, the answer DA Group proposed was a viral e-marketing campaign based around a character that the target market could relate to.

The chosen solution was ShockMail, a viral marketing campaign fronted by motor mouth host Eduardo J. Pussai. Hosted at www.shockingtimes.com Eduardo is an interesting character. Keen to help people organise their nights out or just stay in touch with their friends, Eduardo is happy to deliver your message but he does have a tendency to do it in his own inimitable style…

Eduardo is actually the face of a sophisticated text-to-video system. One user inputs their message and a link is sent to the recipient. When that person clicks on the link they receive their ShockMail straight from the mouth of Eduardo. Users can select particular facial expressions to really emphasise the message.

Eduardo was developed not just as an avatar, but an independent personality who shared the core values of the brand and could communicate them to a youth audience. Developing Eduardo as a personality was a careful process though.

The main draw for users would be Eduardo’s outlandish appearance and habit of finishing sentences with his own ‘special’ phrases such as “the name’s Pussai. Eduardo J. Pussai, licence to chill.” Despite being complete fiction, the character still had to be someone people could identify with. With that in mind Eduardo was created from a number of different stereotypes. There is no one influence although parts of his genetic makeup are instantly recognisable.

Results
Eduardo has proved an instant hit with the target audience. Although it is still early days the initial feedback has been very good.

The After Shock™ promotion with Eduardo has been a success. DA Group’s expertise in brand planning, character development, technological development and web development has created a unique character which fulfils the objectives set out in the design brief.

We are now working with Jim Beam Brand’s other agencies to see how the strong personality of Eduardo can be incorporated into all of their marketing activities.