CASE STUDY: 3M helps Korean students ‘stick’ their exams

Background

Korea is famous for its emphasis on education, with students facing immense pressure to pass university entrance exams. In Korean, the verb ‘to stick’ also means ‘to pass’. This provided the inspiration for 3M to launch a student-focused campaign for its Extra Sticky Post-it Notes.

Aim

While sticky notes are a regular feature of many workspaces, 3M wanted to refresh its brand among the young generation in Korea. Students are known to use sticky notes on a daily basis as a study aid. The aim was to ensure that they chose 3M over other products.

Execution

The brand worked with Cheil Worldwide to develop a social campaign to attract active involvement from students. Through social networks, students were invited to write their personal wishes relating to their exams on the Post-It notes before sticking them on a train bound for Chuncheon from Seoul.

When the train pulled into its destination station, all Post-It notes remained, reinforcing the added strength of the product and giving hope to the students wishing for success in their exams.

Results

A total of 20,000 students wrote their wishes and fixed them to the ‘sticky train’. Sales for the Extra Sticky Post-It Notes increased by 120 per cent following the campaign launch.

Credits:

Project ‘Sticky train’
Client 3M
Agency Cheil Worldwide
Creative director Joungrack Lee
Copywriter Songha Lee
Art director Seongwook Han
Photographer Kihong Kim
Producer Open Eye (Gunwoong Choi, Iljin Ko, Jihyun Im)
Art buyer Salad (Ansub Park)