ROOMBA CAMPAIGN

// A DIGITAL AND VISUAL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

For this project, I was asked to create a campaign for Roomba that integrated both a digital and traditional component. This campaign was a challenge because, unlike the other projects I completed, this one involved a digital element.

According to the brief, the campaign's big idea was, "Roomba is the best kind of roommate, guaranteed to be better than your last." Any ideas I came up with seemed like the obvious answers: pets riding around on the vacuum, roommate matching quiz that would find you the best Roomba product to fit your needs, etc.

I realized, however, that the best way to advertise this product to the target market, 18-24-year-olds that are new to urban living, was to make them feel less like a little fish in a big pond. Young professionals that move to a new city out of college to start a new job are full of excitement, but they can still feel a little lonely. It can be hard for them to stay motivated to clean after a long day at the office when they aren't expecting any guests.

Taking all of that into consideration, for my digital component, I designed the Roombie app. Roombie is an artificial intelligence that digitally emulates the ideal roommate while still maintaining a clean space for you to come home to. It cleans, it's quiet, and most importantly, it offers an emotional support system.

The concept behind Roombie is that the user can open the app and start a chat with their robot vacuum. This creates an emotional bond with their "roommate" and builds customer loyalty to the iRobot brand. Roombie is artificially intelligent, so it's constantly learning from and remembering past conversations.

The second part of this campaign required me to design an advertisement that targeted potential Roombie users. I decided the tone of voice for the visual ad should be bright, fun and a little off-the-wall, since the target market is 18-to-24-year-olds. I designed an ad that subtly plays on the text messaging component of Roombie while still focusing on the product's main function as a robot vacuum.

This ad works because it has a playful tone and it appeals to the sense of humor of the target audience. Users will be drawn in because of the bright colors and will be curious to see what product is being advertised. This ad quickly communicates the key elements of the digital component, so viewers will not get bored or confused when reading the ad.