Jet.com spent a day making wacky real-time videos based on its customers’ shopping carts
Sometimes, even saving $2 on that razor pack or $5 on that kitty litter can be a cause for celebration. And that is why Jet — the new ecommerce startup taking on Amazon — spent the day yesterday rolling out goofy, real-time videos based on its customers’ shopping-cart contents as a part of its #Jetspree campaign.
The brand worked with agency SS+K and director Tom Scharpling, a producer on USA Network’s crime-comedy show “Monk,” comedy writer Steve Young, an improv troupe and a barbershop quartet to bring 50 shopping carts to life. It also released its maiden TV spot recently, made by R/GA.
In this video, for example, a tiny talking pig celebrates “Brad” for purchasing a new coffee maker.
Here, the barbershop quartet salutes a customer buying a Twin Peaks DVD Collection.
The videos saw a very fast turnaround, with each video being conceptualized, produced, shot and edited in a matter of a few minutes to an hour. Fifty videos from nearly 400 submissions were rolled out on Jet’s YouTube channel and also sent via email to the shopper to share. Ten of these will also be pushed out through paid media across Jet’s YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Instagram pages.
No purchase was too mundane: Here, Jet celebrates the purchase of a shampoo bottle by writing a haiku around it.
“While the core of what Jet offers is a smarter way to shop and save, one of the things we want to achieve is break down that wall between us and our customers,” said Sumaiya Balbale, vp of marketing at Jet. “We still want to build that relationship with our customers and humanize e-commerce.”
Jet was launched in July by ecommerce veteran Marc Lore, previously the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Quidsi, the parent company of Diapers.com and Soap.com. It is an online marketplace that aims to undercut Amazon and other e-retailers by offering discounted products to customers in exchange for a $50 annual membership fee.
The day-long endeavor was a whirlwind affair, with SS+K president and partner Bradley Kay calling it “a bit of an organized chaos.” Creative director Armando Flores called it “one of those pitches you never thought would get approved by a client but does,” saying it was a great experience because it was streamlined by a dedicated team of writers, producers and editors.
“We really wanted to take an experience as conventional as shopping, and turn it around its head,” Kay said. “We hope that the unexpected surprise of having a video created for you after doing something as banal as shopping will help connect with customers.”
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