Guru.sol.no was a Norwegian web service similar to Yahoo answers, where users can post questions, answer people’s questions and get answers. With a September launch, the challenge was to encourage people to use the service and obtain 100,000 unique visitors by the end of 2008 on a limited budget of €140,000.
Guru.sol.no created situations on street level that would engage the consumer and encourage them to visit the site to find out the answer. Fifteen different ambient scenarios were executed in four main cities in Norway during a two week period. Some 1000 posters were placed next to ‘missing cat’ posters, along with the question “What is kebab made of?”. A broken grand piano made to look as if it had fallen from the sky and landed in the centre of Oslo on street level with a ‘person’ trapped under it, complete with moving limbs, was accompanied by the question “What is Karma?”. This was supported by a digital campaign involving more than 200 banners on 60 websites including MSN and Facebook as well as more niche websites. The web campaign lasted for 8 weeks and each banner was tailored to its environment. On Facebook the question “can I get fired by checking my Facebook profile while I work?” was posed. On a fitness website they asked: “How does liposuction actually work?”. Answers to the question would be found at guru.sol.no.
The new approach of using niche websites saw click-throughs reach 1.2%, while the benchmark in Norway is 0.15%. The site achieved 100,000 unique visitors in the first week and maintained 100,000 unique visitors weekly, 3 months after launch, all within budget.