Member Article

Vaping Brand Gives Away 10,000 E-Cigs

VAPING BRAND GIVES AWAY 10,000 E-CIGs IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS, AS NEW TV AD GENERATES RECORD RESPONSE

Record number hit VIP website, 4,000 per second

Not yet 24 hours after a new UK-wide marketing promotion for E-cigarette brand VIP kicked off and the firm has given away 10,000 vaping starter kits. An unprecedented 4,000 hits per second were recorded on the brand’s website as visitors made attempts to take advantage of The Great VIP Giveaway at www.vipelectroniccigarette.co.uk.

The first TV advert for The Great VIP Giveaway aired on ITV1 at 9.15pm last night [Wednesday 9 December 2015] shortly after the watershed, and subsequent adverts ran until 11pm. Viewers were given a special code and the first 10,000 new customers to redeem the code on VIP’s website received a free vaping kit, worth £29.99 each.

The campaign has been created by North West-based integrated brand communications agency 438 Marketing (www.438marketing.com). It includes primetime TV, radio, press and digital - to promote the UK’s biggest ever giveaway in the e-cig market – and 438 Marketing has been instrumental in producing all elements of the campaign, from strategy, creative, production and media booking, through to consultancy on the complex and sensitive issues that surround this product category.

Following the success of previous national TV campaigns, 438 Marketing had anticipated high demand for the giveaway, advising the tobacco-free E-cigarette brand to invest in its web infrastructure and trebling its customer handling capability. However no one could foresee the exceptional volumes of traffic, which experts believe is one of the highest number of hits per second recorded. As a result the website was put under a tremendous amount of pressure, with some customers experiencing a slow down in the service and others unable to get onto the site altogether.

As a thank you to customers for their patience and, for those who were unable to take advantage of the giveaway, VIP is now offering 50% off starter kits purchased on the website, until 15 December 2015.

Miguel Corral, co-founder of VIP, said: “The success of this campaign is phenomenal and shows more demand for this product than we had even anticipated. Smokers desperately want to give up and that’s why we stepped up with this campaign just in time for the New Year, which is obviously one of the most popular times to try and give up.

“The NHS doesn’t currently offer free vaping kits to those who need them, but it’s widely agreed that they play a major role in helping people to quit smoking. We hope that this campaign will lead smokers on the path to vaping for good.”

Andy Whitmore, 438 Marketing director, said: “We always knew that this integrated multi-media campaign would be a big hitter; concentrating it into a short window in the busy pre-Christmas schedule and spanning TV, radio, press, PR, online, social and in-store activity. It’s hit consumers at exactly the right time – ahead of New Year when thousands of people will vow to give up smoking cigarettes. However, we’re absolutely astonished at the sheer volume of traffic we’ve generated - evidence that with the combination of a great product and outstanding campaign planning you can achieve results that can exceed all expectations.”

438 Marketing has worked with VIP Electronic Cigarettes for more than two years helping the brand to become a market leader within this time.

Figures from public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) showed that, between 2012 and 2014, the number of e-cig users rose from 700,000 to 2.1 million, equating to a three-fold increase.

Meanwhile, Smoking in England has reported that the prevalence of cigarette smoking continues to steadily decline, falling from almost a quarter of adults in 2007 to 18 per cent in 2015 – accounting for approximately 10 million people.

VIP endeavours to be the premier provider of electronic cigarettes and related products in the UK and selected other markets by delivering the highest value to customers and employees. VIP strives to pursue new growth opportunities and continues to improve profitability while remaining a socially responsible and ethical company.

Launched under Must Have Ltd. in 2009, the VIP brand was one of the first e-cigarette divisions to be established in the UK. Extensive research and feedback obtained from cigarette smokers was used to assist in the development of VIP Electronic Cigarette products.

Headquartered in Manchester, VIP has now become one of the largest independent e-cigarette brands in Europe operating via multiple channels consisting of 200+ dedicated outlets throughout UK, Ireland and Spain, retail distribution network and e-commerce.

Website: http://www.vipelectroniccigarette.co.uk/

VIP was taken over in April 2014 by ECIG. Electronic Cigarettes International Group (ECIG), formerly Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corporation.

VIP was the first brand to screen a television advert for e-cigarettes last November, causing outrage among some health campaigners who felt it ‘glamorised’ smoking, despite the advert showing a woman exhaling e-cigarette vapour.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kirsty Hunt .