Sold for 1.5 Million - Wanted Returns: "Had No Control"

Jacob Bergström, CEO

"After the decision, anxiety crept in."

It usually revolves around maximizing one's own brand when companies buy advertising space. The e-retailer Pen Store chose to do the opposite. They bought advertising space in the Stockholm subway cars, but let the advertising for their own store be absent and instead handed over the content entirely to their customers. For 149 krona, participants received a kit with materials to create their own original works to fill the cars with. A move that resulted in 10,000 packages sold and a revenue of 1.5 million krona, long before the campaign even reached the public eye.

During the first quarter of the year, the online store launched an initiative offering the public to take over the space they had booked in public transport. The setup allowed individuals to purchase a package for 149 Swedish krona. The box contained eight pre-defined pens and a blank poster. The 10,000 papers that left the warehouse were then to be filled with customers' own designs and then returned.

This resulted in a sold-out campaign where the warehouse was completely emptied. With ten thousand boxes sold, a direct revenue of 1.5 million Swedish krona was generated before the exhibition had even begun.

A total of 4,300 completed posters were returned to the e-retailer. Among these, twenty winners will be selected, with the first-place winner being awarded art supplies worth 50,000 Swedish krona.

We were curious about what happens when you relinquish control. When you don't optimize for messaging or conversion, but for participation. It turned out that the engagement was stronger than anything we could have produced ourselves, says Madeleine Stern, Marketing Manager at Pen Store.

Uncertain Wait for Returns

Booking media space and then handing over the entire production to outsiders is an unusual method compared to how the industry typically works with marketing. Without insight into what would be drawn on the sheets, there was a moment of nervousness internally before the material landed back at the company.

We went back and forth many times before we decided to go ahead. And even after the decision, anxiety crept in. We had no control over either the content or the outcome, and didn't even know if anyone would want to participate. Handing over such an exposed medium to others requires you to really let go.

From April 13th, customers' submitted original works will be displayed on the trains for two weeks, as well as shown in a digital art exhibition. Parallel to the physical and digital exposure, participants have independently published thousands of posts from their processes on various social media platforms.

It's exciting to test how far you can stretch a traditional advertising medium, says Madeleine Stern.

Editorial Staff