ASML: THE SMALLEST AD
A Guinness World Record breaking awareness campaign.
First things first
Recruiting outstanding technical talent is a must when you’re one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chip-making machines. But this day and age, reaching that young bright minded audience is not just about being the biggest. It requires a smart and creative approach.
That’s when we created the world’s smallest advertisement. Small enough for a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Idea
The 360 degrees awareness campaign was launched at a career event at the RWTH University in Aachen (Germany) where students could see the smallest ad in the world through a microscope and spot a secret hashtag: #smallest_ad.
We encouraged the students to share a photo of the event with said hashtag. The most creative participation was rewarded by ASML with tuition fees for a year of free studying.
Results
Our campaign reached 1,1 million people around the globe, and 55% of ar target audience. The campaign made it into countless blogs and news platforms, including the New York Times.
Today, more than 7% of the RWTH students spontaneously names ASML as a tech giant, and ASML made it into the top 15 companies that RWTH students consider as their future employer.
My role: Concept, Art Direction, Copy
Client: ASML
Agency: Merkle (Your Social)
Production partner: Portretnet