Who would have thought using a little old English lady as part of a viral campaign for an outdoor sporting goods company would work as well as the Mary Woodbridge campaign has for Mammut. Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett in Zurich Switzerland is the agency behind the campaign which started as a viral in December of 2005. The center of the campaign is an 85-year old woman who had bought herself a Mammut jacket and suddenly found herself wanting to conquer Mount Everest with her dachshund Daisy.

The story has been making headlines around the world in newspapers, internet chat rooms, on the radio and on news portals. Some of the stories reported on the "story" are linked to on the website.

Help wanted-type ads were placed in regional papers:

Emails were sent out for sponsorships:

Films were created documenting Mary on her planning:

Directed by Chris Niemeyer and production by Plan B Film, Switzerland, the spots feature Mary Woodbridge played by Sheila Latimer, Daisy played by Mr. Ben, and of course, jacket styling by Andres Lietha. Agency credits include: Peter Brönnimann (CD/CW), Raul Serrat (AD), Sabien Roder, Mathias Stådeli, and Sebahat Derdiyok.

The first comments on the site in the guestbook date back to December 19, 2005. Mary even joined a forum for climbers where the viral was appreciated, once they stopped worrying that she might hurt herself and realized it was, in fact, a viral. The large warning by Mammut ("Warning: Equipment this good can cause loss of common sense") on the site was also a bit of a give away, although that might be a more recent addition.

Mary Woodbridge and her dog Daisy:

The main idea throughout the campaign has been that the Mammut equipment is so good, it makes you do foolish things, like attempt to climb Mt. Everest. It's carried through the campaign with the use of this sticker:

Print ad that follows the theme:

Now Mammut is featuring Mary Woodbridge in its current advertising. She shows up in a million new Mammut inserts (in six languages) being distributed with magazines. On the site you can download a PDF of the brochure, which very nicely weaves Mary throughout the layout and product descriptions.

Here's some images of the brochure:

Overall the campaign seems to have been a success. The target appreciated the humor and we see that there are legs enough on the viral to carry it through other channels. So I guess you can use a little old lady to sell mountaineering equipment to climbers after all!