We looked for an existing story, where Husqvarna’s products could play a part. We found that story on Mars.

In 2012, NASA landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars. A year later they did something that captured the world's attention: NASA programmed Curiosity to sing Happy Birthday... to itself. The internet went nuts. And since Curiosity has limited power, engineers only let that happen once.

In 2022, after nine lonely birthdays, the Curiosity Rover would turn ten. This is where Husqvarna saw a great opportunity to tap into a real-time event and place their products into popular culture. By developing an innovative software update we gave Husqvarna's robotic lawnmower something unique; a voice to sing Happy Birthday to their lonely robot friend on Mars. The solution gave the users a chance to participate in a truly global event - a choir of 100,000 robotic lawnmowers.

On August 5th, Husqvarna is launching a software update giving our robotic lawn mowers a voice to sing Happy Birthday to the loneliest robot in the universe.

Husqvarna, a premium brand in the lawn mower industry, faced the challenge of low brand awareness. To overcome this, we needed to activate people's emotions and imagination in a way that set Husqvarna apart from their competitors. In addition, we needed to demonstrate how advanced their robotic lawn mowers are, to justify the higher price tag.

Objectives:

- Raise awareness of Husqvarna’s robotics division.

- Connect the Husqvarna brand with a new online audience, mainly a tech audience.

- Generate coverage in tech and lifestyle media.

- Increase brand associations with engineering and advanced technology.

The campaign was a huge success, surpassing all expectations. It generated 210 million in earned reach across 26 markets, with the launch video alone being viewed over 8.2 million times on digital channels. This resulted in a significant increase in brand exposure of 1100% and the campaign even trended on Reddit. Additionally, website traffic to Husqvarna.com saw a 300% increase, with visitors spending 250% more time on the site. The campaign received an overwhelmingly positive response on social media, and the "Sing Happy Birthday" feature has since been made a permanent feature in Husqvarna's robotic lawn mowers and the Automower Connect App. Overall, it was a highly successful campaign with impressive results.

This activation leveraged a real-time event to create a completely new audio platform for Husqvarna’s robotic lawn mowers. With the help of an innovative software update we managed to give the mowers a voice by altering their alarm modules, thereby making them sing Happy Birthday to the Mars Curiosity Rover – also known as “the loneliest robot in the universe”.

This was the first time that a brand within the category had engaged in anything outside of pure utility. The campaign, groundbreaking in its category, showcased the emotional potential of the products and triggered a reaction from Husqvarna’s target audience. This emotional reaction led to increased engagement and participation, with people sharing their experiences on social media and with their friends.

The lawn mower industry has previously been centered around utilitarian product features. Husqvarna, a premium brand in the lawn mower industry, needed to demonstrate the technological superiority of their products to account for their premium price strategy. To make this possible, we decided to develop a campaign that used technology to play on human emotions. We tapped into a wildly popular global cultural phenomenon; the love of Mars Curiosity Rover.

In 2012, NASA landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars. A year later NASA engineers did something that captured the world's attention: they programmed Curiosity to use its onboard resonator to sing Happy Birthday... to itself. The internet went nuts. And since Curiosity has limited power, engineers only let that happen once. In 2022, after nine lonely birthdays, the Curiosity Rover would turn ten.