Over the past three years, Worten, a discount consumer electronics brand in Spain, has shuttered all its stores to focus on ecommerce.
But as a small challenger brand that doesn’t even sit within the top 10 brands in its category, it needed to find a way to stand out on Black Friday in 2023.
Working with Madrid-based agencies PS21 and MeMe, Worten devised a plan to create a viral moment. The brand approached controversial influencer Amadeo Lladós, a Madrid native who went viral last year for videos in which he brags about his success, defined by three pillars: money, cars and women.
Lladós has drawn criticism for mocking people who have a ‘paunch’ and who earn €1,000 ($1,087) a month, insulting anyone with an average job. His tirades against the poor – and anyone who might seek discounts – go against Worten’s values and potential customers, so it just needed a way to turn those against him in their favour.
The brand presented the influencer with a contract giving him complete freedom: Lladós could share his honest thoughts about Worten’s Black Friday discounts and its customers, and Worten would be free to use the footage however it wanted, to develop more material for the campaign.
Sure enough, Lladós posted about the partnership, criticising Worten and anyone who needs discounts, and bragging about his mansion and luxury cars. Within 24 hours, after the post had caught people’s attention, Worten replied with a new version of Lladós’ video, edited to become a sales pitch promoting Worten’s products and discounts.
Worten used Lladós’ image in all of its Black Friday communications, such as giveaways, memes and product posts. With a small budget, Worten created the most talked about campaign – The Unfluencer Deal – of Black Friday.
