The Campaign

Virgin Mobile asked us to take the lead creative role on their mid-year ATL brand campaign, to deliver an initiative with big earned media potential. The brief called for a 'social by design' campaign, supported by a significant spend in traditional media. In collaboration with our sister agency, we put forward the idea of using an A-list celebrity's sibling to front the campaign, to deliver the 'fairness' message at the heart of Virgin Mobile's consumer manifesto. We pitched the idea of using Brad Pitt's younger brother Doug, who we secured a week after the idea was approved. A teaser video released in July introduced the world to a family man with an ordinary suburban lifestyle, and asked Australians to show Doug a 'Whole Lot of Like'. The campaign was housed on a dedicated microsite, FairGoBro.com.au, and utilized social sharing functionality including Facebook's Open Graph technology. In late July we revealed Doug had reached true cele-bro-ty status, and that we were bringing the world's newest celebrity to Australia. A Facebook competition went live, giving five Aussies the chance to be part of Doug's entourage. The campaign culminated in a publicity tour in Sydney, where Doug gave 28 interviews to TV, radio and entertainment magazines. We even renamed Virgin Mobile's Pitt St store in Doug's honour. The campaign reached over 30 million people in Australia, giving Virgin Mobile a 7:1 return on their investment, and helping them achieve their best sales quarter ever.

The Brief

Historically, Virgin Mobile has followed an acquisition business model, but for 2012 decided that its business objectives could best be met by a combination of retention as well as acquisition. The business objective was to increase revenue by 12.2% over 2011. The marketing objective was to reduce churn (customer loss) by 11%, and increase acquisition by 8%. Virgin Mobile wanted the campaign to: deliver a PR ROI of at least 3:1, increase brand awareness from 43% to 50%, •increase Net Promoter Score from -10 to +8, and •increase brand consideration from 22% to 25%

Results

Business Results: •7 to 1 return on total campaign investment •Best ever sales quarter •Sales or activations +22% year on year •24% reduction in customer loss year on year (target was 11%) •Overall customer base +25% year on year •15% revenue growth (target was 12.2% and overall telco category grew by less than 1%) •Market share rise of 30% (Telstra, Vodafone, Optus account for 87% of total market) •Acquisition increased by 7% vs 2011 during the campaign period Earned Media Results: •Editorial pieces: 345 (200 in Australia) •Reach: 30m+ (Australia) and 160m (Worldwide) •PR Value: $5,007,306.00 (Australia) •PR ROI of 15:1 (Target 3:1) •100% of editorial coverage included a brand mention •2 million+ YouTube views for campaign video content •428,000 unique visitors at FairGoBro.com.au •9,553 tweets and 7,980 blog pieces worldwide •10 to 1 positive online sentiment •25% of traffic to campaign website driven by social media

Execution

In phase one we released a 90-second video that introduced Doug as the potential brand ambassador and asked Australians to get behind him; if he got sufficient public support via Facebook likes, or on the socially enabled campaign microsite, then he could be made the brand ambassador. In phase two we confirmed that with public support Doug was Virgin Mobile's new ambassador and to build further hype announced that we would be bringing him to Australia in his first media tour. Behind the scenes imagery and video was seeded to continue momentum. The campaign culminated with Doug coming to Australia to experience the celebrity treatment, along with an entourage made up of lucky competition winners. We set up over 30 TV and radio interviews and public appearances in just 48hrs. The flagship Pitt St store in Sydney was renamed in his honour in a cheeky experiential stunt.

The Situation

Virgin Mobile is a challenger brand in the Australian telecommunication service provider (TSP) market, which is dominated by three big competitors: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. They account for 87% of the market, lead in terms of market share and customers, and enjoy a more tangible presence due to their retail footprints and communications budgets. Virgin Mobile is consistently outspent by these major players by a ratio of more than 4:1. With year-on-year category growth figures indicating a saturated market, TSP's tactics are geared towards acquiring competitor customers when they come off contract, particularly the more lucrative post-paid ones.

The Strategy

Brand Strategy: The brand already had a positioning based on 'fairness' with a brand-line of 'A fair go for all'. The brand could support this positioning because: •The halo effect of the Virgin Group brand is so powerful, and •Virgin Mobile's product offers and features were fairer than those of their competitors The idea had to be grounded in Fairness and have massive earned media potential to maximise the smaller available budget. Communication Strategy: 'Social by design' is a communications strategy that encourages and facilitates conversation by putting people at the centre of the idea, rather than starting with product proof points or slogans. It recognises that people will spread and share compelling stories created by brands if it's relevant to them and their peers. Paid media channels were to be used to further amplify awareness of the campaign, directing people to the hub of the campaign, a socially-enabled microsite.