Brief Explanation

In Korea’s telecommunication market, the total adult population owns at least one or more mobile devices, with the number of new users decreasing every year. This market structure cannot prevent Korean telecommunication companies to play a zero-sum game and most of the campaigns that were intended to raise sales eventually turned out to be effective for just a very short period of time. In order to carry out promotion activities that last for long periods and are fundamental, it needs to improve and build up a close relationship with customers. From that sense, SK telecom's 'The slowest letter' campaign was very powerful. We excluded any type of promotional messages that said "Please become a SK telecom customer." Instead, our messages were refined but strong enough to say "You will not be able to participate in this campaign unless you are a SK telecom customer."

The Brief

Our aim was to increase brand preference in order to target customers of competitors and make them want to become a SK telecom client eventually. People were already exhausted excessive promotion events and competition amongst telecommunication companies. It was clear that handing out gifts would not be effective at all. One strict guideline of this campaign was not to push customers. We didn’t want to daze our customers but move their hearts. We chose to deliver an experience of ‘happy speed’ which was the happiness arising from ‘waiting’ rather than ‘faster speed’ that had been highlighted and make people exhausted.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

- 481,868 downloads in 3 months - 167,000 letters were actually sent (34% response rate) - ‘Most preferred brand’ in telecom category increased by +4.5% (IPSOS, Oct 2014) - ‘Most preferred brand’ in LTE service category increased by +5.6% (IPSOS, Oct. 2014) - Increased user intention found online (“I want to use SK Telecom because of this app”) - More than 3,600,000 views for TV ad on YouTube, unusually high for brand-generated content - Received media attention through Korean celebrities’ participation, parodies on TV programs, etc. - <2014 Consumer Satisfaction Management Awards> 1st place in telecom category The campaign succeeded in achieving SK Telecom’s long-time goal- increasing brand preference. Online/mobile promotions usually garner less than 3% response average from consumers in Korea. However, this promotion attracted 34% response rate, even with the rather complicated process of registering and writing the message. SK Telecom also received an award for consumer satisfaction.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

To deliver the experience of 'The happiness of waiting', we thought of an idea 'the slowest letter'- a letter to the future. Instead of big event booths that stand out, we thought about ways that would match the essence of our "letters" and at the same time bring us closer to customers. In addition, we wanted the app to provide experience about the highly developed technology of SK telecom. This app was launched on Sep. 16th, 2014, in every App Store in Korea, receiving media attention from the start. Korean celebrities started joining in on the campaign, uploading photos on their social media, which we instantly reposted and shared through the SK Telecom Facebook page. With even Yuna Kim, the figure-skating star, joining in, the campaign reached its climax. Participation increased steadily and on Dec. 31st, so many people tried to access the website that the servers went down.