DATA AUCTION

Short List
TitleDATA AUCTION
BrandVIRGIN MOBILE
Product / ServiceTELECOMMUNICATIONS
CategoryE04. Response / Real-Time Activity
EntrantTBWA\SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation TBWA\SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
PR ELEVEN PR Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production //13&CO Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Contributing VIRGIN MOBILE AUSTRALIA Macquarie Park, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Wesley Hawes TBWA\Sydney Executive Creative Director
Gary McCreadie TBWA\Sydney Executive Creative Director
Russ Tucker TBWA\DAN Sydney National Digital Creative Director
James Pash TBWA\Sydney Senior Writer
Carlo Mazzarella TBWA\Sydney Senior Art Director
Simone O'Connor TBWA\Sydney Content Producer
Justin Cox TBWA\Sydney Head of Account Management
Charleen Ong TBWA\Sydney Group Account Director
Helen Campbell-Borton TBWA\Sydney Account Director
Tom Cummings Eleven PR Account Director
Bec Madden TBWA\Sydney Social Media Manager
Brenda Chan Eleven PR Account Executive
Raz Djamaluddin TBWA\Sydney Designer
Etienne Ancelet TBWA\Sydney Editor
Jackson Mullane //13&CO Director
Charity Downing //13&CO Executive Producer
Michelle Nagy //13&CO Producer
Dale Alexander Bremner //13&CO Director Of Photography
James Sutton //13&CO Editor
Philippa Durant Virgin Mobile Australia Director of Brand & Customer
Olivia Loughnan Virgin Mobile Australia PR, Sponsorship & Events Manager
Jordan Kerr Virgin Mobile Australia Content & Social Marketing Manager

The Campaign

To do this, we created the Virgin Mobile Data Auction: the world’s first auction where people’s unused data was accepted as currency, to bid for real, big-ticket items and experiences. The auction ran exclusively on Facebook, where we auctioned off 30 lots live over 30 days. This ensured everyone had a chance to bid, as monthly plans finish on different days. Auction lots included everything from new phones, drones and hoverboards to the grand finale item – a week on a private island in Fiji, worth $40,000. We also reacted contextually to special days, like auctioning off Stormtrooper armour on International Star Wars Day (May the 4th). And to news stories too, offering a spot on a Mardi Gras float on the same day Telstra, a rival, backtracked on its support for marriage equality.

Creative Execution

The Data Auction launched and ran exclusively on Facebook from 15 April to 15 May 2016. It was supported by daily Instagram posts and by Tweets from Virgin Mobile’s other social channels, which drove traffic to the Virgin Mobile page where bidding took place. The winning bidder was announced publicly as soon as the amount of unused data they had bid with was verified. One item was auctioned off live every day for 30 days, with bidding open for one hour between 7pm and 8pm AEST in direct response to the daily auction post. Our unique daily auction video posts appeared in people’s News Feeds hours before the bidding time, to drive interest and engagement once the auction started.

The Virgin Mobile Data Auction was a hit, with a huge average winning bid of 11.97GB of unused data that would otherwise have gone to waste. The following results were also achieved: • 2.37m reach • 230% increase in traffic to Facebook • 160% increase in engagement • 2.3m total video views • 1.1m hero video views • $267K total PR coverage • 30 pieces of PR coverage Each daily auction drew our audience’s attention to just how much data is stolen by the other telco companies every month. News, entertainment and tech media outlets all covered the auction, giving us free promotion to a much wider audience. Just as importantly, every news story and article also spread awareness of the issue of data theft by Australia’s big telco companies and Virgin Mobile’s point of difference with Data Rollover.

Our Data Auction specifically targeted other telco companies’ customers on monthly contract plans, the people having their data stolen every month. As with any auction the highest bid always won, so with every lot auctioned off Virgin Mobile was turning the biggest data losers with the other telco companies into its biggest winners. By running the auction on Facebook, bidding was simple and instant – all people had to do was comment on our daily auction post with proof of their unused data. This way, we drew their attention to exactly how much data they were losing personally at the end of each month. It also meant that we were able to send a personalised, contextual message to every bidder about the benefits of Virgin Mobile’s Data Rollover service at the same time as they placed their bid.

Links

Social Media URL   |   Social Media URL   |   Social Media URL   |   Video URL   |   Supporting Webpage