The Campaign

With the need to break out of the clutter and into the consciousness of the general public, we decided to create "breaking (or break-in) news". News of a new crime wave appeared, of thieves breaking in to local communications stores (popular in Sri Lanka for selling mobile phones, accessories and prepaid cards) across the island. Leaked CCTV videos showed thieves breaking into and rifling through the stores, at first not appearing to steal anything and even more shockingly, appear to be leaving money behind as well. The message was then revealed to the public by the victims, the owners of the communications stores themselves, who announce that what was stolen was in fact the Airtel Rs.99 card, highlighting the many benefits it offered and how it was more valuable than anything else in the store. In doing this, thieves became our brand ambassadors.

The Brief

Overall budget - USD 5,000 Breakdown of costs CCTV footage videos - USD 2,000 Shop Owners Video Interviews - USD 3,000 Total of 32 million in earned media across prime time news on TV, large columns on newspapers, and social media (YouTube and Facebook). Paid Media - Zero.

Execution

Phase 1 Over a week, leaked CCTV footage of a crime wave was shared, mainly on popular community pages on Facebook, of thieves breaking in to communications stores (retail outlets that sell mainly phone related products) and leaving behind money at the scene of the crime. The story generated authenticity when it hit TV news as the main stories, and gaining the most column centimeters in mainline newspapers. Phase 2 The next week saw the story unfold further by inciting a public debate over the elephant in the room. Was it stealing if you left money behind for what you took? This was circulated once more through popular online social communities. Phase 3 Finally the victims, the owners of the communications stores came forward to reveal that the thieves had 'stolen' the Airtel Rs.99 card, leaving valuable phones untouched. Thus, increasing the perceived value of the card.

Media Outcomes 1. Earned Media amounted to Rs.32 million, made up of; a) The 'break-ins' earning coverage on all major local mainstream prime time TV news channels, as a main story. b) Editorial coverage in all leading newspapers, garnering the highest column centimeters of any brand for the time period. 2. Social Media a) Overall, the campaign videos were viewed over 1.2 million times on Facebook, during the campaign period. b) The CCTV footage videos were in the top 3 trending videos on YouTube in Sri Lanka, during the campaign period. Tier 2: Top of Mind awareness levels increased from 17% to 24% during the campaign period. Brand Consideration levels increased from 18% to 27%. Trial went up from 13% to 19%. Brand Recommendation also increased from 8% to 14%. Business Outcomes 1. Objective: Increase Rs.99 recharge customer base by 10% by December 2017. Result: Rs.99 recharge base grew by 26% by exit December 2017. 2. Objective: Increase Rs.99 daily recharge count by 10% by December 2017. Result: Rs.99 daily recharge count increase month on month by 24% by exit December 2017. 3. Objective: Generate incremental revenue of Rs.100 million by December 2017. Result: Achieved a total of 204 Million by Dec 2017.

The Situation

'Break-In News' is a campaign built around PR. With zero paid media and an extremely low budget from Airtel due to budgets being dwarfed by the two bigger players in the telecommunications category, the campaign influenced public dialogue by leveraging an enormous amount of earned media, ultimately creating a unique 'brand' out of a product that offered nothing different to what competitors were offering.

The Strategy

Airtel is a distant third biggest in the Sri Lankan telecommunications industry, with an extremely limited media budget in comparison to the bigger players. Therefore to address the issues faced by the brand, we needed to secure mass reaching and earned media to enter the consciousness and conversation of the greater public around the island. The strategy was not to sign a brand ambassador, but to create one. This brand ambassador, a new kind of thief later known as the 'Card Hora (Thief)' triggered the interest of national news, immediately building credibility and capturing the attention of the Sri Lankan public. Driving this public dialogue, rather than making yet another ‘telecommunications’ TV campaign, would ensure that Airtel would break out of the clutter and break-in to every Sri Lankan home.