Insight
Over the past decade we have witnessed the mobile phone revolution. There is now a significant human problem which is being driven partially by the mobile itself.
Marketing challenge one: Consumers' growing reliance on mobile social technology rather than face to face interaction is thought to be making people feel more isolated. Society’s mobile and social media obsession is contributing to the increased levels of reported loneliness.
Marketing challenge two: brand relevance is increasingly a challenge as people only care about their devices / handsets. They consider the telco brands in the same way as any other utility provider, a faceless pipe providing a commodity.
The Virgin Mobile Brand has always championed the PEOPLE. How could Virgin Mobile continue to Make Mobile Better and prove to be more than a network provider? Considering there was a community who were feeling more isolated despite the accessibility of social mobile technology.
Virgin Mobile found that within the issue, was also the nub of the solution. Starcom MediaVest Group's challenge was simple, inspire people to rediscover the power of meaningful conversation / connection.
So with this insight in mind, Virgin Mobile worked on a new purpose driven initiative by partnering with R U OK? - a charity with a simple, focused and important mission; bring awareness around mental health and the power of a meaningful conversation. The objective was to inspire people to reconnect with family and friends they may have neglected with a conversation – by picking up their mobiles and making a call to ask “are you ok?”
Strategy
Virgin Mobile’s research last year found that 57% of Aussies are calling their family and friends less and less since the growth of social media. However, the same research found that 60% wished they received more phone calls and 82% admitted speaking on the phone makes them feel more connected than social media.
Being a telecommunications network the task was easy, provide free calls to existing customers to reconnect and show potential customers that we are a telco committed to doing more than just providing people with a mobile network service.
To deliver this message the agency needed an approach that would deliver scale, sensitivity and sincerity.
The strategy was simple – lead by example (Sincerity), utilise talent to deliver empathy and accessibility (Sensitivity) and find a relevant partner that provides credibility and scale (Scale). So it began by looking for the right partner that could help deliver scale.
• Scale: Southern Cross Austero (SCA) is one of Australia’s major radio networks who could provide a multi-communication platform to push out the message. Social, mobile, video and radio channels were the focus to frequently speak to the audience.
• Sensitivity: From a credibility perspective, radio and music have proven to help with depression and loneliness, so the environment was contextually relevant. The partnership meant it could access talent to deliver the message. Jules Lund a radio host was the perfect person to get behind this partnership. He is genuinely very passionate about causes such as #zerotolerance and supports all organisations that focus on how depression can affect people. The perfect ambassador for RUOK? Day and Virgin Mobile.
• Sincerity: Finally, as a business cautious on making mobile better, Virgin Mobile demonstrated the support through own channel amplification and participation. It was critical to showcase the sincerity of the Virgin Mobile and SCA message.
Execution
It had a powerful idea to inspire people to rediscover the influence of meaningful conversation.
Through the strong partnership with SCA, the agency was able to launch the campaign with huge momentum right out of the gate. Leveraging their social, mobile and radio channels it used a targeted network of paid media touchpoints to encourage people to make the call of RUOK? Day.
Utilising Jules Lund to deliver the message reached into legions of devoted fans and followers via social media to get behind the initiative. Even Sir Richard Branson got on board and spread the word!
Being an initiative with genuine social impact also opened up opportunities otherwise not available to traditional “marketing”. The agency was able to negotiate an Australian-first social blackout across SCA radio channels. SCA spread the R U OK? Day message by inspiring the nation to take a break from social media the morning of September 10 and re-ignite conversations.
Additionally, the whole SCA and VMA teams put on Out Of Office emails during lunch hours to take the time to make a call. This really highlighted the commitment from SCA behind the cause.
By focusing its efforts with one partner, utilising talent to touch crowds of fans and leading by example (social blackout and Out Of Office emails) Virgin Mobile was able to communicate to its audience to re-engage in a conversation and not just observe.
Results
Virgin Mobile RUOK? Day campaign was the first initiative which proved the power of conversation to mobilise the masses.
• Call duration: average call time (mins) climbed from 2.56 to 2.71 (YOY) a 6% increase during the week leading up to and on RUOK Day?
• Positive sentiment: grew with 59% of people feeling more positively towards Virgin Mobile as a result of knowing they teamed up with RUOK? Day. A great result for any business let alone a telco.
• Purpose driven marketing: the brand statements tested indicate that the R U OK? Day partnership positively impacted people’s perception of Virgin Mobile’s community mindedness and customer care.
Virgin Mobile had set out to encourage people to make the call. Thanks to the overwhelming support from people moved by this campaign, over 11 million phone calls were generated the week leading up to and on RUOK Day?
Importantly, the brand learned the marketing value of partnership, and that with the right partner it could drive positive sentiment.
Putting people first, planning for a positive impact on the world, and caring about the needs of others before the bottom line is a form of effective and innovative marketing. Proving that doing good is indeed good business.