Transcript MIS553_Virgin_OffDeck_2012

MOBILE MARKETING IN PRACTISE:
Virgin“Off-Deck” Rich-Media Mobile
Advertising
Course Faculty: Mrs Yasmin Malik
Venue: IBA City Campus, Karachi
Course Start Date: Spring 2012 (Feb 1)
MIS553: Mobile Marketing Strategies
Strategy at The Virgin Group: “Reckless Nor
Random”?
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The Virgin Group: one of the most recognised and respected brands in the world
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Created in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson and a leading branded venture capital organisation
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Some of the famous Virgin brands (among the 300+) include:
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“Contrary to what some people may think, our constantly expanding and eclectic (i.e. deriving
ideas/style from a broad and diverse range of sources) empire is neither random nor
reckless.” (Source: www.virgin.com)
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“To some traditionalists, the Virgin management style may not seem hard headed enough. To
them, the fact that Virgin has minimal management layers, no bureaucracy, a tiny board and
no massive global HQ is an anathema. But it works for us!”– Sir Richard Branson,
www.virgin.com
Mobile Strategy at Virgin Media
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Virgin Media UK: TV (cable), broadband, phone and mobile
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The first company in the UK to offer all of the above from one place i.e. “quadruple-play”
media offerings
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Can be compared to the way PTCL has bundled its services to create new dynamics in the
local market (“triple-play” as the mobile service is offered by sister concern Ufone)
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Compete directly with Sky which offers similar services but has a much stronger foothold on
media in terms of its Sky News and Sky Sports channels – the latter is the leader in
transmission rights to most sporting events
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As a result, Virgin Media is always trying to upstage Sky wrt Sports in particular
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Challenge: How do we differentiate ourselves for the upcoming English Premier League (Aug
14, 2010 till May 2, 2011)?
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Objective: to get 18-35 year old males to opt for Virgin Media to watch the Premier League
rather than Sky Sports
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Strategy:
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/resources/case-studies/8218.html
Execution of “Sports Uptake” via
Off-Deck Mobile Advertising
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The mobile ad itself is not at all centered on football!
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But the lead up to it, is…
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Virgin Media collaborated with the London based ad agency 4th Screen Advertising
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Target profile and handset-specific targeting: 18-35 year old football fans and the iPhone
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They suggested the inclusion of a “calendar sync” app which would provide those who
downloaded it with the fixture list of televised Premier League games directly onto their
iPhone calendar
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One option was to do this via banner ads on Virgin’s own mobile site which was attracting a
good rate of traffic already
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However, instead they decided to “100% take over” The Guardian’s (www.guardian.co.uk)
mobile portal to capitalize the reach of the campaign via the Guardian’s excellent mobile
presence as a direct challenge to Sky
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4th Screen Advertising knew that 70% of the consumers browsing The Guardian’s mobile
portal were iPhone users
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They also knew that in the world of media portals, The Guardian (and hence The Guardian
brand) had the best value proposition for advertisers
100% Take Over of The Guardian’s Mobile Portal
The Guardian’s mobile portal after
100% take-over by Virgin Media
The Guardian’s mobile portal the way
it looks normally
Mechanics & “Tactics” of the Campaign
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Football fans could click on the full page banner ad
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This would run the mobile ad which would expand into full view to make full use of
the iPhone screen size
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After watching the mobile video ad, users had two “calls-to-action”:
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Find out more about Virgin Media Football Packages
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Sync televised games with iPhone calendar (entire season’s sporting calendar,
game fixtures, teams, kick-off times)
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Question: How was the success of these two calls-to-action measured in
practise…?
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Results:
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During the first quarter of the Premier League (i.e. upto Dec 2010) Virgin Media
added 100,000 Sky premium subscribers to reach a total of 725,000
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Campaign demonstrated how new rich media formats can drive new levels of
consumer engagement