Virgin Media: Letting The Students ‘Ave It
by Nick
Although Virgin Mobile had been running student activity for a number of years, they found it difficult to engage with students on a long-term basis and convert their presence into sales.
Previously, they had been running an on-campus competition for students to win a year’s rent which had given them mass awareness and competition entries, but which had never translated into sales.
Amplify identified that this was due to the limited period of time that Virgin Mobile appeared on campus and that the focus was too heavily weighted towards the competition mechanic rather than the brand.
Amplify developed the campaign into a year long multi-layered on-campus presence which engaged the students and delivered against the awareness and sales objectives.
Thinking
Students aren’t stupid. FACT.
They know when they are being marketed to but they don’t mind if it is done with empathy and adds value to their lives.
Let’s...
-Make students love the brand
-Create an ongoing dialogue
-Make it easy for students to buy
’Ave it
Based on the irreverent Virgin Mobile tone of voice and the way students think – ‘it’s all about me!’ – ’Ave it was built around giving students what they want:
The best nights on campus, the best talent, the best giveaways
The campaign was a mixture of on and offline activity which was implemented through a ‘new model partnership’ with 15 of the UK’s biggest universities which gave us:
-Presence on campus all year round
-Access above and beyond other brands
The campaign featured monthly ’Ave it club nights, as well as on-campus sales activity such as the ’Ave it Love Shack and the roaming mobile redemption squad and the Virgin Mobile camper van which as well as raising awareness of sales and promotions could sell direct to students.
The website worked to ‘keep the conversation going’ in between events and allowed the students to interact with the brand by downloading pictures, entering competitions and viewing up and coming events
Bringing the campaign to a climax and linking to the previous Virgin Mobile student presence, ‘Want to ’Ave it all’ was the ultimate student prize, to ’Ave it all: your rent paid for the year, a bedroom makeover, fridge filled every term, and a whole new wardrobe.
Results
60 x ’Ave it club nights
47 x acts
54,125 x attendees
-Average attendance of 900 students per night...
50 x days of sales promotion activity
75,000 x 1 to 1 conversations
267,000 x flyers and posters distributed on campus
24,621 x online unique users
70 x adverts in student media
50,311 x sales specific emails sent out
