Case study: Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile's Big Red House campaign
This case study was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

The poor quality of creative aimed at students frequently causes groans in the student market, particularly from those that have to channel it. Student-orientated magazines, websites andlist-owners are sometimes embarrassed to host work through their mediums, although few, if any, would ever turn creative away. And while there are some excellent examples of promotional marketing by student marketers,the overall standard is below average.

So when a student promotion from Virgin Mobile won a prestigious Institute of Sales Promotion award in 2003 it raised eyebrows. The fact that the award was for Integration, Innovation and Creative Excellence was quite outstanding: here was a massive student campaign, involving the full gamut of marketing methods, beingrecognised for consistent quality.

The Virgin Mobile 'Big Red House' promotion was delivered in three parts. The giant hook that captured the imagination of students came at the end. That hook was the chance to win a year's free accommodation for four in a house rented by Virgin Mobile.

Anna Pearson, Account Director at Liquid Communications who created the campaign, explains the thinking behind it: "It started out from some research that showed accommodation and rent were top of the list of student concerns. Rent and accommodation are a bit dry as subjects, so we were thinking how to take that research and turn it into something entertaining that could also achieve results. We had an objective to collect student data and make Virgin Mobile a brand that's better recognised with students.

"We needed to create something irreverent enough to suit the Virgin Mobile brand and alternative enough to go against all the big guys out there."

The big guys included Vodaphone and, at the top, the mighty Orange, who have developed their student marketing into an art form. At the time Virgin Mobile was the fifth most recognised mobile phone brand, so there was some work to do. "One of the obstacles we faced," says Pearson, "was that Orange and Vodafone were out there already. But they were mainly working in the crowded music arena. We didn't want to compete head-on because they have much bigger budgets and we wanted to dosomething different. You can out-spend thecompetition or you can out-smart them. Our only choice was to out-smart them."

The idea of giving away a house for a year was just part of the overall Big Red House promotion. It all kicked off with an unbranded teaser campaign at 50 universities. The creative featured striking use of home-related icons in white on a simple red background. "We were very calculated," says Pearson. "We always knew what was coming next. Timing is very important and we made the decision to avoid freshers. Everyone else was there at freshers and we weren't big enough to make an impact. We waited for that to die down and then we started the teaser campaign.

"The breadth of material and channels we used made it an integrated campaign. We used offline and online. Offline we used beer mats, which are found in the perfect social environment for this campaign - student mates can chat about the idea. We did washroom posters, we wrapped as many objects as we could find, we chalked the Big Red icon on pavements, we gave out carrier bags and matchboxes. Everything pointed to the Big Red website.

"SMS was our best medium. It raised page impressions on the website fourfold on the day. Our viral emails also worked well - aboveaverage click through rates for both. One was a game, it was quite crude and involved catching sick in a bucket. The other was a text-based email in the style of a spoof landlord's letter. It was designed to appeal to the wordier student audience, those into a bit of irony. We were quite surprised that the sick game was much more successful. You can't second-guess students. In this instance the crude game worked better."

Launching an unbranded campaign at this audience can be quite daunting. Imagine if there was little response? The next move would be anuncomfortable one. "We obviously couldn't get quantitative research," says Pearson, "but the qualitative research we got back from the student brand managers we used was very good, so we were confident. Students don't always respond to brands pushing something directly in their face, but when it's done through a student brand manager - one of their peers - it can work. The student brand managers absolutely loved our campaign so it helped us a lot."

"The next time we approached students it was as Virgin Mobile and it was to offer them the chance to win a house party. They could win a massive party pack, provided by us, that included a DJ, a bouncer, invitations to send to mates, apology cards with earplugs for the neighbours, a sick bucket, a Twister game and lots of other bits and pieces. They had to tell us why they'd stage the best party. Ten party packs went out to the ten best replies. "We'd created a brand new identity, what we called the ‘wallpaper identity’. It avoided lots of words - the icons illustrated our messages. We felt that we created the right balance between 'quite cool' but not 'too cool', while still managing to convey a promotional message."

The final stage of the campaign was communicating the Big Red House competition. 20 competitors were picked following an earlier part of thepromotion where students had to say why they deserved to win a year in the house. Although there could only be ten winners, houses were secured with landlords in 20 university towns in order that the accommodation would be ready once the winners were announced.

"The finalists were posted on the web and they had to campaign to win one of ten Big Red Houses. We gave them a campaign pack,including Che Guevara-style t-shirts. They got points for good campaigning. The response was amazing. Lots of them got on local radiopromoting the campaign. One was going to go topless in the Sun, but thankfully she changed her mind. When it came to the time for students to vote we registered over 1/4 million votes for all the candidates. That was more votes than in the first week of Big Brother."

Keys to ten houses were handed over to ten winning students and their grateful friends, all of whom no doubt helped generate an average of 12,500 votes per candidate. And their good fortune did not end at that point. "They are still being lavished with gifts," reveals Pearson. "They all got a widescreen TV when they entered the house. They get sent lottery tickets on aregular basis - it would be fantastic if one of them won the lottery! - and they get days out, cases of food etc. They're pretty famous on their campuses."

Clearly the Big Red House campaign is an example of a clever idea perfectly executed. But what in Liquid's approach made this campaign work for students? "I think I speak for all agencies when I say we all think we're young and dynamic and that we know students. But we're not students any more so we have to be careful. It's really important to keep in touch with what's going on. You can roll out a total clanger and once you've done it wrong you'll never get the chance again. You've got to get it right first time.

"First of all you have to do something that interests them. If it doesn't, that is a big mistake to start with. Make sure there's a benefit for them. Another mistake is to do something that's already been done to death. Don't do something too complicated. Don’t do something too promotional. And don't dosomething obviously aimed at students. You can't tell them what they want. You can understand what they want, offer it and then hope they take it."

In its first student year (2001/2) Liquid's campaign moved Virgin Mobile from fifth to third on the list of most recognised mobile brands - quite an achievement for one year's promotion work. In July Liquid found out they have been nominated for a European ISP award.

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