Vodafone - The Late Night Standard

Vodafone - The Late Night Standard

• 1.
  Vodafone,  The  Late  Night  Standard,  MEC     August  2016:  Two  historic  milestones  for  Londoners.  The  start  of  the  24  hour  tube.    The  first  major   Broadband  product  with  no  line  rental  charges.  To  celebrate  MEC  partnered  with  ESI  Media  to  create   The  Late  Night  Standard.    And  a  new  standard  of  press  partnership  was  created  (yes,  we  went  there)     The  Late  Night  Standard  delivered  great  content  in  a  moment  crucial  for  Vodafones  broadband   campaign,  while  extending  the  reach  of  the  Evening  Standard  across  the  24  hour  tube  network.       This  is  the  most  successful  newspaper  launch  of  the  year  and  a  great  example  of  collaboration  between   media  owner,  client,  media  agency  and  creative  agency     BACKGROUND  /  OBJECTIVE     The  broadband  category  is  dominated  by  selling  two  things  –  speed  and  price.  But  people  are  frustrated   by  an  outdated  system  that  charges  them  for  line  rental  that  they  don’t  use.  We  had  an  opportunity  to   flip  the  conventional  understanding  and  create  a  new  conversation  which  we  could  own.     That  conversation  was  about  freedom.    Freedom  from  frustration.    And  the  freedom  the  internet   promised  when  it  was  born.    Vodafone  wanted  to  create  a  content  party  to  celebrate.     INSIGHT     We  know  that  the  key  reason  for  broadband  usage  is  primarily  for  entertainment.    People  want  to  be   entertained  towards  the  end  of  the  week  (Source:  Time  Diary  -­‐  Touchpoints  2016),  so  this  gave  us  a  clear   opportunity  for  media  to  time  target.       Our  audience  -­‐  who  are  using  their  landline  less  and  less  and  who  shop  smart  -­‐  is  naturally  wary  of  brand   claims  so  it  was  important  that  we  align  our  campaign  with  content  &  experiences  that  our  audiences   engage  with  to  relax  and  enjoy  themselves.       Meanwhile,  there  is  also  low  awareness  of  Vodafone  broadband,  so  in  a  market  where  competitors   outspend  and  outshout  us  we  knew  delivering  high  reaching  disruptive  message  was  important  to  drive   awareness.       London  naturally  over  indexes  vs.  our  “Shop  smart”  target  audience  and  we  also  knew  that  continued   investment  in  print  was  having  a  positive  impact  on  our  econometrics  model.  With  this  in  mind  and   alongside  our  insights  The  Evening  Standard  seemed  like  the  perfect  platform.     Our  gut  feel  was  right  The  Evening  Standard  reaches  777,000  of  Vodafone’s  shop  smart  audience  and   indexes  at  144.  But  just  running  adverts  in  the  Evening  Standard  wasn’t  enough  to  make  our  audience  to   feel  the  celebration  of  freedom  with  Vodafone  Broadband.             THE  PLAN  
• 2.
    We  needed  a  unique  disruptive  platform  that  allowed  us  to  connect  with  our  audience  alongside  the   entertaining  content  they  want  to  consume.         And  what  better  opportunity  than  the  launch  of  the  Night  Tube?    It  too  allowed  people  to  enjoy  their   leisure  more  easily.    With  less  frustration.           After  a  series  of  meetings  and  late  night  brainstorms  MEC  and  ESI  media  came  up  with  the  idea  of  The   Late  Night  Standard,  a  bespoke  nocturnal  newspaper  to  be  distributed  in  zone  1  on  the  Night  Tube.       The  idea  was  to  deliver  great  content  in  moments  crucial  for  Vodafones  broadband  campaign  whilst  also   extending  the  reach  of  the  Evening  Standard  content  across  the  24hour  tube  network.     The  Night  Tube  aimed  to  free  people  in  London  to  travel  where  and  whenever  they  wanted,  Vodafone   was  also  looking  to  free  people  from  paying  unnecessary  costs.  This  made  the  partnership  a  perfect   marriage  from  a  messaging  perspective.       It  was  also  important  to  align  our  messaging  with  entertaining  content,  so  the  36-­‐page  issue  we  created   blended  great  editorial,  branded  content  and  tailored  display  formats  across  both  print  and  digital.     Vodafones  eight  page  content  piece  was  made  up  of  entertaining  and  tailored  collaborations  with  Now   TV,  Sky  Sports,  Spotify  and  Future  Breakers.    These  outstanding  content  providers  are  part  of  the   Vodafone  broadband  offer  and  fit  our  brief  perfectly  too.     This  media  first  was  supported  by  four  native  articles  were  published  online  on  the  Evening  Standard’s   ‘Going  Out’  section,  a  three  day  section  takeover  ran  on  the  Standard’s  website  and  via  the  Evening   Standard’s  social  channels.     Using  ESI  medias  army  of  vendors  we  distributed  80,000  copies  of  The  Late  Night  Standard  from  8:00pm   at  key  commuter  stations  in  zone  1.       The  insights  backed  up  our  ambitious  plan  and  we  had  research  in  place  which  measured  its  success.       RESULTS     As  the  Mayor  said,  the  night  tube  is  “wonderful"  with  thousands  of  Londoners  able  to  benefit  from  the   service  providing  a  "huge  boost"  to  the  capital.  Alongside  this  the  Late  Night  Standard  was  a  great   example  of  how  branded  content  can  be  integrated  into  the  fabric  of  a  Newsbrand.  This  media  first   meant  MEC,  Vodafone  and  ESI  media  were  able  to  embrace  a  key  moment  in  London’s  history.       We  not  only  embraced  a  key  moment  in  history  but  the  results  show  that  it  worked:     • 95%  loved  the  idea  of  the  Late  Night  Standard   • 91%  said  it  is  a  great  initiative   • 68%  said  they  will  probably  keep  the  Late  Night  Standard  and  refer  to  it  again  and  90%  would   get  it  again  if  there  ever  was  one.     It  also  delivered  for  Vodafone:      
• 3.
    • All  respondents  recalled  that  Vodafone  offered  no  line  rental  charges  (50%  unprompted)   • 79%  of  respondents  said  Vodafone  were  showing  their  fun  side  via  the  sponsorship   • 65%  of  respondents  said  this  activity  raises  their  opinion  of  Vodafone   • 67%  of  respondents  said  this  activity  puts  Vodafone  front  of  mind   • 52%  of  those  with  broadband  accounts  said  they  would  now  consider  Vodafone  next  time.     The  creative  idea  and  the  effective  research  clearly  demonstrate  that  we  have  managed  to  flip  the   conventional  understanding  of  the  broadband  market  and  that  the  The  Late  Night  Standard  is  the  most   successful  newspaper  launch  of  the  year.     CLIENT  QUOTE     Caroline  Welsh,  head  of  Vodafone  marketing  and  comms,  said:  “We  were  delighted  to  have  partnered   with  the  Evening  Standard  to  celebrate  the  Night  Tube  opening  for  our  customers  travelling  through   London.  Our  network  is  always  ready  for  our  customers,  now  the  tube  is  too.    We  also  wanted  to  be  part   of  the  momentous  occasion  and  therefore  celebrating  the  launch  with  the  Evening  Standard  was  an   obvious  choice.     “As  an  added  bonus  we  were  also  able  to  showcase  our  great  propositions  that  come  with  content   which  we  know  Evening  Standard  readers  will  love;  like  listening  to  Spotify  while  on  the  move  around   London,  to  catching  up  on  their  favourite  TV  programmes  from  the  night  before  using  our  superfast   broadband.”