We have strategically planned and implemented a series of 13 connected marketing campaigns for Virgin Mobile UK from 2003 to 2006, and ongoing

Virgin Mobile is the UK’s largest mobile virtual network operator and one of the fastest-growing cell phone companies worldwide. It is currently merging with cable services provider NTL.

Virgin Mobile’s connected marketing activity falls within the remit of its brand marketers. The brand first used online viral and buzz marketing in May 2003 as a strategic part of its wider ‘Idle Thumbs’ marketing initiative, pre-launching online a more risqué (and therefore sought-after) edit of a TV ad called Mangina.

More viral and buzz marketing campaigns featuring irreverant video-based creative material have followed, including to date: Bendy Babe, Red Academy, Busta Butt, Scorching Girls, Best Hands, Xtina Spotted, Cool Grandma/Missy Heimlich, Dog Judo, Festchuckers, Super Buff Gran, Kate Moss Contract.

The brand has embraced viral and buzz marketing as a process not an event. On one hand, they have championed the web-first release of TV ads in order to help kick-start wider marketing campaigns and create a ‘watercooler’ buzz effect, in the same way that more risqué versions of TV ads are sometimes released in selected cinemas. Obviously, the use of celebrities adds to the buzz. This web-first approach is very cost-effective production-wise: the TV ads are already being made so including a different edit in the existing work should be less expensive than producing a viral clip from scratch. In addition, the cost of pre-launching a clip online is less than the cost of a single insertion in a tabloid newspaper, and the buzz that can be generated is much greater than that from a print ad.

On the other side of the spectrum, some of Virgin Mobile’s viral and buzz marketing campaigns have been used as booster activity to widen awareness of specific promotions. This kind of lower-cost, web-only execution also helps maintain brand awareness in mainstream media downtime, when TV advertising isn’t running.

With the Dog Judo and SuperBuff campaigns in particular, Virgin Mobile have also taken the opportunity to further push the boundaries of consumer-driven, peer-to-peer marketing, backing highly entertaining new creative material while using our online connected marketing expertise to kickstart buzz and maximise viral spread.

James Kydd, Virgin Mobile’s brand director (now joint managing director of marketing for the merging Virgin Mobile/NTL company), said:

With DMC, we have developed the way we use viral marketing strategically as a key part of our overall marketing mix. It has made a big impact on our brand exposure for a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.

Contact us if you’d like to commission a consultancy session to learn more about connected marketing and how it can add value to your brand’s bottom line.