B03. Use of Social Platform(s) in a Promotional Campaign
Entrant Company
McCANN ERICKSON Bucharest, ROMANIA
Advertising Agency
McCANN ERICKSON Bucharest, ROMANIA
Media Agency
UM ROMANIA Bucharest, ROMANIA
Credits
Name
Company
Position
ADRIAN BOTAN
BV Mccann Erickson
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER
CATALIN DOBRE
BV Mccann Erickson
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
RUXANDRA PAPUC
BV Mccann Erickson
COPYWRITER
DANIEL STRUGARIU
BV Mccann Erickson
ART DIRECTOR
DANA HOGEA
BV Mccann Erickson
CLIENT SERVICE DIRECTOR
DOINA IONESCU
BV Mccann Erickson
ACCOUND DIRECTOR
CARMEN MARIN
BV Mccann Erickson
ACCOUNT MANAGER
CORNEL CRIHANA
UM ROMANIA
ACCOUNT MANAGER
CARMEN BISTRIAN
BV Mccann Erickson
PR MANAGER
VICTOR CROITORU
UM ROMANIA
MEDIA DIRECTOR
The Brief
Vodafone builds its communication on a feeling of “Romanian empowerment”, using real people, not actors, to demonstrate how its products can improve anybody’s life. Since smartphone penetration had been steadily increasing, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find credible characters for the smartphone non-user. So we turned our attention to the least likely users of technology – elders – only to uncover a very serious social problem.
Campaign Success
In order to prove that technology can help anyone improve his life, we launched a social experiment that fights loneliness among the hundreds of thousands of old people in Romania who live in solitude. We put Facebook in the hands of two lonely grannies who loved to cook, but had no one to share their meals with, and brought them together with students who missed the traditional Sunday goodies. The Grannies posted the menu and students book a chair at their tables, bringing joy to their lonely home.
Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results
The Sunday Grannies achieved over 380MM media impressions, for a 98,7% reach. Over 430,000 fans joined their Facebook page. The thrilling social outcome was a triple rate of Facebook adoption for seniors, for the duration of our campaign. This drove an impressive 20% increase in the total number of Facebook accounts owned by people over 65 years in Romania.
Moreover, Vodafone brand KPIs showed significant improvements in Simplicity (+9%) and Customer Service (+7%), attributes which were directly connected to the Grannies’ demonstrations.
Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service
We launched the social experiment that fights loneliness among old people by putting Facebook in the hands of two grannies. They used it to invite students who miss home cooked meals to their Sunday lunch. They just posted the menu and students booked a chair. We made a documentary showing how their lives started to change and we put it on TV. Soon their lonely apartment became the hottest lunch place in town. Even celebrities like no.3 WTA tennis player Simona Halep or a MasterChef judge booked a seat. Grannies recipes became so famous they got their own cooking show and had their sweets make it to the stores. Having hundreds of messages congratulating the initiative, we launched a Facebook app where any granny can organize her own pop-up lunch. Grannies across the country joined in and their lonely homes became joyful again.