VODAFONE 5G BLIND SKIING

TitleVODAFONE 5G BLIND SKIING
BrandVODAFONE
Product/Service5G NETWORK
Category D04. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorship / Partnership
Entrant WAVEMAKER Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Idea Creation WAVEMAKER Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Media Placement WAVEMAKER Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Production MSTUDIO Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Production 2 BSP MEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Jana Tasche Wavemaker GmbH Group Head Culture & Marketing
Nico Combes Wavemaker GmbH Supervisor Strategy
Agata Krawczyk Wavemaker GmbH Consultant Strategy
Nawid Sorusch mStudio Supervisor Content Production

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

With Vodafone 5G Blind Skiing we connected the world of Paralympic sports and technology for this powerful and emotional showcase. This is something never seen – or thought of – before: A blind skier racing down the slope all by herself without the help of her guide. Seeing Noemi succeed is an experience causing goosebumps. With this breathtaking story, we tried to show the essence of Vodafone's claim “The Future is Exciting. Ready?” and take consumers along on this thrilling ride.

Background

5G is the next game changer in telco. Benefits of 5G technology need explanation, because all that people can relate to is that the 5G auction was the longest-ever. There was an apparent lack of use cases to showcase benefits. We need to explain the 5G story with a clear human benefit, a story people can relate to.  The goal is to claim 5G strong and before competitors to be technological front runners. Claim 5G conversation after auction ends.  

Describe the creative idea

Only few people have any idea what 5G will mean for their lives. It is hard to create meaningful brand experiences with a product that cannot be touched. Of all the features of 5G, latency is the most suitable: While 4G has a significant delay, 5G enables data transmission such as video streaming almost in real-time. Latency of course is most important when operating at high speeds. Therefore, the idea of a 5G Speed Stunt was born. We looked for something that would enable someone to do something they had never done before and that is only possible with a 5G network connection. Noemi Ristau is a blind Paralympic skier. For the first time since she lost her sight 15 years ago, she masters a solo descent down the slopes. Her guide Paula gives her commands via 5G real-time video and sound. Real emotions, real technology, real content.

Describe the strategy

For telcos brand has never meant more. In times of product exchangeability, people listen to brands that contribute to a better future. Brands can’t do it themselves, they need to partner with people in realizing the potential of technologies. Visualization is the challenge as you can’t see 5G enabling e.g. video and data transmission in real-time. In the era of ultra-short Facebook & Instagram videos, where brands are battling to create efficient 6-second bumper ads, we opted to go with long-form video content as the basis of our campaign. 5G and its benefits cannot be explained in a few seconds and real human emotions just can’t be cut down to the minimum. Our main KPI was for the target audiences to engage with our content in a meaningful way and to watch as much of the video as possible.  

Describe the execution

The extremely high bandwidths and minimal response times of 5G technology mean that Noemi can ski down on her own, while still receiving support from her guide. The best thing about this is that it is all real: Real technology, a real human benefit, real emotions and the first freeride for Noemi since she lost her sight. Our content piece brings all of the above together. Noemi’s story, the technological solution we came up with, her first free-ride and the real emotions we were able to caption when it happened. Our target: Show this to Germany - ASAP. Only hours after the auction, we premiere on Vodafone CEOs social channels, followed by video content on all channels. Our story highjacks the search term 5G in Search on Google & YouTube. We go live with the TVC the very next weekend.

Describe the outcome

Blind Skiing is the most successful Vodafone campaign of the past 4 years. Vodafone steals the 5G conversation, while competitors stay quiet. In one week, we’ve reached more than 35m people on social and TV. Just two days after the auction ends, our TVC is shown during the biggest shows of the weekend. There is a 520% search uplift for ‘5G Blind Skiing’ during that time. Social comments were 90% positive, something rarely seen in telco. The average view time of the Speed Stunt on YouTube was 39 seconds, compared to 8-10 seconds for Vodafone TVC and digital only campaigns on average in the past years. More than 15% of people that could have skipped the video ad after 5 seconds, watched for more than a minute. Vodafone shifted its communication into emotional storytelling – not into technical, 5G product comms. Noemi’s story made people feel the power of 5G.