WHAT WE DO NEXT

Grand Prix
TitleWHAT WE DO NEXT
BrandDEUTSCHE TELEKOM
Product/ServiceDEUTSCHE TELEKOM
Category B03. Talent: Digital & Social
Entrant SAATCHI & SAATCHI London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation SAATCHI & SAATCHI London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement EMETRIQ Hamburg, GERMANY
Media Placement 2 WPP TEAM MAGENTA Dusseldorf, GERMANY
PR PROUD ROBINSON Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM
Production SOMESUCH London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2 FACTORY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 3 SOMESUCH Los Angeles, USA
Production 4 PAPAYA FILMS Warsaw, POLAND
Post Production ELECTRIC THEATRE COLLECTIVE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Post Production 2 PRODIGIOUS London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Kate Stanners Saatchi & Saatchi Chairwoman & Global Chief Creative Officer
Guillermo Vega Saatchi & Saatchi Chief Creative Officer
Franki Goodwin Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Director
Will John Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Director
Mia Silverman Saatchi & Saatchi Creative
Francesco Grandi Saatchi & Saatchi Creative
Ally Dean Saatchi & Saatchi Agency Producer
Jodie Sibson Saatchi & Saatchi Agency Producer
Nayab Malik Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Producer
Sam Wise Saatchi & Saatchi Planning Director
Mathieu Abet Saatchi & Saatchi Planning Manager
Laura Pugh Saatchi & Saatchi Planning Manager
Clare Shaw Saatchi & Saatchi International Client Services Director
Anne Schlicht Saatchi & Saatchi Business Leader
Terri Turner Saatchi & Saatchi Account Director
Cali Fish Saatchi & Saatchi Account Manager
Talveer Uppal Saatchi & Saatchi Design Lead
Nicholas Pires Saatchi & Saatchi Designer
Vincent Haycock Somesuch Director
Elly Camisa Somesuch Producer
Tash Tan Somesuch Executive Producer
Max Harrison Somesuch Project Manager
Mátyás Erdély N/A Director Of Photography

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

We harnessed the voice of a generation, Billie Eilish, to give visibility to young people everywhere. We took the stereotypes levelled at Gen Z and put them into the mouth of one of the most dynamic music artists in the world –asking is SHE just another kid that is screen obsessed? Is this activist, this campaigner, this entrepreneur? Across social, the work showcased the passions and motivations of Gen Z on a mass scale, an AR filter allowing everyone to take part. Telekom created ‘a rallying cry for Gen Z’, withtheir product at its heart.

Background

Deutsche Telekom, like many established telcos, recognised that their younger audience was less engaged. They wanted to address that issue and bridge the generation gap. Our brief was to rejuvenate the main DT brand and do that by building an authentic relationship with Gen Z.

Describe the creative idea

Whether you’re a world-famous popstar or an activist with 500 followers, if you’re a teenager you have, at some point, been judged by an older person for being on your phone. Gen Z was being written off as a disconnected, phone obsessed generation. The idea was to challenge the judgement and insults levelled at young people and their use of connected technology by building a contradictory narrative of real-life achievements, artistry and activism by young people. We created a platform to show what Gen Z were really doing on their phones –making music, fashion and art,building businesses and campaigning for change. An idea rooted in digital optimism with a confrontational Gen Z edge, we aimed to show how vital technology was in the lives of a spectrum of young people and to encourage a conversation between the generations about what they actually ‘do on your phones all day’.

Describe the strategy

We carried out multi-market qualresearch to understand Gen Z attitudes. The more we dug into their lived experience the more we discovered a central tension which pivoted around the connected technology DT provides. On the one hand there is a familiar characterisation of Gen Z as a screen obsessed, entitled, fragile and narcissistic generation: i-Gen, a generation ruined by the combination of smartphones and social media. But on the other hand we found a generation coming together through technology to successfully tackle many universal problems that they have inherited from previous generations. Problems like the environment, racial and sexual inclusion and the rapid disruption of the world of work. This tension is felt as an injustice by our audience. Our approach was to publicly resolve this tension using an artist who more than any other in the world has come to represent the power, creativity and originality of this generation.

Describe the execution

Gen Z can spot inauthenticity a mile off so it was crucial we told real stories. We found 6 inspirational young talents, all who stood for something close to Gen Z’s heart. We created a film that brought their stories to life, heroed by the ultimate voice of their generation. We launched across 9 European markets on UN International Youth Day, kicking off with Billie Eilish sharing the film with her 68m followers. Our talent amplified the launch across their social followings and the film was shared by Gen Z worldwide. Cut downs of our film targeted Gen Z in paid social across Europe, supported by bespoke Instagram content and an exclusive BTS interview featuring Billie and our ensemble.Our second phase kicked off on 2nd September with our #whatwedonext challenge, partnering with influential influencers across Europe. Short videos spotlighting inspirational Gen Z stories were rolled out across paid media.

Describe the outcome

The campaign generated over 1 billion impressions across paid & earned media; on social media, online and PR. The What We Do Next film has been viewed over 103 Million times, resonating strongly with the core Gen Z audiences, with responses on YouTube such as “this is such an important topic, I’m proud of Billie for speaking about it” but also earned positive reactions beyond the target audience “you, kids of today, helped me open my eyes. you give me hope.”The launch of the campaign generated over 350 pieces of editorial coverage across Europe, with 100% brand attribution and 97% positive or neutral sentiment. Brand visibility more than tripled after the start of the campaign and Telekom Electronic Beats social channels saw a 14% growth within Gen Z on Instagram following and a 9% growth on it’s YouTube channel.