2011 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

When Batelco first launched their Prepaid broadband service ‘Sim Sim O-net’, results weren’t as good as expected. To relaunch ‘Sim Sim O-net’, we decided to create brand ambassadors who would endorse it and spread the gospel using Facebook Social Media. Sim Sim became a Facebook character. Promoted through a magazine ad, posters and a Youtube video, first 500 people who tagged a picture of themselves with Sim Sim O-Net would win a free O-net device. In a few days we exceeded our goal and pictures kept coming. People led the campaign, photoshopping, creating arts & crafts, even posing as Sim Sim lookalikes. 500 winners were asked to tag ten friends to Sim Sim characters, who would get device discounts, creating 5,000 brand ambassadors. Sim Sim O-Net recorded 111% sales increase. Over 10% of Bahrain’s Facebook community was tagged and we received over 659,900 Facebook wall impressions.

Success of the Campaign

In four weeks on Facebook: - Exceeded our target of 500 pictures by 150%. - Tagged 12,000 people, or 10% of Bahrain’s Facebook community. - Made 3240 friends, 600% over our initial target - Got over 659,900 wall impressions. Sim Sim O-Net recorded a 111% sales increase leading to a 70% sales increase in the post paid segment. Generating over USD 75000 worth unpaid media, brand recognition increased 87% amongst youth. What brands spend years and big budgets to achieve, Sim Sim O-Net did in four weeks, with next to zero budget. A bland USB device was relaunched. A nation wide love brand was born.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

Creating brand ambassadors for Sim Sim O-Net, we turned Sim Sim the device into a living character with his own Facebook Profile. The first 500 people who tagged a picture of themselves with Sim Sim O-Net would win a free O-net device. We gave posters with Sim Sim’s picture at Universities informing students about the campaign. After which, we released a magazine ad for a larger audience. Online, we posted a YouTube video with the campaign’s details. Sim Sim became like a real friend on Facebook, responding to messages and writing on people’s walls. In a few days we exceeded our goal and pictures kept coming. People photoshopped, created arts & crafts, even posed as Sim Sim lookalikes. 500 winners received their free devices. They were sent ten Sim Sim pictures and were asked to tag ten friends, who would get device discounts, instantly creating 5,000 brand ambassadors.