2011 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

When Batelco first launched their Prepaid broadband service ‘Sim Sim O-net’, the results were not as good as expected. Our challenge was to relaunch Sim Sim O Net in an indifferent market.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Our idea was to create 500 brand ambassadors, who would spread the gospel using Facebook’s social media. Sim Sim became a living character on Facebook. The first 500 people who tagged a picture of themselves with him would win a free O-net device. Despite exceeding our target, people Sim Sim photoshopped, created arts & crafts, even posing as Sim Sim lookalikes. 500 winners received free devices;we initiated phase two. Winners were asked to tag a friend to each picture of ten different Sim Sim characters, who would get a device discount. Sim Sim instantly had 5,000 brand ambassadors.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

In four weeks on Facebook: - Exceeded our 500 picture target by 150%. - Tagged 12,000 people, 10% of Bahrain’s Facebook community. - 3240 friends, 600% over our target - Over 659,900 wall impressions. Sim Sim O-Net recorded 111% sales increase leading to 70% sales increase in the post-paid segment, generating over USD 75000 unpaid media publicity. Brand recognition increased by 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.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Being one of the first products of its kind in the market, we decided to create brand ambassadors because it was only when people’s social circles would endorse Sim Sim O-Net, would they give in to trying it. For Sim Sim O-Net’s relaunch, Facebook’s social media was chosen as the main platform because the nature of prepaid mobile broadband made the youth of Bahrain, 65% of the population, as a primary target. Facebook also gave Batelco a free communication channel, which could create relationships, engagement, multi-layered interactions and a ripple effect across Bahrain in a cost-effective manner.