Agency: Agency Republic, UK

Roles: Project Manager, Community Manager

Project Type: Social Media

Case Study:

O2 wanted to tell young people they could get free calls from their ‘favourite place’, which for most of our target audience would be their university. We thought about the common rivalry between various universities, and how proud students feel about their chosen one, and decided to launch ‘The battle for the UK’s favourite university’ on Facebook. The uni with the most interaction (banter, photos, videos) would be rewarded with a massive end of term party.

It was the first-ever branded page on Facebook in the UK and proved a huge success, with over 109,000 students joining in only 8 weeks, smashing all targets. It was referred to as ‘sheer genius’ by industry figures and named as the number one digital ad in 2007 by Campaign magazine. It made O2 the 3rd biggest brand globally on Facebook after Coca Cola and Playboy.

Awards:

Campaign’s number 1 digital ad of the year 2007

BIMA 2008, Social Media, Overall category winner

Campaign BIG Awards 2008 – Digital IT & Technology – winner

Creative Circle 2008 – Best Social Networking

Silver, Eurobest 2008

One Show Interactive – Merit

Webby Awards – Viral marketing – Honoree

IMA Awards 2008 – Best use of viral marketing – shortlist

Ad of the week – Campaign magazine