Verizon: Bufferface

Credits & Description:

Category: Telecommunications
Media: Online
Agency: R/GA
Client: Verizon
Brand: Verizon Wireless
Company: R/GA, New York
Target: USA · North America
Features: Carousel Ads
Language: English (US)
Objectives: Awareness, Preference
Tags: Telecommunications, North America, English (US), Carousel Ads, Awareness, Preference, Online  
Campaign Description
Our objective for this campaign was to launch #BetterMatters, bring the brand top of mind and make Verizon more approachable to a social audience. The focus was on millennials as this audience over indexes on mobile use and relies on mobile as their primary channel for connection and communication with friends and family. While mobile devices are a popular topic of social conversation, the challenge is that wireless networks that service these devices are often ignored – until there’s a problem. We crafted Bufferface from the insight that everyone knows the the anguish and frustration when your network doesn’t work, especially when video chatting or texting. We aimed to increase positive sentiment and build brand affinity by featuring relatable video buffering and texting scenarios in a humorous way; capturing the exact worst moment in which either could get stuck.
Campaign Goals
When considering which social platforms on which to launch #BetterMatters for Verizon, Instagram stood out as the key platform to communicate our message due to its roots in mobile, highly visual nature, and concentration of active millennials. Through a heightened demo of a universally relatable digital/wireless experience, we inserted the Verizon brand into social feeds in an unobtrusive way with bespoke creative that resonates with Millennials and Instagram users across the board. Instagram’s high impact units allowed us to showcase the #BetterMatters campaign concept in two engaging ways; the Marquee creative grabbed users’ attention by mimicking a poor video experience from a first-person POV with the never-ending animated buffering circle, and the carousel creative brought users through a story arc by allowing them to swipe through several faux screenshots of conversations that have been interrupted by poor service, also from a first-person POV.
Campaign Performance
The campaign achieved our main objective of resonating with millennials as it outperformed other Nielsen Tech / Telco Instagram brand studies by 91% in message association and 31% in ad recall among this audience. The campaign also earned our highest engagement on Instagram to date.