Tele2: EVERYONE LOVES A BARGAIN

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Newspapers

Advertiser: TELE2

Product/Service: TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER

Date of First Appearance: Nov 2 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: STARCOM NORWAY, Oslo, NORWAY

Chief Executive Officer: Peder Mittet (Starcom)

Buying Director: Thomas Magnusen (Starcom)

Print Planner: Andre Thomassen (Starcom)

Digital Planner: Yasmin Bhatti (Starcom)

Client Service Manager: Gaelle David (Starcom)

Creative Director: Mathias Friis (Mediafront)

Sales & Marketing Director: Christian Sæterhaug (Tele2)

Managing Director: Christian Steen (SMFB)

Media placement: Newspaper - Dagbladet - 02/11/2009

Media placement: Online - Dagbladet.no - 02/11/2009



Results and Effectiveness

An extraordinary 42% of all Norwegians showed awareness of our campaign the next day, and it broke all records for positive feedback.

There had never been anything like our takeover of the paper, so it generated heated public discussion.

And even though we had increased the print run by 30%, Dagbladet sold out that day.
Meanwhile, over 800 ads were created for the web.

And Tele2’s share of new customers in the next two months was 18%, twice its traditional market share.



Creative Execution

Our partnership with Dagbladet, Norway’s third largest daily, was ground-breaking. On our Day of Great Bargains, we bought almost all the ad space in the newspaper, the first time this had been done in the country. We also bought nearly all the banner ads on the website front page.

And then we turned all that space over to the public.
What we created was an edition of the paper that was stuffed full of bargains, and which was eagerly snapped up across the country.

How?
We asked small businesses, who could never otherwise afford to reach a nation-wide audience, to create their own ads that included coupons for special offers.

We even made the paper a bargain, too, with two-thirds off the cover price.

We also gave Internet users a fun way to create their own ads, which were co-branded with Tele2 and appeared on dagbladet.no. They eagerly shared the links.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea



The Norwegian telecoms authority had declared Tele2 the country’s cheapest mobile phone company – but so what?
Tele2 had once enjoyed strong growth thanks to its slogan, “Born to be cheap” – but so what?
Every operator says they offer a bargain. Price plans are too complex for customers to really compare, so our rivals were getting away with murder. More and more operators were spending more and more money, loudly advertising their claims in expensive newspaper ads.
Meanwhile, customers were becoming more and more cynical.
It was time for Tele2 to step away from the cacophony.
We needed another way to show people how committed the company is to providing a cheap service.
If the people of Norway wanted bargains, we would give them bargains.
Lots and lots of them.
In one day’s newspaper.