Challenge
Like all telecoms today, Rogers is trying to adapt to a rapidly changing communications landscape. The pace of technological change and sheer volume of options for consumers has some people feeling overwhelmed. Rogers identified that its stakeholders needed to feel confident Rogers is a thought leading ally during tumultuous times.
Our solution had to communicate initially with a group of key influencers in the telecom space, including investors who were there in person to see the President’s keynote speech at the 2010 Annual General Meeting. The AGM audience was generally neutral or favourable to our client’s messaging, but with some of the most influential investors in the room, it was crucial to hit the right tone. Following the AGM our audience would move to the general public that has been skeptical in the past about messaging from large telecoms. The target demographic was not broken down by gender, but in the age category, we were targeting a web/tech savvy audience between 18-40 years old.
Solution
The solution presented by Thornley Fallis was a video that could be deployed at the AGM, but more importantly would be uploaded to YouTube and Rogers’ blogging platforms to reach out to the broader public. The video would leave its audience with the feeling change is inevitable, even overwhelming at times, but that ultimately it is connecting us in positive ways. We also wanted viewers to leave with the impression Rogers Communications understands, and is embracing that change. The project was to be driven by statistics, but also told a compelling story people could connect with using an innovative visual treatment and shooting style that would involve the projection of statistics on real people and urban landscapes.
Tactics
TFC’s research team worked with the client to finalize the statistics that would be used. Our writers worked with the client to nail down the wording that would be most powerful and succinct. And our production team executed the work in a striking visual style. In post-production, we matched our visual story about how people connect, with a music track TFC negotiated with a Canadian performer.
The completed video was launched at the AGM, on YouTube and in various social media channels. It was supported with a grassroots campaign of sending out tweets on Twitter; and by placing the content on the Rogers Redboard, which is a social media platform where consumers can interact with experts. It was in the end, organically embedded on many blogs and social media platforms, across Canada and around the world.
Results
From a quantitative standpoint, the project was successful in drawing more views in the first few months, than more than a dozen of the client’s previously existing videos combined. With little to no promotion, the video accumulated more than 21,000 high engagement views, which means most viewers watched start to finish. The views represented more than 13,100 hours of engagement with the video, and place it in the top 4 % of most watched videos on YouTube.
But the real value was delivered in positive sentiment. Even some of the telecom’s fiercest critics paused to offer their adulation. The client summed it up nicely:
“The finished product is terrific and early feedback has been very positive both from within Rogers and in social media. Rob Hyndman has been a vocal critic of Rogers in the past, but was passionate in his praise: “I’m completely infatuated with this fierce, inspired, brilliant video about the ‘net produced by Rogers. I think it’s remarkable.” And the IT Nerd blogger called it “the best advert Rogers has ever produced.”
That sentiment was echoed in hundreds of blog posts and tweets from influencers and consumers alike.
