How can a small mobile carrier increase the subscriber base if the entire audience has been already divided between four giant competitors with vastly superior media resources? YOTA decided to make a bold move — to redefine the traditional approach to advertising instead of trying to dress up their product. In an absurdly straightforward, deadpan campaign, the brand hasn’t said anything to the consumer except the only important thing: what they see is a YOTA ad. The effect was overwhelming: highest sales record of the last 1.5 years, highest-ever rate of spontaneous brand awareness, a wave of discussion on the internet, and an unprecedented amount of UGC.
Philosophy
Entry Description How can a small mobile carrier increase the subscriber base if the entire audience has been already divided between four giant competitors with vastly superior media resources? YOTA decided to redefine the traditional approach to advertising: in an absurdly straightforward, deadpan campaign, the brand hasn’t said anything to the consumer except the only important thing: what they see is a YOTA ad. The effect was overwhelming: highest sales record of the last 1.5 years, highest-ever rate of spontaneous brand awareness, a wave of discussion on the internet, and an unprecedented amount of UGC. Supporting Information YOTA is the #5 brand on the Russian telecom market, and the youngest one. Market is owned by the largest players with an aggregated market share of over 95%. Our business goal was to increase the growth rate of subscriber base by increasing sales. To achieve that we needed to increase spontaneous brand awareness by at least 6%. For a challenger like YOTA, spontaneous awareness is crucial — otherwise the brand simply won’t come to mind, with four large competitors boasting a near-100% awareness. Solution & Cultural While other brands are trying to sell you a better life and endless benefits, YOTA has made an ad that matched its products(no spam, mailings and etc), ad where nothing is excessive. Campaign started with TV’s, than the same message appeared on streets in standard and non standard formats (chimneys, cranes, roofs and etc). We launched a site where you could rent out a spot on your social media profile for a YOTA ad. Also we received tonns of UGC's and realized best ones on TV, radio and OOH
Result
The effect was overwhelming: highest sales record of the last 1.5 years, highest-ever rate of spontaneous brand awareness (+10%), a wave of discussion on the internet, and an unprecedented amount of UGC. Other results: over 150 articles in news media, 300 000 000 media impressions, offline sales increased by 17%, website orders for SIM cards increased by 80%. The campaign ended 6 months ago but people still generate content in social media.