Rogers Communications is addressing customers’ holiday need for speed with a massive campaign that, for the first time ever, uses a shared theme across both its wireless and cable divisions.
Developed by Publicis, the bilingual holiday campaign—built around the theme “The Experience of Speed”—includes extensive TV, radio, out-of-home, digital placements and street team activations, as well as print ads in major newspapers, including the National Post, Toronto Star and Metro. OMD Canada handled the media buy.
While the two Rogers business units typically go to market separately, the speed theme is particularly relevant to both sets of consumers during the crucial Q4 sales period, said Shelagh Stoneham, senior vice-president and GM, brands and marketing for Rogers.
“It’s really important for us to get our message out, and… while our media buy is significant, we should have even greater impact as a result of combining the two campaign themes,” said Stoneham.
“It will feel like we’ve spent more than we have.”
The thematically linked campaign touts Rogers’ enhanced internet service—which recently received speed upgrades across its three tiers—and its new selection of LTE superphones and Windows 8 phones.
“We have news on both the internet side and the wireless side as it relates to speed, so we thought it was natural to go out with a shared message,” said Stoneham. “With all the gadgets and devices people are purchasing during the holidays, fast wi-fi is important.”
The campaign also includes several innovative media applications, such as a 30-second radio spot intended to underscore the importance of speed by being a standalone unit—allowing listeners to get back to the programming much faster than a standard commercial cluster.
Rogers has also introduced what Stoneham called “contextual out-of-home” with billboard ads running alongside major highways such as Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway. The ads feature internet speeds resembling speed limit signs, accompanied by messages such as “We’ve doubled our Internet speed (Couldn’t do anything about the Gardiner. Sorry).”
A third execution involves a placed-based media experience that allows patrons at arenas and malls to experience the high speed of Rogers internet inside a specially constructed booth that mimics a wind tunnel. The customer experience is captured by an HD camera and invites consumers to use Rogers’ high-speed capabilities to quickly post the picture to their social network.
“They are examples where our media and messaging are perfectly aligned,” said Stoneham.
Stoneham said the campaign is more likely to produce synergistic benefits for Rogers than actual cost-savings, but didn’t rule out using a similar approach in future marketing efforts.
“We feel really confident that this is the right approach for Q4,” said Stoneham. “Whether we continue to do this or not, we’ll have to wait and see.”
