Truphone rings the changes with £1m launch campaign
Creative communications agency, The Bank, and media agency, the7stars have launched an international campaign for revolutionary mobile operator Truphone.
The campaign supports the Truphone Local Anywhere service – a new global mobile package which offers local rates and local numbers on one SIM and is specifically targeted to businesses and consumers that communicate frequently on an international basis.
With the UK and US being the first countries to offer the new service, the campaign will launch in London on 1st March with TV, outdoor and press advertising featuring the line ‘Turn global communications on its head’. This will be shortly followed with a US version of the campaign idea.
Creative work playfully captures this idea with the UK TV commercial opening on a typical New York City street scene. Everything appears normal as we follow a man dressed in black and green (Truphone’s brand colours) as he walks down the street.
However, at closer inspection we notice that all communication has literally been turned on its head and is upside-down: a hotel sign reads ‘Local Anywhere’; street signs say ‘No Roaming’ and a the bar is called ‘Stay Connected’ – mobile and communications-related names which also play to the brand’s product benefits. As our protagonist turns the corner we are seamlessly taken to a typical London street where again signs such as ‘Post No Bills’, ‘Rate Watchers’ and ‘To Let – No Contracts’ are flipped.
When the TV ad launches in the US, the scenes are purposefully reversed so our man walks from London to New York. In print ads, London scenes from the TV work will run in US media, with New York scenes in UK media to reflect the international appeal of both cities.
Press ads are planned to appear in a mixture of transatlantic in-flight magazines and business-to-business and consumer titles, whilst TV advertising will be shown on business relevant TV channels – all specifically targeted at the international community.
The outdoor element of the campaign will use a mixture of backlit traditional and digital screens within Heathrow airport to target international travellers. The product will be available to buy on BA, Virgin, South Africa Airways, Easyjet and BMI flights. A fleet of Truphone liveried taxis running between London and Heathrow will continue the message.
Ian Pond, chief marketing officer at Truphone said: “Truphone Local Anywhere is a huge launch for us, with enormous potential and something that really fills a gap in the market. It’s an innovative product that really changes the rules and that we know will appeal to people with an international lifestyle on both sides of the Atlantic, and eventually in many more countries.
“We wanted to get our name out there with a polished campaign and some clever media targeting that would immediately establish us as a credible and reliable player for the international community. The work that the7stars and The Bank have produced is intelligent and distinctive campaign that represents the changes Truphone is bringing to the mobile communications world.”
Will Phipps, head of planning at the7stars added: “When launching a product like this, it matters enormously that targeting is clever enough to reach the right people – and with Truphone Local Anywhere making its debut on both sides of the Atlantic we’ve produced an incredibly hard working and creative media plan that will see the brand make its mark on the right people in exactly the right place.”
Tristan Connell, managing director at The Bank said “We have found the experience of working with Truphone hugely rewarding and sought to develop a campaign for the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere that not only did justice to a genuinely innovative brand, but got people talking. We wanted to move away from conventional telecommunications advertising and felt the idea of ‘turning global communications on its head’ did just that, by cleverly challenging and rewarding the viewer as well as living up to the truth behind this pioneering product”.
