“Transmission with T-Mobile was never just about a TV show and a TX slot. The experiential activity staged for T-Mobile customers aimed to give people a really superb live music experience. Recruitment for this was managed through competitions on Channel 4 and T4 as well as online registration”  - Jennifer Hills, Head of Content, MediaCom

Original Case study research document:

I have again uploaded my original report on the T-Mobile Transmission advertising campaign. The report outlines key information, aswell as interesting facts and figures regarding the ad.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1W_ixL00_XoTQodBtABexcgn9Z5_NPNbeL1NapuMTKAA

I will now start to look further and deeper into the strategy, goals and aspects of the iconic advertisement campaign.

What is T-Mobile trying to promote?

T-Mobile’s main goal was to bring people closer, and to promote their street gigs. They aimed the campaign at youths, as music is at the center of youth culture. T-Mobile’s answer to this music craze was the ‘Street Gigs’ campaign, a series of randomly located, randomly timed street concerts for people close to the secret location. The campaign began during mid-2005 and really began to shine in 2006 with lead bands taking center stage at the gigs. The gigs have taken place in Meuseums, car parks and even a kebab shop. Customers on the T-Mobile network recieve texts up to an hour before the gig is set to start, informing them of the location and the time. It worked on a first served basis. T-Mobile wanted to reach a larger audience without destroying the nature of the concerts.

 

T-Mobile Transmission TV Ad - Thinkbox

 The series of gigs became more and more succesfull, during 2006 it had reached its peak with huge headline acts including Kasabian, the Strokes and Athlete. T-Mobile Transmission was later advertised on Channel 4 at peak times and sponsored several peak-tv shows.

TV Advertisements

The real aim for the clever campaign was to simply raise awareness, harness more customers and to also provide a truly amazing experience for their existing ones. The outcome was substantial, their concerts filled up immanently, T-Mobile received sponsorships from many companies, and is also a silent partner with Channel 4.

What are the main conventions and how are/were they used?

This is hard to source, however I believe that T-Mobile was clever in that it had real life-events to back up its programme. The T-Mobile Transmission show on Channel 4 was simply a way of promoting its other campaign, Street Gigs. The programme itself was a typical music show, live acts, interviews and ‘bubbly’ presenters. The show also featured live concerts (street gigs) whilst they were happening, providing a medium for those unlucky to not get to go to the concert. From this show, Channel 4 reports that a 76% increase of users night by night, to form a huge 3.86million viewers on the last show, breaking music show records.

Are/Were there any cultural/genre references?

In T-Mobile’s case, they were out from the start to gain as many more customers as possible, because of this they aimed to make both the street gigs & Transmission with T-Mobile as people-friendly as possible. They had all different genres of music on offer, from Reggae to hip hop to soul and jazz, they had it all! This also added to the success of the programme, on average, over 500 people a night on the T-Mobile network requested more web data to post updates of the events.

Who was/is the target audience?

Like I said before, the target audience of T-Mobile’s Transmission & Street gigs campaign was broad, however they did have a particular age range in mind. They aimed to promote their services to people aged between 18 and 27, which in itself is still a large audience to try and ‘pin down’. Looking through a past case study of the campaign, T-Mobile also advertised on several large social networks with these same filters, aswell as on large search engines and on a few iPhone and Blackberry Apps.

How did/does T-Mobile communicate their message across?

T-Mobile used both an obvious and a never-tried before medium. The first being TV advertisement and programme placement and the second Text-message advertising. T-Mobile partnered with Channel 4 to create a music themed show to attract a new, younger audience, what T-mobile’s user base was missing. The text messaging that T-mobile sent was to offer free tickets to gigs, aswell as times of the show and also contests etc…

Did/Does T-Mobile use celebrity endorsement?

T-Mobile didn’t use celebrity endorsement in these particular campaigns, however in a later campaign called “Street Ice”, several sporting figures helped promote the advertisement.

What was the cost of the campaign?

T-Mobile spent a huge £2m on this campaign, one of the largest that Mediacom (the advertising agency behind the idea) had taken on before. The money bought T-Mobile more than just customers, it bought them the image of a cool, music-themed service provider, into more than just making money (on the outset anyway).

What technology was/is used?

T-Mobile used a technology not used before in this type of campaign, text message. T-mobile used its large user base to its advantage in this campaign, they were able to notify users close to the secret gig locations of times and places that the gigs were going to happen, aswell as promote their TV series and other competitions.

Summary

Overall the T-Mobile Transmission campaign was a success in more than one way, it improved the reputation aswell as the image of the company aswell as provide T-Mobile with more customers than it had originally intended for. 

-Jake

“Just Do it; Chosen by Ad Age as one of the top two taglines of the 20th Century, it is both universal and intensly personal. This campaign is now esconced in the American exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum — Truly part of American history.” - NikeBiz Website

Original Case study research document:

I have taken the liberty of preparing a research document including main information and answers relevant typical questions. Sources are also included at the bottom of the document.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1g0JI0vjdBMnWLvwOG9kioFVHs2cFwMlB0TZ7MXv6sww

I will now go a little more in-depth and answer more presidenting questions and more in-depth questions about Nike’s iconic and successful campaign.

What is Nike trying to promote?

We start with the basics. What is Nike trying to promote? The basic answer is Nike’s design, technology and overall and more importantly, their sports clothes and shoes. The campaign started out with the aim to raise awareness of Nike as it’s rival, Reebok had a particular rise in popularity during the 1980’s with cheap, good quality products, matching the design of Nike. However, Nike achieved much more than just raising its popularity, the year the advertisement first aired (1987), there was a 5,000% increase in sales both in the U.S and U.K. It is believed that Nike’s use of a extremely popular Beatles song, ‘Revolution’ helped make the ad so popular (until Apple Inc. sued both Nike, EMI Records and Capitol Records for a sum of $15,000,000). So what is so great about the ad you say? I have linked to it below.

Two Great Nike Cool Commercial.(Just Do It)

Because the ad became so succesfull, Nike branched out its ‘Just Do it.’ campaign to different mediums. These can be seen below.

Merchendise (Shirts)

Outdoor Advertisements

Billboard:

Print Media:

 

Gorilla:

The aims of the Just Do It. Campaign was to simply raise brand awareness. The campaign was wide spread, had a large target audience and tried to use all mediums to reach their audience. As you can see, Nike used different mediums for the same campaign. They range from billboards to professional outdoor grafitti. Because the specific aim of the campaign was to raise awareness, there is not much more I can say.

The success of the campaign can be seen in the fact that it is still being aired today, with new ads being produced all the time.

Nike had successfully achieved its original goal, raising its reputation aswell as increasing its sales margin by 5,000%, unintentially. Nike had also managed to become the worlds leading sports lifestyle brand.

What were the main conventions and how are/were they used?

In television advertisements, there are four basic conventions (codes) that advertisers stick to. These are:

The basic categories of TV commercials are:

1. Mini-dramas:  In TV, this kind of commercial is a full-range 30-60 second drama that presents characters, conflict, and resolution at breakneck speed.  When done for national agencies, these commercials are at the very top of production lavishness and can be incredibly expensive.  The “ring around the collar” commercial is a good example of the compression of all the elements of drama into a short space.  The wife’s peace is shattered by the embarrassment of being discovered with a husband suffering from “those dirty rings”.  This develops characterization and conflict.  The wife is undecided.  She needs to find the right detergent.   At this point, the proper detergent is introduced.  The rings disappear in the resolution, and the husband and wife continue their trouble-free life.
2. Spokesperson Presentation:  This type of commercial often involves a celebrity using his or her actual identity, or it can be an implied identity, using someone who is recognizable as a character, but not necessarily himself.  The spokesperson needs to have an authoritative presence, and an honest, convincing delivery.
3. Pitch Presentation:  This type of commercial resembles the old days of television when the “pitchman” would deliver a message about a product.  The difference between a pitchman and a spokesperson is that the former is neither a celebrity or a known character.  The product is of prime importance and the pitchman simply supplies the information.
4. Voice-Over:  Many commercials use a voice-over.  The performer who reads the copy is not seen in a voice-over commercial.  Rather, the performer’s voice is heard as a major component of the sound track.

In Nikes case, they opted for both Spokesperson(s) presentation and mini-drama in some of the tv ads. The unique way Nike adapted these was how it ‘won’ over the nation, the creative people at Wieden & Kennedy (Nike’s advertising agency) decided to combign the two create a new kind of advertising convention, they called it Spokes-Drama.

Are/Were there any cultural/genre references?

There is an obvious appeal to the sports genre with Nike, however Nike aimed to change this, to promote a message that you need to use Nike in your everyday life, to create a new lifestyle. This helped Nike appeal to many different genres, just like any great advertisement should. Nike’s choice of medium (TV) meant that they could reach-out to a vast audience. A unique aspect that Nike implemented was that it was trying to create a new genre of people, those who like sports but dont live around sports. People who excersized daily without schedualing it. This is where their iconic slogan, ‘Just Do it.’ came from.

Who was/is the target audience?

During the campaign in the early 1990’s and late 1980’s Nike had no particular target audience in mind, if they did it was a large target as they wanted to reach out to everybody, make everybody want Nike. However, during the late 1990’s and even today, Nikes target audience is greatly the youth’s that will eventually rule the country. Nike wanted/wants to reach out to people whilst they’re young, get the message accross when style and trends are all you can think about. Nike most recently setup a campaign, a sequal to the 1988 campaign, targeting youths where they ‘hang out’ most, online. Nike partnered with MSN, Facebook and even Google to, overall get the message accross. The specific age range Nike wanted to reach was 12-16. This is a huge market and so Nike received a lot of competition from competitors, inlcuding Reebok, Sports Direct and Adidas. Bidding wars began on websites for visitors. Nike setup a ‘mini-site’ dedicated to teens.

How did/does Nike communicate their message accross?

Nike have been known to use several different mediums when advertising products/the brand itself. Their most successful medium is television. Nike have a ‘knack’ for creating compelling TV advertisements that capture peoples attention and their imagination. Nike also use online advertising and even print.

Did/does Nike use celebrity endorsement?

Nike’s Just Do it campaign consisted of specifically picked celebrities to put the message accross. They have three well-known athletes that represent the comany, many more were used in TV advertisements. Not all of Nike’s tv ads consisted of top atheletes, their recent Just Do it unveiling revieled the use of pop celebritys such as Katy Perry and rap artists such as Tiny Tempa.

What was the cost of the campaign?

Nike’s ongoing Just Do it campaign has a total cost of around $1billion per/year. That is around $17,000,000,000 (£10.6billion) which has entered the record books as one of the highest priced advertising campaigns of the 20th century, just below Coca-Cola at £12.9billion.

What technology was/is used?

Nike has managed to stay successful in the advertising field by keeping it simple. However, new attempts to reach out to the youth market pushed Nike to advertise vastly online, using three different mediums. Phone, on screen and online.

Summary

Overall Nike’s success can be measured by how large the company is and how much its sales are growing each year due to its Just Do it campaign (17% increase in sales year by year).

-Jake