Decoding Three's Phones Are Good Ad Campaign

A montage of the #PhonesAreGood Campaign

This essay will decode the #PhonesAreGood Campaign and explore the advertising theories and approaches being are used.

I have chosen the Phones Are Good campaign by Three as my subject. The campaign was launched on 17th October 2018 and was created by Wieden + Kennedy advertising agency. The campaign was first shown on Twitter on its release day and then launched nationwide onto TV, cinema, out of home, digital and social platforms the following day. I will be focusing on the cinema and YouTube versions of the execution as it contains the full 2 minute 30 second commercial (McCarthy, 2018).

I have organised my montage into different sections being, the intended target audience and their behaviour, the perceived reason for the campaign, the strategy Three used, their competitors, the campaign proposition and the evidence supporting the proposition.

The target audience (TA) as well as their behaviour patterns and attitudes is (located top left of my montage). This campaign was specifically aimed at targeting higher value consumers and tech savvy older millennials so that Three could change their brand perception through persuasion (Gwynn, 2018). I have used images to represent this audience, featuring tech savvy millennials using tablets and mobile phones and an image of an adult male.

Three’s previous advertising campaigns primarily featured anthropomorphism involving a dancing pony and a diving half-dolphin half-sloth animal. Those campaigns lacked maturity and resonate better with a younger audience because of their imagery, innocent narrative and pricing and as a result caused a bad brand perception. To regain the attention of an older audience the campaign displayed a playful yet premium tone of voice, combined with an increase production budget caused viewers to think the the brand has a greater value than it actually does (Gwynn, 2018).

We now live in a society where phones have become a big part of our culture and the majority of the population use the technology, meaning all those people will need phones and a service provider. Smartphones are currently the most used device in the UK with 88% of population own one (Deloitte, 2018). So those individuals would also be the targeting by the campaign as a secondary audience.

The campaign was created to address a few issues (see bottom left of montage). First of all, to argue the notion that mobile phones are damaging our society and are bad for our mental health and secondly, to drive brand consideration and change the perception of those that reject the brand due to their past experiences with the network. The media depicts the image that our lives would be better without phones because of issues such as social anxiety and lack of concentration. However, Three being a network provider have to believe phones are good for us and created a campaign controversial to that idea showing how phones actual make our lives better. They came up with the proposition ‘Phones Are Good’ and this was created through consumers insights and research; That was the driving force behind the strategy (Gwynn, 2018).

The strategy and creative execution Three used to combat the idea that phones are bad for us was to show a montage of clips were mobile phones are the hero in several historic scenarios, (see images middle right) showing how historic events would have been avoided or made better if smartphones were available at the time. From Henry VIII’s wives surviving their execution because of Tinder, to The Titanic avoiding crashing into the iceberg because of Google Maps. The advert is very fast pace, relatable and has a light hearted humorous aspect to it. The language the advert uses is minimal however very effective utilising SMS speech, word abbreviations and very bold headers that stand out to draw the TA’s attention.

The campaign was definitely intended to target millenials as there is heavy usage of text language, sounds, visual stimuli and references to applications used by the generation such as Snapchat and Tinder. These element makes the advertisement familiar to the audience, also relating to Cialdini’s (2001) weapon of ‘liking’ as the protagonist in each scene uses their phone for various tasks which they also do day to day.

The campaign also makes use of very vibrant visuals to engage the TA which are used all over Three’s branding for consistency, this will help build brand awareness and recognition. Humorous comedy sketches / skits are used to tell the story and they are very straightforward and to the point, locking in the audience's attention (see imagery located top right). In addition, a logos argument is used to make a rational argument to deliver the message by showing clear visual examples of how phones do make your life better which is supported by an accompanying narration and body copy explaining the visual.

The strategy the campaign took is a result of the insights gathered from Three’s brand research. Their findings showed that Three customers use more mobile data and spend three and a half times more on their phone in comparison to other mobile networks users (Three, 2018). Another insight found was that Three customers have more fun on their phone compared to other network customers as a result of having more data (Gwynn, 2018). These insights support the interests of the target audience (located top left) and match their behaviour patterns, generally browsing social media and the web.

Mobile phones enabled consumers to connect with the people they love, experience and do more; They make life a lot easier and simpler (as depicted in bottom middle images). Tasks as intricate as finding love is now doable lying in bed, ordering a five star gourmet meal or, binge watching your favourite shows are all possible with only a few clicks and Three understands this, thus how the campaign proposition ‘Phones Are Good’ was created. Using this collective information Three created a campaign that involves the interests of the TA based on their behavioural patterns, to enable an increased chance of them being receptive to their intended message, causing it to resonate with them more and in turn are more likely to take action as a result.

In order to shift the current perception of the brand within the consumers mind, this campaign utilises several persuasive advertising models and theories to achieve this. First of all, by applying Lasswell’s (ca.1948) communication model we can analyse how and to whom the message was being transmitted to. The communicator (Who) being Three, were transmitting the message (Says what) that phone are not bad for us and are in fact good, beneficial and versatile, portraying this message through a series of short creative skits with casual language used within the advertising copy to support the visual. Thirdly, the medium (In which channel) the campaign launched on first was Twitter to uphold the theme of being mobile, this has been done to strengthen their image of being a mobile network optimised for mobile data. Then shortly followed onto TV, cinema, OOH, all social platforms and digital the following day. The receiver of the message (To whom) as the primary TA were older millennials and mobile phone owners as a secondary audience. Lastest, (With what effect) Three wants to be established as a brand that is built for mobile data and browsing.

This campaign makes use of Cialdini’s (2001) weapon of social proof. At the end of the advertisement, the narrator makes the statement “phones are good and they are even better on the best network for data,” this claim is also supported by a reason to believe that Three were awarded best network for data by the Mobile Consumer Awards 2018 (Three, 2018).

Voting was based on consumer’s experiences with the brand and expert judges decisions, collected by a survey. Consumers base their purchasing decisions on several different reasons and reason to believe and social proof are two reasons of many. By winning an accolade that is true to what the brand stands for overall and linear to the message they are communicating through their campaigns it makes the brand more authentic and trustworthy.

Social proof is also used within the campaign creative by using modeled behaviour in which the the protagonist in the various scenes is using their phone, modeling exactly how the target audience would do.

In regards to the AIDA model, hierarchy of effects, the campaign grabs the audience's attention within the first two scenes, firstly by telling the audience mobile phones are bad for you and they will end humanity, this also builds interest through the puzzling statement and curiosity of where this is leading. In addition to this, in the second scene the bright visual imagery also gains the audience's attention through the fast paced narration and rhetorical question asked.

The audience's interest is drawn to the following scene of where The Titanic ship is moments away from colliding with the iceberg however, is saved because of a smartphone informing the crew of a hazard ahead. Throughout this encounter the audience would be very engaged to see what occurs next as modern technology has been introduced into a memorable part of history where a tragedy was prevented because of a smartphone.

Leading on from this, the desire for the brand is the benefit received from the product and service as seen through each scene as the protagonist’s lives have been made easier or problems were resolved because of having a smartphone. This is then transferable to the real world where some of those scenarios could occur and also be resolved.

Lastly, the call to action is a slogan “Phones are good...” which entices the audience to network with Three as they are the best network for data and that is how the majority of their intended target audience use their devices for.

In conclusion, this campaign was very successful in achieving their communication and advertising objectives. Three and Wieden + Kennedy agency argued the debate and negatives connotations mobile phones have and created their own creative solutions of how phones are great and show them saving the day. The campaign was a success in altering their brand perception, whilst still keeping their playful and creative brand personality which separates the brand from other mobile networks.

References:

Cialdini, R., 2001. Influence: Science and Practice. London: Allyn and Bacon. Deloitte, 2018. Deloitte Mobile Consumer Survey 2018 [online]. London: Deloitte

Lasswell, H., ca.1948. Lasswell’s model [online]. Available from: https://www.communicationtheory.org/lasswells-model/ [Accessed 18 May 2019].

Three, 2018., Three takes on the phone cynics with new brand campaign. Three [online]. Available from: http://www.threemediacentre.co.uk/news/2018/phones-are-good.aspx [Accessed 18 May 2019].

McCarthy, J., 2018. Three CMO on how 'phones are good' belief underpins its new marketing strategy. The Drum [online], 17 October 2018. Available from: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/10/17/three-cmo-how-phones-are-good-belief- underpins-its-new-marketing-strategy [Accessed 18 May 2019].

Gwynn, S., 2018. Three adopts controversial stance on phone use to win round brand rejectors. Campaign [online], 17 October 2018. Available from: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/three-adopts-controversial-stance-phone-use-win- round-brand-rejectors/1496319 [Accessed 18 May 2019].