For broadband provider SIRO, the competition was outspending us, and all of them were aligned around speed. All other providers were being pushed as “superfast”, “megafast” “rocketfast” broadband, with everyone trying to out-fast each other. We approached our campaign with the insight that what good is “fast” when it’s not reliable? Our target consumers were people in rural Ireland, frustrated and feeling left behind with mediocre connection speeds. The speed of their connection meant nothing to them if they couldn’t actually connect!
We also wanted to move them away from their jargon-heavy social presence into a warmer, more human area, with content that their target consumers could relate to. We wrote a series of branded video content based on the concept of awkward situations that occur when broadband lets you down. Basically, a-minute-or-less comedy skits around those “sweaty situations” that we can all relate to. The one we have nominated is Skyping The Folks. A young Irish couple in America skype the woman’s mother back home with exciting news of their engagement. Mistaking a frozen internet connection on her end as her cold indifference leads to a particularly awkward moment. We also made one called Movie Night about the awkward moment everyone has had several times in their life: watching TV with a parent and a sex scene starts to play. In this case, it’s made worse because what they’re watching starts to buffer! The end splits the difference between a TV spot and a comedy short.
