This a project I did back in 2006 and am pretty proud of. Back then the expression “branded utility” wasn’t coined yet, today this could act as the poster child of branded utilities. *cough*
Problem:
A telco launches a new youth-oriented mobile subscription. And wants “a website” to promote it.
Context:
It was the beginning of the Web2.0 hype, kids where in “social networks” (What are those should we make one too?”) and created “User generated content” (Should we ask them to make a video?)
Solution:
Instead of pumping money in a big flashy website I suggested they add something to the product. Every subscription now came with a free moblog. (moblog: a blog of phone pictures uploaded directly from phone to web).
But giving them yet-another-thing-online wasn’t what we where after, all along the goal was to be where the youngsters where: on MySpace, in the blogosphere, in fora etc. So we put all the tools in place so they could spread their pictures: a slideshow you could embed on your blog/MySpace page, blog sidebar with latest pics, posting direct to Blogger using the API.
So we created added value for the users (free moblogging, updating their MySpace from their phone) and the telco (pictures watermarked with their logo all over the youth web ecosphere).
Result
This was a great success, and as a proof of that it is still running and the client expanded the moblog feature to all it’s mobile offers.
So instead of a short-lived campaign, Proximus got a platform that is becoming more relevant every day, even two years later.
And the youngsters got a way to connect their mobiles to their online lives without having to pass through a computer.
Tags: branded utility, moblog, proximus
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