Vodafone’s VOXI sub-brand partnered with the UK surf and skate Boardmasters Festival to create a cause-centric, at-event experience
The telco teamed up with rights holder Vision N and content agency Wavemaker for a CSR initiative in Cornish during a mid August weekend based around three festival ‘beach cleans’.
The objective behind the initiative was to team up with the brand’s target audience and work together for an environmentally themed cause which resonated with the consumer segment and which also showcased the VOXI brand’s ‘ethos of endless possibilities’.
The aim behind the event activation was to boost brand engagement, raise positive brand sentiment among festival goers in person and the wider UK population.
The initiative blended festival talent, influencers and the Boardmasters’ team to create a fulfilling experience that rewarded existing VOXI users and those previously not familiar with the brand.
Building on the Beach Cleans themselves, the team created an event space called the ‘VOXI Chill Out Zone’ at the main festival grounds where festival goers could relax and recharge and sign up for the daily beach cleans (incentivised by prizes ranging from surf lessons, food and drink vouchers and ticket upgrades).
The branded space was sustainably designed and built from recyclable material: it featured a giant wave built from recycled plastic bottles and had big burlap bags for attendees to ecologically dispose of their rubbish.
To create a more engaging experience (and drive beach clean sign-ups), the space also saw several of the musicians playing at the festival – Rae Morris, Gengahr and Sam Fender – to act as influencers and come to the Chill Out Zone and support the beach cleans.
The team also tied up with Solent University photography students to capture the event and experience and create content to upload daily onto VOXI’s social channels.
Plus it worked with a group of environmental activists to help educate festival goers about the vital importance of the beach cleans.
As well as advertising and promoting the cleans in the lead up to the festival via social channels.
Comment:
This seems like a smart CSR sponsorship initiative, run on a limited budget, to promote behavioural change and drive home brand values.
The background to the initiative was to bring to life the positioning of the Vodafone-owned, SIM-only brand – for customers aged under 29 – which is to offer ‘endless data to enable endless possibility’.
The young brand, set up in 2017, needed to build on its initial launch and drive a deeper level of engagement with its young target audience and to improve understanding of its proposition.
The target audience values experiences more than things and thus the brief was to create a shareable experience that would help build brand trust and values.
Thus a festival sponsorship with activation centered on a CSR project was chosen.
VOXI chose Boardmasters due to its festivalgoer match (a whopping 83% of those who attend Boardmasters are aged between 16 and 25-year-old) and its heritage positioning: after all, it is a relatively small, intimate event held in Newquay which draws on Cornwall’s history and culture for both surfing and ecology.
The festival is known for its conscientious beach cleans, so VOXI decided to sponsor and support them: donating both finances and resources to the three beach cleans during the festival weekend.
The aim before the initiative was to involve as close to 100% of the festivalgoers as possible and to generate influencer-led positive social sentiment for the brand (focusing on Facebook and Instagram) that would spread nationwide.
The campaign led to 209 festival goers volunteering for the cleans leading to a 76 attendance rate at the cleans themselves.
The influencer programme resulted in 41.8k engagements with 100% positive sentiment.
Whole footfall at the branded space during the festival was 20,000 – representing around half of all the attendees.
Links:
Vodafone VOXI
https://www.instagram.com/voxi_uk/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZxzwSBS95aLLOhdGISdlHw/featured
https://www.snapchat.com/add/voxi_uk
https://www.facebook.com/VOXIUK/
Wavemaker
Boardmaster’s Festival
Vision Nine
https://www.visionninegroup.com/
