Gold

Brand: O2
Campaign title: The best way to win new customers? Talk to ones you already have.
Client: O2 UK
Agency(ies): Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest; Zenith Optimedia Group; Archibald Ingall Stretton and Lambie-Nairn

In 2005 O2 changed the conventions of the UK mobile network market. A new campaign, 'O2: A World That Revolves Around You', talked to O2 customers through broadcast and personal media. It announced a radical shift in rewards, now for loyalty not for defection, with a new emphasis on customer service. The campaign reversed a rising trend in disconnections and attracted new customers. By the end of 2005, O2 overtook Orange to have the largest UK user base. O2's brand affinity also improved on a range of measures, including bonding, consideration and recommendation. Econometric modelling suggests a medium-term payback on investment of up to 80:1. Now part of Telefonica, O2 has achieved UK Brand Leadership.

Judges comment: 
A wonderful case study on the value of loyalty.  A new chapter for O2, showing how they executed a communications campaigns in order to retain the customers they had won following the highly successful re-branding campaign which scooped the Grand Prix at the 2004 IPA Effectiveness Awards.  This was a hard act to follow and they did an exceptional job.  O2 rewarded loyalty, a relatively new concept in this category, and delivered a sensational return on initial investment.

Bronze

Brand: ING Direct
Campaign title: ING Direct UK launch: taking the savings market by storm
Client: ING Direct UK
Agency(ies): Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest and Media Planning Group

This paper explains that in order to achieve long-term success ING Direct had to build a brand that was an alternative to the mainstream saver at a time when the UK savings market was already over-crowded. It achieved this by identifying a gap in the market for a catch-free product, creating a campaign that integrated the simple 'for everyone' nature of the product, whilst building the perception of reliability, and executing a media strategy that continually maximised 'the bang for every buck'. By the end of 2005, ING Direct had over one million customers, £24bn of funds under management, had realised the highest savings market share growth of any bank and is now in a position to launch a wider portfolio, including a mortgage product.