To do this, we created the Virgin Mobile Data Auction - the world’s first auction where people’s unused data was accepted as currency to bid for real, big-ticket items and experiences. The auction ran exclusively on Facebook, where we auctioned off 30 lots over 30 days. This ensured everyone had a chance to bid, as monthly plans finish on different days.

Auction lots included everything from new phones, drones and hoverboards to the grand finale item - a week on a private island in Fiji, worth $40,000. We also reacted contextually to special days, like auctioning off Stormtrooper armour on International Star Wars Day (May the 4th), and news stories, offering a spot on a Mardi Gras float on the same day Telstra, a rival, backtracked on its support for marriage equality.

The Data Auction launched and ran exclusively on Facebook from 15 April to 15 May 2016. It was supported by daily Instagram posts and Tweets from Virgin Mobile’s other social channels, which drove traffic to the Virgin Mobile page where bidding took place.

One item was auctioned off live every day for 30 days, with bidding open between 7pm and 8pm AEST. Our unique daily auction video posts appeared in News Feeds hours before the bidding time to drive interest and engagement once the auction started.

The Virgin Mobile Data Auction was a hit, with a huge average winning bid of 6.1GB of unused data. Every daily auction drew our audience’s attention to just how much data is stolen by the other telco companies every month. News, entertainment and tech media outlets all covered the auction, giving us free promotion to a much wider audience. Just as importantly, every news story and article also spread awareness of the issue of data theft by Australia’s big telco companies and Virgin Mobile’s point of difference with Data Rollover.  

• 258% increase in traffic to Virgin Mobile Facebook page

• 160% increase in engagement with Virgin Mobile content

• 1,624,418 impressions

• 483,345 total video views