Vodafone is Romania’s second biggest telecom operator and the first to introduce high-speed 3G Broadband services. As more people use mobiles to access Internet, Vodafone wanted to position as the operator with 'the best data coverage in Romania'.We had to make this promise relevant to all customers, young and old, consumer and business. We had to translate technology into common sense, showing the role of Vodafone’s data coverage in people’s lives.

We looked for a real event, the best pretext to illustrate Vodafone’s mobile features.

We found Florentina and Valentin, a young couple of climbing enthusiasts who wanted to get married on a Romanian mountain top, totally inaccessible for families and friends! We turned the couple into local celebrities, and used them as ambassadors to demonstrate Vodafone’s mobile facilities.

The wedding was broadcasted live online. Video recordings and wedding photos became Romania’s first real-life ads. National interest was kept alive for months through blogs, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr.

Awareness of Vodafone’s mobile services rocketed; the extensive communication efforts reached over 77% of the Romanian population – 17.7 million people connected with our story."Vodafone Wedding" generated €470,000 of free media publicity, becoming Romania’s most talked-about sponsored event – ever!

We started with a teaser, asking Florentina and Valentin to create a blog and share their uncommon wedding plans. Facebook and Twitter soon followed. Social media buzzed with people curious about the story and its authenticity.We kept interest alive, by telling our story everywhere and maintaining constant interaction with the grooms. We broadcasted the wedding online. We arranged media apparitions. We updated the blog daily with personal pictures and movies; on Facebook we collected feedback, congratulations and questions; on Youtube we posted our ads, footage from the real wedding event, and random videos from the newlyweds; the wedding photo album was on Flickr.

We answered to every question and comment, also tackling the issue of trust: we made sure that everyone understood that the event was real.We ended up with the biggest wedding in Romania and one of the most involving events that ever happened in our country.

Awareness of Vodafone’s services rocketed; the extensive advertising, social media and PR activity reached over 77% per cent of the Romanian population – 17.7 million people who were all emotionally involved in the country’s most heart-warming love story.The 'Vodafone nunta' tag was searched on Google more than 1.4 million times and the TV commercial was the third most viewed in the Romanian blogosphere. The wedding blog brought in over 7000 unique visitors, with a massive 20,000 unique visitors accessing the honeymoon contest. In short, 'Vodafone nunta' generated €470,000 of free media publicity and became Romania’s most talked-about sponsored event – ever!