Called ‘The Pun’, the spoof newspaper became an integral part of The Sun for a month. The editorial revolved around a character called ‘Pun Man’, who used puns to communicate the benefits of belonging to the Virgin Mobile network. The editorial was written by The Sun’s leading journalists. The success of the campaign can be attributed in part to the extent to which the journalists embraced the idea.

In total 12,000 puns were texted to Virgin Mobile from Sun readers. Sales targets were exceeded and consideration of Virgin Mobile amongst Sun readers jumped from 6% to 20%. Other indicators such as “warmth” towards Virgin Mobile increased two-fold.