TalkTalk is the UK’s biggest phone and broadband provider. It decided to sponsor The X Factor, the UK’s biggest TV singing contest to establish it’s new brand positioning as ‘The Brighter Phone and Broadband Company’.We created a totally integrated solution that involved the public on different levels and multiple media channels, but was interactive and participative at its core.X Factor fans love performing and fame, so we asked them to perform for a chance to become famous and star in the ad breaks of their favourite TV show.

We created Brightdancing as an exciting new way to perform: going online, people could dance in front of their webcams holding a light source Anything form a phone to a torch) and create moving light shapes. Every week the best performances were chosen to become TV ads.

When the XFactor show went live we made a series of 10 and 15 second idents inviting viewers to Brightdance online for a chance to star on their own TV ads.

We also had online ads and editorial content on the X Factor site, all of which drove people to the Brightdancing site.There people could record their performance in front of their webcams. They featured in a gallery on the site, and each week the best were chosen and turned into 10 and 15 second TV ads, which were shown in the same spaces as the original call to action ads.

During the course of the campaign there were more than 42,000 video performances created on the site. Over 700,000 site visits, and more than 8,000,000 page views. 200 people were chosen to star on their own TV ads. TalkTalk sales went up 17% as a result of the activities undertaken during the sponsorship period.