The smartphone explosion of 2011 started the battle for broadband subscribers. And in the world’s most online country where the product is taken for granted, telecom operator, Telia, needed to secure its editorial share of voice during summer to support sales of broadband.

Our strategy was to prove market leadership, presenting the most interesting perspective on media and online behaviour. That perspective turned out to be a certain date: April 11th 1954. Why? Scientists had concluded nothing happened that day. Pretty unusual. So we wondered: In our world of information overload, is it even possible that there is a day without any news worth mentioning? Maybe no news would be big news.By analysing years of broadband traffic, Telia predicted the least eventful day of the year and media started following the traffic updates. While measuring the broadband activity, Telia targeted niche media and reported which sites dropped or topped in traffic during the Swedish summer.At the end of summer, the campaign had a reach of 60,000,000, including a 9-minute long news broadcast featured on prime time in the biggest TV network. Share of voice was up 66% and broadband sales increased by 7% during the same period. As predicted, no news turned out to be big news.

The extreme competition amongst operators grew to include manufacturers as well with the mobile device explosion, and formed a tense media environment. Given this new competitive media environment the goal was set to maintain share of voice of 39% during the summer months in order to support broadband sales.

1. The AnalysisEvery other week Telia analysed the most recent broadband data in order to detect any changes in activity. The amount of data run through the network was then held against the latest news from around the world, weather, holidays or any other current event that would possibly change consumers’ online behaviour.2. ProductionThe analysis was the basis for all press material: press releases, infographics and material for own channels such as Facebook. In a short period of time – just within 24 hours – the press material was released to all concerned media. The process made it possible for Telia to report in relevance to current news hence make it interesting for tomorrow’s headlines.

3. Media relationsTo secure share of voice in all media segments relevant niche media were contacted the following day after the news release, where the analysis was in detail summarised per category.

No News is Big News actually turned out to be the most successful PR-campaign Telia have ever done over the 10 years that activities have been measured. The reach of the campaign was over 60m (Source: Infopaq), in a country of 9m people. The share of voice goal was crushed, with an increase of 66%, culminating on the day that nothing happened with an outstanding slot of 9-minutes in prime time national TV. By the end of the summer Telia could report an increase in broadband sales by 7%.The concept is now subject to exports in all of Telia’s markets.

In order to capture the consumers’ attention our strategy was to prove market leadership by presenting the most interesting perspective on media and online behaviour of 2011. That perspective turned out to be a certain date: April 11th 1954. Why? Scientist had concluded nothing happened that day. Pretty unusual. So we wondered: In our world of information overload, is it even possible that there is a day without any news worth mentioning? Maybe no news would be the biggest news.By presenting the story early on of a day when nothing will happen, Telia were able to set the media agenda for the whole summer period. Releasing data traffic reports and broadband usage, categorised by areas of interest the analysis became a successful tool targeting many niche media and building anticipation up to the date, and thereby securing recurring editorial share of voice in all media segments.

The smartphone and iPad explosion of 2011 had changed online behaviour. In many ways it was year zero for operators since a majority of connections to the Internet now was made on mobile and not fixed devices. And overnight the smartphone manufacturers were claiming spokesman ship regarding online behaviour, a subject traditionally owned by the operators. On this market, the world’s most online country, it was vital to claim leadership, and in this context it was relevant for media to report on consumers’ new online habits and thus Telia’s expertise on the matter.