This work celebrates perhaps the most entertaining and humorous sport on earth: professional wrestling. The quintessential athletic theater that blurs the line between storytelling and performance.

Our campaign is a partnership match made in heaven rooted in the drama of wrestling and technology of Cricket Wireless. While we needed to achieve a key business objective, we knew that the only way to do that and capture the audience's attention was by creating a campaign that was a seamless extension to the WWE’s outrageous and entertaining spectacle.

WWE and wrestling is a global phenomenon. It transcends the boundaries of language, sports and entertainment. It is a canvas for creativity, a playground for imagination, and a stage for human triumph. WWE captivates audiences with its unique blend of humor and outrageous spectacle that stems from its exaggerated characters, over-the-top narratives, and theatrical antics that mimic larger-than-life heroes and villains.

Wrestling humor plays with cultural stereotypes and social norms, pushing boundaries in ways that other forms of humor may avoid. This blend of satire, physical comedy, and melodrama creates a shared language among fans, who revel in the predictability of its tropes and the surprises that each performance delivers. It's this knowing wink at its own absurdity that builds a communal joy among fans, fostering a culture of participation and loyal viewership.

In 2024, Wrestling is having a renaissance in mainstream pop culture with record breaking attendance at events, merchandise sales and viewership. Cricket Wireless not only recognized its cultural significance in the grand stage of the world, but was there as part of the storyline to bring people together through humor.

This year Cricket secured its 6th partnership with WWE and was looking to capture the attention of this enthusiastic audience that was over-indexed in pre-paid mobile. A fitting partnership for a brand whose technology and network is designed to power connections, one smile at a time.

The Situation

The challenge Cricket faced was the perception of their technology. While people know Cricket is the cheaper option, many don't know that their 5G network is at par with, and better in coverage than the major category players, TMobile and Verizon. Some people didn’t even know Cricket had 5G capabilities.

While the category bickers about who has better coverage and speed, we needed to do something that cut through the noise. We saw an opportunity to prove our 5G technology in a way that truly spoke to fans during the biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania 40.

The Brief

Don’t just tell WWE fans Cricket has 5G, show them the power of Cricket 5G.

Objectives

Drive awareness of Crickets 5G

Build brand relevance with targeted audiences

KPIs: /Reach/ Impressions + Engagement

Audience Insight:

For mobile users, 5G is the highest standard in mobile technology. For WWE fans, the power-tools of WWE power the biggest fan moments.

And there is no power-tool more iconic than the WWE chair. In fact, if you were to measure the collective adrenaline of fans when the chair enters the ring - it would probably create an adrenaline rush itself.

Our strategy was simple:

Wink at the fans, and amp up the drama and humour by rigging the chair with even more power using Cricket's 5G technology.

Idea:

Turn the legendary WWE steel chair into a modern technology marvel - a chair phone - powered by Cricket 5G.

The chair makes real calls, texts, takes selfies, streams content, and anything else a 5G phone can do. And in true WWE style it can even become a 5G powered fog machine.

The message was clear: if Cricket 5G could power something as simple as a chair, imagine what it can do to your phone.

We launched the Chair Phone campaign as we would a major tech announcement. We teased it, revealed it, and toured it for maximum reach and engagement.

The Tease: We created buzz on social channels by showcasing mysterious shots of an enigmatic new technology that hinted at the chair a few days before the official reveal.

The Reveal: We revealed the Chair Phone on WWE's biggest stage, Wrestlemania, during a dedicated pre-show segment where our TV spot caught the attention of the entire fanbase. We subsequently launched a product site for fans to explore all of Chair Phone's features

The Tour: After the premier, Chair Phone went on tour, following the WWE calendar where fans could experience it in person and take home their own baby Chair Phone – a tiny folding chair that doubles as a phone stand, outfitted with a QR code driving to the Chair Phone site.

Reach

The campaign was featured during the countdown to wrestlemania which had viewership of 2.16M across Facebook and YouTube, while the entire two night event was viewed for 1.3 billion minutes on TV.

Engagement

The results were as powerful. Within the first 48 hrs the TV spot wracked up over 1MM+ impressions and the entire campaign saw a staggering 45MM impressions and counting.

Cricket's instagram saw an astounding 6622% increase in engagement, and a total 1500x year over year impressions when compared to last year's partnership.

Brand Perception

All this to say WWE fans loved the Chair Phone and Cricket's confidence in their 5G technology, sparking fascination, curiosity, and ultimately appreciation, and respect, significantly enhancing brand perception.

Change in behavior

In a sea of wireless carriers touting their own 5G technology, we cut through the noise of the competition with over 45 million people talking about Cricket

5G, overnight.

WWE's humor fosters a sense of community and trust among fans through shared laughter and inside jokes. When fans collectively enjoy these moments it creates a bond built on mutual enjoyment.

The willingness of WWE performers to embrace comedy showcases authenticity and vulnerability, earning fans' trust.

We needed Cricket to show up as open and vulnerable as the performers themselves if we were going to win them over. So our strategy was simple – amp up the humor using Cricket 5G technology.