When you’re the underdog you have to fight so much smarter.

Outspent $8 to $1 by the ‘big boys’ in the category, Virgin Mobile did just that with its “Fair Go Bro’” campaign. Enlisting the help of Brad Pitt’s bro, Doug, they took the fight to the competition in a way that exceeded already ambitious campaign objectives.

The campaign took place in the Australian mobile phone service market. That market was both saturated (there are more mobile phone accounts than there are people) and highly competitive. Three behemoths, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone dominated in terms of market share, presence and media spend.

Our challenge was simple.

As the tried and tested model states, brand awareness is crucial as it drives consideration through to sales.

So , to meet sales targets our campaign needed to grow Virgin Mobile brand awareness with a media budget much smaller that that of the Big 3.

Easy to state, harder to do.

Virgin Mobile had a strategic platform of Fairness, brought to life in it’s end-line of a “Fair Go for All”. This 2012 campaign had two distinct audiences and we had to bring Fairness to life in different ways to satisfy their needs.

For the always-on, social-media, junkies we had to be seen to behave fairly, making Virgin Mobile a brand they could be drawn to and believe in. For the more pragmatic, value-conscious segment we needed to deliver product features that showed Virgin Mobile would treat them in a fair way.

Enter Doug Pitt, Brad’s bro’. Doug had never lived his brother’s celebrity life but by making him the star of its campaign Virgin Mobile gave him his fair share of that lifestyle.

Over three campaign phases Doug went from being ‘just’ Brad’s brother to a celebrity in his own right. With worldwide recognition of what Virgin Mobile was doing for Doug he was flown to Australia to be interviewed on tv, radio and in print…. all the while selling Virgin Mobile.

Giving Doug a ‘fair go’ sold mobile plans.

Increased brand awareness lead to increased brand consideration and ultimately more customers. Acquisition targets were smashed (target 14% growth, achieved 23%) whilst ‘churn’, ie the amount of customers who leave at the end-of-contract, significantly declined.

And it all ultimately lead to an ambitious business revenue growth-target being exceeded.

That’s how Doug Pitt helped Virgin Mobile punch well above its weight.....