Giffgaff spends on TV for the first time
Giffgaff, the community-run mobile network, is to spend on TV advertising for the first time as it looks to further grow its customer base.
The O2-owned mobile virtual network operator (MNVO) is sponsoring E4’s Big Bang Theory and Rude Tube in a nine month deal.
Giffgaff, which has previously said it would not do “big budget” TV advertising and instead focus on word-of-mouth marketing, says it is now in the position to do more “brand fame building” given the rapid pace at which its network has grown.
The company claims it acquired more customers in October last year than it did in the whole of 2010.
Tom Rainsford, head of brand and proposition at Giffgaff, says: “We are a young and ambitious brand doing mobile differently, with a real community focus.
“By getting our name out there we are beginning that journey so consumers really understand how we work, but they’re learning that in an entertaining and interesting way.”
Rainsford adds that growing the customer base will not dilute Giffgaff’s unique community-led ethos, but that it will actually be beneficial to existing customers.
“We certainly haven’t seen dilution as we’ve grown. We’ve scaled at a fantastic rate but continue to get our members involved, so much so that 90 seconds is now our average response time to customer service queries,” he adds.
The sponsorship idents for Big Bang Theory will continue Giffgaff’s community theme by asking consumers to suggest which items it should blow up. The first creative will feature an exploding cake.
The Rude Tube sponsorship will feature Giffgaff’s lampoons of some of the most popular videos from the series.
The idents were created by Albion London, while All Response Media handled the media planning and buying.
