News 2005
Virgin Mobile wins award for the `Big Red House’ at Mobile News Awards 2005
18/03/2005
18.03.05: Virgin Mobile scored a win at the Mobile News Awards last night by scooping the award for Best Advertising, Marketing and PR Campaign (local) for its highly successful student campaign the `Big Red House’. The awards took place on Thursday, 17th March at the Hilton, Park Lane and were hosted by the hottest stars in British Comedy, Matt Lucas and David Walliams of Little Britain.
The company won the award for its successful `Big Red House’ campaign, a university-focused promotion that offers ten students the chance to win a house rent-free for a year. The activity created significant brand presence among the student community, with on-campus posters, guerilla marketing, student media promotions, a bespoke website and PR-driven editorial. Singling the campaign out, the judges praised it as a highly targeted brand-raising campaign that achieved excellent results.
Over 24,000 University students from all over the country participated in the campaign and this helped buck the industry trend driving Virgin Mobile’s share of the student mobile phone market to 10%.
James Kydd, Brand Director at Virgin Mobile, said: “Students form a vital part of Virgin Mobile’s customer base and with the `Big Red House’ we wanted to increase awareness and usage of Virgin Mobile. We shunned wackiness in favour of addressing one of their biggest worries – the cost of accommodation – by rewarding them with arguably the most coveted student prize ever a rent free house for a year with three of their mates. This award is recognition of the fantastic success we’ve had from our irreverent and inventive approach.”
The `Big Red House’ has won a number of other awards:
- Mobile News Awards 2003. Best Advertising, Marketing & PR campaign (local)
- ISP Awards 2003. Gold Award for integration, innovation & creative excellence
- European Promotional Marketing Awards. IT and Telecoms
- European Promotional Marketing Awards. Best Creative Execution
For further information, please contact:
Virgin Mobile Press Office: 0845 6006272 or press.office@virginmobile.com
Joanne Baker: 07941 233300 or joanne.baker@virginmobile.com
About Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 5 million customers.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com or on the High Street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Specialist Stores, Virgin Megastores, Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Argos, The Link, Dixons, Carphone Warehouse, Curry's, Comet, Phones 4 U, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Ryman.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough. It has been voted one of the top 50 places to work in Britain for two years running in an annual Financial Times survey.
Virgin Mobile is ranked in 72nd place in `The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ 2005 list.
