Phones4U readies £10m upgrade push

By Matthew Chapman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Friday, 15 June 2012 12:01AM

Phones4U is drawing to attention to its upgrades offering with a £10m campaign, after research revealed consumers were unaware of the service.

Phones4U: horror-themed campaign

Television activity will launch tomorrow (16 June) as part of the "upgrades 4u and u and u" campaign. It will star ex-'EastEnders' actor Dean Gaffney and a voiceover from 'Inbetweeners' star Alex Macqueen.

Phones4U commissioned research from YouGov that revealed only 44% of the 2,000 people surveyed listed Phones4U as a destination to get an upgrade, while nearly half of those surveyed were surprised they could get an upgrade from Phones4U if they had bought the phone elsewhere.

Caspar Nelson, head of brand communications at Phones4U, said: "We found there were some Real misconceptions among consumers in terms of their options around upgrading and certainly weren't placing Phones4U at the top of their consideration list when it came to upgrading their mobile phones.

"We have never really had any significant spend around upgrades so is kind of a new area."

Humorous creative work will answer specific misconceptions held by people, including not being able to upgrade by phone or having to upgrade via their network.

Different channels will cover common misunderstandings and an outdoor ad will reassure people that they can keep their number when they upgrade.

Nelson insists the move away from its "scary" themed advertising was not a result of the hundreds of complaints the ads received and added that the latest creative is aimed at a wider audience.

The upcoming campaign is aimed at 16- to 34-year-olds rather than the 16-24 audience of the horror-themed advertising.

Nelson said: "The message around upgrades by its nature is much more inclusive message that goes out to a much wider audience.

"It’s not a conscious decision to move away from being scary – it was only ever going to be a three month campaign and the answer to a brief we had."

The multi-channel campaign will also include radio from 21 June, a nationwide outdoor and press campaign from early July, and in-store, social media and online activity.

The ad creative was developed by Adam & Eve with media managed by its media planning and buying arm, Eden.

Follow Matthew Chapman at @mattchapmanUK

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk