We love them, we hate them and we always moan about them. The mobile phone industry is home to both one of our most treasured possessions and one that quite frankly, we frequently want to throw through a window. These polar opposite feelings towards the electrical wizard sitting in our pockets and handbags have earnt the industry acclaim, hatred and indifference.
Industry giants Three have decided to address the negativity of the industry and have introduced ‘story telling’ into their marketing mix. Story telling is not a new concept in marketing, the success of John Lewis’ Christmas stories and Compare the Market’s effect on the meerkat species are just two examples demonstrating the power of a good story, but is one that is not used by everyone and has to have honesty at the bottom of it. More and more brands are seeing the success of a story telling campaign and Three are the latest to try it.
Three have tapped into the need for honesty and have admitted that the mobile industry ‘sucks’, their campaign leads with #makeithappen – The mobile industry sucks. At Three we believe it’s time to take a stand and make some big changes. The campaign is headed by Jackson, a Jim Henson puppet. Social media, of course, sits at the heart of digging into what the consumer wants, something which the industry as a whole is criticised for not doing. A manifesto sets out in simple terms what Three believe the industry does wrong and how they are going to address it. And then there is Jackson, the cute, doe-eyed puppet with a back-story, a desire to make the world better and clever references back to the 90’s.
So is Jackson the new meerkat on the block – what do you think?