O2

Priority New Year’s Eve

Challenge

O2’s Priority campaign, and the O2 blueroom are all about giving exclusive experiences to O2 customers. Their aim was to develop a unique competition entry mechanic that would engage, entertain and reward these customers.

Strategy

Archibald Ingall Stretton… employed image-recognition and image-processing technology to allow customers to actually open the door in the ads. Every outdoor poster became a hiding place for the hottest tickets of the year – New Year’s Eve (NYE) at the O2.

Using an image-recognition system the agency ‘virtually’ hid NYE tickets in the real world. By taking a picture of a Priority ad and sending it to our shortcode as an MMS, or via an iPhone application, O2 customers could find out whether the ad hid a ticket to The O2.

The result was revealed with a return image sent to the user showing their original photo, but now with fireworks exploding (if they won) or a Christmas scene (if they lost) revealed through the door on the Priority advert.

Results

This was a first advertising, using image-recognition and on-the-spot processing technology to hide tickets ‘virtually’ in the real world. The buzz caused online was phenomenal, and they had over 4,000 entries in two weeks. AIS also generated over 50,000 worth of free media as a result of press coverage and shared content on music and technology websites.

O2, Priority New Year’s Eve O2 won the ICON Awards under Best Use of Mobile Category.