/project \48
Fame Strategy in action
48 · A youth brand that didn't ask to be liked
We built a mobile brand inside Telefonica that used scarcity as a strategy. Only 18–22 year-olds could join. The ads got banned. We hit 12% market share in year one.
48 · A youth brand that didn't ask to be liked
We built a mobile brand inside Telefonica that used scarcity as a strategy. Only 18–22 year-olds could join. The ads got banned. We hit 12% market share in year one.
O2 had a third of Ireland as customers, but we were losing ground with younger segments. Two other companies had recently launched cheap mobile networks in Ireland. Both failed. Lower prices alone weren't enough. People don't switch to brands they've never heard of. So the question wasn't how do we be cheaper. It was how do we get talked about?
We borrowed from Adam Morgan's challenger brand playbook and built scarcity into the core of the brand. A mobile network only for 18–22 year-olds. Too young? Locked out. Too old? Kicked out. We called it 48, for the 48 best months of their lives.
“So, nobody can join until they are 18. And at 22, we kick them out.”
Silence.
“Right, so Paul, firstly that's not even legal.”
In most companies, the concept would have been killed on that first call. In fairness to the board, it wasn't. They didn't change a thing.
Before the advertising even started, we seeded rejection letters, recruited a Head of Rejection, and told customers we were “running background checks” on them. Forums lit up. People threatened to sue. Everything was reviewed through one lens: would this get talked about?
Hi Gavin,
This is going to be tough but I need you to know that it's not you. It's me.
Before we can activate your 48 sim card, I need you to email me a photo of your passport, clearly showing your date of birth.
Sadly, 48 is only for 18 to 22 year olds. I know, don't cry. We can't check everyone, because I have a life. We do spot checks.
This is one of those spot checks. Lucky you.
If you are 48 material, please take a quick snap of your passport and send it to us and you're sorted.
If not, send me a sexy photo so I can at least have something to remember you by because we're going to have to break up.
(But I'd really like it if we can still be friends?)
Love,
Susan @ 48 Crew
P.S. If I'm honest, this wasn't so difficult for me in the end, but thankfully we are currently recruiting for a Head of Rejection, someone who gets their kicks from this kind of thing.
The ads got pulled due to complaints. Which was, of course, more earned media for a brand nobody had heard of 3 months earlier.
Within six months, 63% of Irish youth were aware of 48. Word-of-mouth was the second biggest driver. The brand survived the O2/Three merger and kept going for years. Finding ways to create scarcity was not the hard part. It's the willingness to not dilute the idea when the hurdles appear.