Hearts & Science - Brand Experience of the Year - Consumer
Company: Hearts & Science, New York, NY
Company Division/Group:Hearts & Science
Company Description: Media Agency
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Brand Experience of the Year - Consumer
Nomination Title: A Reason to Smile
Specify the date on which this campaign was launched. March 1 2019 – June 1 2019
CRICKET WIRELESS GIVES PEOPLE ‘A REASON TO SMILE’ WITH ITS SIMPLE CELLPHONE OFFERS. WE NEEDED TO CONVINCE MORE HISPANIC AMERICANS OF THE BENEFITS.
In the USA, pre-paid cell phones have typically been aimed at lower-income consumers or those who don’t want to commit to lengthy contracts.
It was among these consumers that Cricket Wireless first found an audience as a lower-cost alternative to the big networks.
In recent years, however, as consumers demand more flexibility, more are considering pre-paid services – which has prompted all the big telecoms companies (like T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon) to expand their pre-paid offers.
In this competitive marketplace, Cricket Wireless has responded by improving coverage, customer experience and market presence, and broadening its product offerings.
Its focus, however, remains on simplicity. With no hidden surprises, Cricket gives people ‘a reason to smile’.
To help Cricket Wireless drive awareness and consideration of its offers, we needed to strengthen its reputation as the simpler, smarter, pre-paid cell phone provider that makes you smile.
Our target was Hispanic Americans aged between 18-44 – a massive potential audience and one that had previously responded well.
Our insights:
- Hispanic communities watch more linear TV than other communities (29% vs. 27.5%).
- Families watch together – in Spanish. In Hispanic households, there are more people than TV sets (0.88 TV sets per person vs. 1.20 in non-Hispanic households).
- But families love double screening, too. 90% stream video on either a smartphone or tablet, 10% more than non-Hispanic consumers.
Describe the development of the campaign: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words). Required
Inspired by our insights, our idea was to integrate Cricket Wireless into our target’s favorite family show – Pequeños Gigantes (‘Little Giants’), a children’s talent competition – via a unique execution.
The show, created in Mexico, is broadcast on Univision, a free-to-air Spanish language TV network in the USA, and North America’s largest provider of Spanish language content.
Featuring Hispanic children, in each episode, judges score each act from 1-10 – with top-scorers progressing to a season finale.
This season, we would give judges the chance to reward contestants who, like Cricket Wireless, gave them a ‘reason to smile’.
All they had to do was press a Cricket-branded green button to choose their winner – turning the studio lights ‘Cricket’ green and releasing confetti into the air.
These special ‘Momentos de Sonrisas’ (‘Smile Moments’) winners would then receive a surprise experience from Cricket – shown in the following week’s episode.
Like Giovanni, who we sent on a shopping spree so he could buy food to feed his family; and Taisa, who we treated to a day at an amusement park with her sick mom.
Strengthening Cricket’s brand visibility, we pushed double-screening families to network, show and brand social channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) to watch additional behind-the-scenes footage.
We also ran 60x 15-second Cricket commercials throughout the season and run-of-network display and video across Univision digital.
On linear TV, we shared recap videos within Univision's morning news show, Despierta America, and promos in that show and afternoon chat show, El Gordo y La Flaca.