2011 Bronze retail

Client The Carphone Warehouse

What is wonderful about this work? We needed to make customers feel closer to The Carphone Warehouse (CPW), so that they come in-store rather than go direct to their phone network. We created an irreverent, engaging and different way of engaging customers: CPW gives you impartial advice (about phones): so our All Knowing Fish gives impartial advice about whatever else is on their mind. 38% of visitors asked a question and open rates for email were 15% higher.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? CPW is the UK’s leading retailer in the cross-network mobile market. The experience is quite different to when a customer visits a network store – they receive impartial advice about which network, plan/ and phone suits them best. Our role was to find new ways to talk to customers throughout their contract. We created a suite of three types of SMS/email communications: SUPPORT (especially at the start of their contract), SAVE (especially at the end) and SURPRISE (for mid-contract comms). We wanted to test something more customer-focused, than the current product-focused e-newsletter. We chose to dramatise the brand’s key differentiator: impartial advice.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? We created The Decision Tank and directed customers to the site via email and SMS. Customers could ask our All Knowing Fish any question they liked. “Does my bum look big in this?”, “should I have curry tonight?” whatever was niggling them. Real live fish, in a real-world fish tank, would answer by swimming through hoops for yes, no or maybe. We even changed the tank furniture regularly and dropped in occasional random objects. And we included an incentive: if customers noticed anything ‘fishy’ happening in the fish tank, they could report it to win a prize. As CPW has only a small number of emails, this was an effective way to pick up details. The tone of voice was crucial; CPW is entertaining and irreverent, so we wanted to make our customers smile.

Results The activity was assessed on two short-term criteria: 1) Have we increased engagement levels versus the standard customer regular email? 2) Have we increased engagement with this specific communication? The answer was, without doubt, yes for both: open rates for the email are 15% higher than the control, and click-through rates are 11% higher. For every person that clicked through, 1.7 questions were asked. It’s too early to evaluate the effect on retention but it will be measured against a control cell.

Team Chris Lawson, James Nester, Caroline Parkes, Gita Mackintosh, Georgia Thurwell, Jonathan Goodman, Sharon To, John Chandler, Cedric and friends – All Knowing Fish.