Microsoft Advertising has teamed up with Specsavers to launch the eyewear company’s ‘Spectacle Wearer of the Year’ (SWOTY) campaign on Skype.
In a UK media first, Skype will invite campaign engagement through its video capabilities, allowing spectacle wearers to enter the competition by taking a photograph of themselves.
Specsavers, with the ambition of generating the highest number of entries ever to its annual competition, has taken advantage of Skype’s ability to reach a huge number of users in the UK, with 300 million connected each month globally. The platform also has the capability to ensure the creative is delivered to Specsavers’ relevant audiences.
Developed by Manning Gottlieb OMD in conjunction with DG MediaMind, the campaign encourages users to click on an MPU or leaderboard to activate their webcams. From here, they can snap themselves in their glasses and click through to the competition entry page on the Specsavers website, where they can upload their image.
The campaign will run on Skype until the end of June, and will be supported by digital display ads on MSN.
James Hayr, Head of Specialist Sales at Microsoft Advertising, says: “This is the first time an advertising campaign in the UK has used Skype’s video capabilities within a creative solution to bring a brand message to life. Skype’s ability to make more meaningful connections over video means that this is the only platform a campaign like this could have been executed on, outstripping the reach of its competitors.
“We only recently started offering ad space on Skype so it’s fascinating to see the creative ways in which brands are already beginning to use it as an advertising platform. With Skype, Microsoft is introducing new and improved ways for people to connect, pushing the field of communications to further benefit people, organisations and businesses everywhere.”
Tim Langlois, Digital Marketing Manager at Specsavers, says: “Although we’ve been working with Microsoft Advertising for a number of years, this is one of the most exciting, ground-breaking campaigns we’ve produced together. Our strategy was to target environments where users are likely to have camera-enabled devices for the first time, to ensure a low barrier to entry – Skype was a no-brainer here as more than half of its users are utilising webcams.
“We’re keen to see the highest number of entries ever to SWOTY this year. This is also the first year that we’ve included age-specific categories for entrants, so a platform that allows us to reach the relevant age groups was vital.”
Tim Pearson, Head of Retail and Agency development at MGOMD, says: “We were keen to find new and interesting ways of connecting our customers with SWOTY this year and Microsoft were the ideal partner to turn to.
“Our collaboration resulted in the development of this brand new product on Skype, which is a great example of agency, client and media owner coming together to share knowledge and innovate. We are looking forward to measuring the results.”
www.advertising.microsoft.com
