1. Advertising Case Study
Phones 4u / Punktilio Facebook Executive Summary
Client:
Company Background
Phones 4u is one of the largest mobile retailers in
the United Kingdom, and the leading independent mobile
phone retailer among the youth market, with over 450
stores nationwide. Punktilio is the social media agency that
handles its online ad campaigns.
Agency:
Objective
For three weeks in April 2010, Punktilio ran a Facebook
Ads campaign highlighting the launch of the HTC Legend
Objective: Encourage people to
handset in Phones 4u stores nationwide. There were several
connect to the cell phone handset
aims, including increasing brand exposure for HTC and
retailer’s Facebook Page and increase
providing a compelling advertising campaign with which
engagement levels on the Page
Facebook users could engage. The campaign also sought
to encourage more users to connect with the Phones
Solution: Run Premium Poll Ads and
4u Facebook Page – the free public profile that enables
other ads to attract Phones 4u’s key
companies to share their business and products with
16- to 24-year-old demographic
Facebook users – and to increase levels of engagement
on the Page. Once a user connects with a Page by clicking
Key Lessons:
on the ‘Like’ button, a company can send updates to the
• ds that ask users a question
A
user on an ongoing basis.
or invite them to enter a
competition can greatly increase
Approach user engagement and deepen
For the HTC campaign, Punktilio used Facebook’s Premium relationships with customers
Poll Ad, an ad type that enables advertisers to engage users
by asking them a question about issues relevant to their • F
acebook Ads targeting allowed the
audience and offering them several response options. For company to reach its key 16 – to
these ads, Punktilio capitalised on the “legend” theme by 24-year-old customer demographic
asking people to click to ‘Like’ the Phones 4u Page and then
nominate their favourite musical legend. The agency also
“Facebook is where people talk to each other, digest
news and communicate with their favourite brands.
What people choose to connect with on their
Facebook profile almost defines them. It’s really key.”
Neil Higton, Phones 4u Project Manager, Punktilio

2. Advertising Case Study
aimed the ads at Phones 4u’s key 16- to 24-year-old
demographic using Facebook’s targeting feature.
Facebook’s targeting allows companies to reach their
most likely customers based on information listed in
users’ profiles, but does not reveal the personal data
of the people who fit into the targeting categories.
After British rap star Dizzee Rascal was voted as
users’ favourite musical legend in Phones 4u’s poll
ads, Punktilio switched gears. The agency ran six
new ads inviting users to click to ‘Like’ the Phones
4u Page for a chance to win tickets to see the rapper
perform at The Lovebox Festival 2010 in London.
The goal was to encourage engagement with the
Phones 4u Page and increase HTC’s exposure. “This
really drove click-through rates,” says Neil Higton,
Phones 4u Project Manager at the agency. “The
stages of the campaign were really clear to users
and really appealed to them.”
Results
• At the start of the Facebook Ads campaign,
6,594 people had connected to the
Phones 4u Page. By the end, three weeks
later, it had 9,993 people – an increase
of over 30 percent. Three months later,
marketing is the future: “It offers engagement and
nearly 24,000 people had connected.
conversation within your marketing that normal ads
• Over 5,000 people voted in the poll ads.
can’t match.” Neil adds, “There are 500 million people
• The ads generated a 7.76 percent
on Facebook. Facebook is where people talk to each
uplift in impressions, which totaled
other, digest news and communicate with their
450,678 organic impressions.
favourite brands. What people choose to connect
with on their Facebook profile almost defines them.
“The thing about the Facebook Ads platform is
It’s really key.”
that it operates like no other,” says Neil. “The way
that people interacted with the Phones 4u ads was
largely via friends recommendations. I’m far more The Future
likely to click on a post that I see from my friend’s Punktilio has built a Phones 4u community on the
news feed, rather than the ad itself. The viral reach is company’s Facebook Page, thanks to campaigns
very powerful and there aren’t many platforms out like those for the HTC handset. The crucial thing,
there that encourage this kind of earned media.” says Neil, is to maintain the engagement of that
community through daily content and tailor any
Neil thinks that the effectiveness of a campaign like future Facebook Ad campaigns to the community.
that of Phones 4u for HTC means that social media “Phones 4u want to be seen as best in class,” he says.