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Bigpipe couples outdoor with digital to trumpet its app

Bigpipe has advertised on its first ever billboard after focussing most of its advertising budget online, saying it wants to mix things up to reinforce its message.

The ISP’s latest campaign, via creative agency Libby & Ben, trumpets its mode selector app and its ability to give users the ability to prioritise their internet for different uses.

The ads feature on billboards, the back of buses and street posters.    

Spark Ventures head of Bigpipe Oliver Smith says though this is the first time Bigpipe has advertised on billboards, it has displayed its ads on bus shelters, bus backs and street level posters before.

“We’ve found really good results before when combining outdoor with a strong digital campaign,” he says. “We still do have the majority of our spend on digital, but mixing it up with some billboards and bus backs just helps reinforce the message.”

He says digital does the grunt work, but it finds outdoor helps more when it comes to awareness and credibility. “Even though we’re a heavily digital brand, our customers still exist in real life as well as on the internet, they still drive on the motorway or catch the bus.”

However, he says it wanted to have something solid to advertise with if it was going to go bigger with outdoors.

“We wanted to have something real we can hang our hat on, a true product differentiator. And that’s exactly what our mode selector feature is. We’ve given the customer the power to focus their broadband on doing what’s important to them, something no other ISP in the market has.”

He says when it comes to big campaigns it feels boring just to focus on price, like some other ISPs do. “If price is the only thing you can talk about for your product, then you’ve really run out of ideas. Sometimes it feels like nobody is really doing anything to innovate around their core product anymore, the actual broadband connection.”

In the first two weeks after launching its mode selector app, Bigpipe had over 30 percent of its customers download and use the app. “[It’s tracking] well above our expectations, and it’s still growing.”

Smith says the idea of giving customers the choice on what do with their connection really seems to resonate.

“People aren’t stereotypical ‘gamers’ or ‘streamers’  – most people do a bit of both. That’s why we decide not to launch a “gamer” plan or “streamer” plan.”

Gamers still like streaming, and streamers still use services like Skype, so why not give people the choice to switch their focus whenever they want instead of putting them into segmentation boxes, he says. “The creative from Libby & Ben, using the same people for each side of the poster, really helps reinforce the notion of choice.”

He says Bigpipe is getting great feedback from customers on how they are using it, and what new features they would like to see added on. “We’ve got some great stuff coming up like parental controls, for example, you’ll be able to block Facebook on your Bigpipe connection, or set a ‘no internet’ time slot when you want to focus on a family activity.”

As more and more people begin to realise that a common reason for their broadband is slowing down because of a flatmate or windows update, it means Bigpipe gets fewer complaints about speed as its customers can now fix those sorts of issues themselves with a single tap, he says. “Out customers are happier, and so are we.”

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