Three UK

Three’s new Phones Are Good campaign is a huge step-change for the company – aimed to create a debate about ‘our’ relationship with phones and how to strike a healthy life/phone balance.

Speaking to Three’s chief marketing officer, Shadi Halliwell, the aim of the campaign was to drive brand consideration and start to chip away at the high proportion of consumers who reject the brand. That figure, which currently stands at 40%, is “based on perceptions of our past”, Halliwell said. “Many years ago, we didn’t have a good network. We’ve never lost that [reputation].”

In order to attract higher-value consumers, especially tech-savvy older millennials, to consider Three, the campaign needed to move its perception forward in several related ways, Halliwell explained, since it was seen as low-price and used characters and ideas that resonated mostly with younger consumers.

FormRoom worked closely with Three’s internal teams to evolve the brand as an industry disruptor—a major player in ‘New Retail’—and resonate with the target audience.

FormRoom brought the Phones Are Good campaign to life through a bold, protest-style takeover of Three’s key retail windows.

Spreading the message that phones are good, the window combines two waving flags for freedom of speech and a series of tongue-in-cheek 3D placards depicting a crowd of protesters.

The creatively relatable scheme incorporates Three’s partners in striking examples of protest graphics and slogans, including ‘Proud to be LOUD,’ ‘Filters for all,’ ‘Go Hard or Go Roam!’ and ‘Down with DATA CAPS’. A subtle nod to Three’s partnership with Instagram, Tinder, SnapChat, Deliveroo and Google Maps service offering.

To complement this narrative, a graffiti-style logo was sprayed over the store sign while coloured smoke window vinyl filled the scheme—a footprint of modern protest movements.