We were tasked with growing Skinny Mobile, a small-time player in the New Zealand telco market, which was built on a shaky foundation of low-value & short-term customers. The brand wanted to solidify its presence and grow beyond its niche, youth-orientated consumer base, and reduce customer churn, all while staying true to the brand’s cheeky, comical origins.

We got 8 of the world's biggest names to publicly endorse Skinny, New Zealand's smallest telco - not the famous Hollywood celebrities, but ordinary Kiwis who happen to share their names with the world’s biggest celebrities.

New Zealanders are outward looking – we care a lot more about New Zealand things that are picked up overseas, than stuff that becomes well known at home. With this in mind, we launched a series of unbranded portraits of our ‘big names’ standing in the iconic poses of their famous namesakes. The series was picked up internationally, and when interest was at its peak, we dropped our branded commercials, retargeting people around New Zealand who loved the photo series.

We launched the campaign with a portrait series of our celebrity influencers, reflecting the iconic poses of their famous namesakes. The photos were shared across the country and picked up all over the world. Right when interest was at its peak, we released the first wave of the campaign.

Films retargeted those who saw the portraits online, our influencers also appeared on TV and in cinema, quotes from our celebrity influencers took over the streets in billboards and outdoor media, reaching 97% of New Zealand. Our influencers were also featured in that nation’s most popular glossy magazine and were interviewed on the national Breakfast TV channel.

The campaign ran from: 1st June 2018 – 1st September 2018.

For the first time in the company’s history, Skinny reduced churn by 12%, to below 50%, helping to develop a stronger, more loyal customer base, crucial to the brand’s ongoing success.

Skinny achieved a 22% growth in the category, traditionally a highly competitive industry with minimal movements year on year.

In just six months, brand consideration had grown to its highest ever peak at 37%.

Coverage of the campaign delivered over 18 million impressions (in a country of only 4 million).