The Internet Service Provider industry (ISP) is highly competitive with scarce room for differentiation. Driving price premium in the category consists of two valuable drivers; premium-product and premium-customer service.

Danish ISP brand WAOO is known for their premium product. But when WAOO’s claim-to-fame product fiber-optic broadband was democratised, allowing access to all competitors the brand had to go all in on the only driver left for differentiation; customer service.

WAOO had to retain their market leader position and revitalise their brand platform ‘Internet as it should be’.

The primary objective was to prove that WAOO has the best customer service and truly understands their audience.

Secondly, creating brand fame, engagement and conversations within a busy and attractive target group aged 26-50. Primarily educated families with kids that use a lot of bandwidth for gaming, streaming etc.

Research shows that gaming has become the primary motivation for choosing a high-quality internet provider and in 2022, gamers accounted for 1/3 of the world’s population.

An interest requiring a lot of time- and a great broadband connection.

Time spent gaming can lead to loved ones feeling neglected. Actually, 25% men and 17% women have considered ending a relationship due to gaming-related arguments.

5% of divorce petitions in UK had Fortnite listed as a reason for divorce

Divorce-Online, UK

We created the ultimate customer-service; a virtual hitman service ‘Love Squad’.

Five pro-gamers ready to assassinate your partner in either GTA5, Fortnite, Call of Duty Vanguard and Counter Strike - all in the name of love.

The idea leveraged popular culture to draw attention to the fact that WAOO offers premium services in stark contrast to what is expected of the category. Sparking conversations and laughter, one kill at a time.

Our target audience is families with children. A broad and diverse group of people. Instead of communicating about our low-interest product, we chose a different way to reach this broad audience.

Research showed that their desire for high-speed internet was all about fuelling their appetite for entertainment. But the research also showed that they were spending more and more time online - specifically in gaming worlds. Sometimes perhaps a little too much time.

Too much gaming can drive people apart and it’s an increasing point of conflict in many relationships.. “Love Squad’ serves as a humorous reminder for couples to remember to be present outside of the “maps”.

An engaging and relevant service for any household and relatable for gamers and non-gamers alike.

WAOO provided a fun and entertaining service through gaming that allows couples to kindly meddle with each other’s online worlds - one assassination at a time.

Assembling the initiative was complex. The service had to work across four games and include players talented enough to be hitmen executing any virtual assassination.

The website introduced four steps:

Introduce the problem

Promote the Love Squad

Book the hit (specific game and time slot)

Write the message

To launch the new service, we performed a live-streamed kill on an unknowing Twitch-influencer in front of all of his followers. Using Twitch to make the community aware that ‘Love Squad’ was “live”. Discord and gamer-tags were used to locate our victims.

Across digital platforms, OOH and Google Adwords, partners were targeted about gaming-obsessed spouses and how to kindly bring them back into the relationship with help from ‘Love Squad’.

To bring our viral conversations to broader audiences, we allied with influencer couples including an oblivious devoted gamer. They ordered killings and their followers started following their lead.

When this service was launched the killing got a flying start. People latched on to the idea and flocked to the site to order a hit:

More than 80% of visitors tried to get their partner killed.

Leaving their spouse messages like: “That's what happens when you keep playing! XOXO your wife”.

281 kills were successfully carried out during the first week of the campaign.

Love Squad made WAOO stand out in a low interest category of ISPs and reached +70% of the target audience within the campaign’s first week. Our campaign performed particularly well with the many influencers used e.g. 54% more views and 83% lower costs per engagement, than benchmark/estimates.

Results:

Reached +70% of target audience

2.28 million Danes reached

22.422 site visits

18.857 requested a hit

ROI of 7.6

Price per engagement with influencers was 83% lower than benchmark