The campaign caused delight, disbelief and outrage. But none of this happened by accident. It was all meticulously planned.

Phones 4U typically has just a 2% share of voice in a feisty mobile telecoms market. They also have less than 25% spend of their nearest rival Carphone Warehouse (Nielsen). So, when everyone was also shouting about value, Phones 4U needed something particularly controversial to stand out.The horror-themed campaign not only achieved the objectives of an increase in awareness and consideration, but saw a 30% increase on the advertised handset and an overall business performance of +10% in revenue.

It also attracted more than its fair share of controversy: From creating blips that dramatically appeared for a few seconds in between other peoples ads, releasing an ‘amateur ghost sighting film’ online, to becoming the most complained advert of the year, this all meant that Phones 4U delivered their most successful campaign ever.

The campaign began with a series of 2-second blip-verts, which appeared in between other brands’ ads, creating a huge amount of buzz and intrigue.This phase was ramped up with the release of an ‘amateur supernatural video’ on YouTube, showing the ghost of a Victorian girl, caught on CCTV in a Phones 4U store (2m views).

The TV ads eventually broke, revealing our scary girl in all her glory, with the infamous ‘Ghost Girl’ ad, later accompanied by an equally frightening ‘Zombie’ ad.The idea was taken through into press and outdoor, with an incredibly strong, graphic horror look, and transformed every Phones 4U store into a temple of terror.A ‘Zombie’ game was created where the Undead chased you around a typical British high street (2.2m plays) and we spooked out MTV.com visitors by haunting their site for a day. (14m impressions & 12.26% click through rate).

Communications awareness made a massive 9% point jump to 29%.Consideration amongst those who recalled Phones 4U TV adverts went from 36% average in 2010 to 42% average in 2011 – a whopping 17% rise.The campaign led to a significant increase in Phones 4U’s social performance, with a 98,000 increase in Facebook fans, overtaking O2, to 320,000 fans. This made Phones 4U the UK’s biggest mobile phone retailer on Facebook in November 2011.Phones 4U ended the year with revenues growing by 10.4% and contract volume growing by 19%, including 42% rise in online sales.

Their market share of the advertised Tocco Icon rose more than 30% with an upgrade share nearly double the category average.

The campaign is the most successful one Phones 4U has ever run, generating sales, column inches and conversation in equal measure, all achieved on one of the smallest shares of voice in the market.