LOST IN VAL SINESTRA – STARRING YOU AND YOUR FRIENDSLost in Val Sinestra is an online campaign for the Video-On-Demand range offered by Swisscom TV.Swisscom wanted to strike new paths for Swisscom TV, its digital television provider, as a supplement to traditional communication. New, younger target groups, who had not yet come into contact with Swisscom TV, were to be addressed through an unconventional measure. The assignment was to develop a concept, which would surprise and appeal to the Swiss: a concept which would fascinate and entertain them over a longer period of time and in this way provide evidence of the innovative entertainment expertise of Swisscom.

The video-on-demand provided by Swisscom TV was intended to serve as definite evidence of this, making over 1,000 top films available at the press of a button.

The aim was to develop a cross-media social media concept with a viral multiplier effect, which can in particular be transmitted over Swisscom’s own channels and those of its partners. By using Facebook Connect, the cast of a fictional movie trailer is put together from 10 Facebook friends and personalized in a matter of seconds. One can simply visit the Lost in Val Sinestra website, select a language and connect with Facebook in order to choose nine friends (including oneself). The friends' profile pictures and names (audio, video, text) are then cleverly incorporated as part of the storyline in a stunning three-minute trailer for a horror movie.Just like Swisscom TV, Lost in Val Sinestra offers great cinema at the touch of a button. Now everyone can direct a film without the hassle of actually making one on their own.

This innovative social media concept not only provided extraordinarily high visitor numbers to the webpage of Lost in Val Sinestra, but also created a high level of activation and involvement amongst users. Almost one-quarter of visitors actually made a film with their Facebook friends and in this way drove the viral distribution of the campaign. Compared with conventional campaigns for Swisscom TV this viral distribution was achieved with practically no printed advertising material and very low spending on advertising.