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In the last few years, Christmas advertising in Ireland has become an arms race of sentimentality. Brands have been falling over each other to make the most emotionally charged, tear jerking, gut wrenchingly Christmassy campaigns they can.

So last year, in order to stand out from the overcrowded Christmas market, telecom company Meteor took a more honest approach. They introduced Ireland to Nicholas St Wenceslas – CEO of fictional, festive conglomerate Christmas LTD. Nicholas was part Wolf of Wall street, part Miracle on 34th street and all business.

With four TV commercials, a sled load of online content and activity on every social platform going, the campaign was ubiquitous in the months leading up to Christmas. Followers flocked to Nicholas like wise men to a star. Wherever Meteor’s customers went, Nicholas was there trying to squeeze every last penny out of them.

And while Nicholas spent the season ripping customers off left right and centre, Meteor was doing just the opposite – giving people an Unlimited Christmas with unlimited offers and prizes.

The campaign was Meteor’s most successful ever – far exceeding all brand and commercial objectives. Meteor’s Unlimited message was the most recognised and liked in a category dominated by international brands with much larger budgets. Meteor achieved the highest visibility among telecom providers across all social platforms, seeing an incredible 65% increase in online sales as compared with the previous year.

All the more remarkable because Meteor basically spent the majority of their budget advertising a company that didn't even exist

The campaign was Meteor’s most successful ever – smashing all brand and commercial objectives. Brand consideration grew by 4% year on year. Sales targets were exceeded by 4% across prepay and 20% across bill pay. Year on year digital advertising sales increased by an incredible 65%, while cost per sale reduced by 41%.

Meteor’s Unlimited message was the most recognised and liked in a category dominated by international companies with larger budgets, and one of the most recognised and liked campaigns amongst all Irish Christmas advertising. Furthermore, Meteor had the highest volume of mentions and the highest visibility among telecom providers across all social platforms for the period. Put in more simple terms, Meteor won Christmas.

The results were outstanding. Meteor achieved everything they set out to do and much more. All the more remarkable because Meteor basically spent most of their budget advertising a company that didn't even exist.

Christmas LTD needed to exist wherever our customers went – on every channel and every consumer touchpoint.

- We launched on TV & Cinema: to drive impact, awareness and reinforce the creative idea. Followed with VOD to target lighter TV viewers.

- The launch was supported with PR activity aimed at key influencers.

- Big outdoor formats were used initially for cut through and awareness, moving to smaller formats focusing on retail messages as the campaign developed.

- Radio was used to communicate retail offers and for frequency of message.

- Digital took a two-pronged approach.

i) Campaign engagement with unique, channel specific content. For example: releasing an album on Spotify. This was to create talkability and cut through.

ii) Display pushing sales through our online store on meteor.ie.

- On Social Media Nicholas maintained an always on presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to create longevity and a two-way conversation.

Meteor wanted to better all of their Christmas 2013 revenue and brand performance metrics, and achieve 20% of their yearly target across November and December. But above all, they wanted to win Ireland’s Christmas advertising war.

Meteor’s target audience is anyone in the market for a mobile phone, which in Ireland is pretty much everyone. This meant that Meteor need to not only stand out from their bigger spending competitors, but to compete with a cacophony of international brands in other categories who were actively trying to turn their customers into a blubbering, emotional, weepy mess.

Meteor’s answer was to take a more honest approach to the holidays. And so we created Christmas LTD – a completely fake company with a message of pure commercialism and greed that would have genuine cut through. Meteor would then stand as their antithesis – providing people with unlimited offers and prizes.