Looking back at the local realities we realized we are not talking about one Romania, but two. The urban: young, modern but losing touch with their roots and history. And the rural: old, full of tradition, but shrinking. Isolated and forgotten.

We saw an opportunity to connect the two Romanian worlds by doing something only Vodafone’s superior network coverage could achieve: an interactive Facebook live show.

“Live from a different world” is a new entertainment format that connected urban Romanians to the most authentic Romanians alive. These are the elders who were awarded by UNESCO with the status of “Living Human Treasures” for keeping old traditions and values alive.

“Live. From a different world” was a series of 8 episodes livestreamed on Facebook from the most remote places in Romania where the last tradition keepers live.

The show was highly interactive and people from all over the country could connect to the elders from the “other Romania” and engage in a real conversation with them. Even Romanians from abroad got in touch.

The media campaign was a mix of digital (display / programmatic), FB promoted posts and special TV presence and regular TVCs broadcast a few days before the events (to build interest). For the first time we promoted an online show using 20” TV spots on the main TV stations.

The campaign generated media stories and engaged top Romanian celebrities, designers and even Emmy awarded journalists.

Vodafone has connected the two Romanian worlds while proving their network superiority. Vodafone claimed 1st place in public perception of 4G coverage, with a peaking gap of 21% versus Orange, its main competitor.

The show was an online hit that gathered over 2 million participants, becoming a top talk show overpassing even some of the most viewed TV shows.

To prove its network’s strength, Vodafone developed media events that connected the urban and the most isolated parts of Romania, in real time.

“Live from a different world” reinterprets the traditional media format of the TV talk show, using the latest innovation in social media: Facebook LIVE.

The interactive talk show, broadcasted live from deep in the Carpathian Mountains, brought the online generation together with the last keepers of traditions who live so authentic, UNESCO has awarded them status as “living human treasures”. Each online broadcast was promoted on TV and turned the format into a top show that reached millions.

Usually, our network campaigns were built around the traditional media. But knowing our target’s media behavior, we knew the key for success was laying in media innovation.

The young urban’s Romanian’s lives are happening online. Facebook is where their newsroom, their journal, their social life and their entertainment place are. So this was the natural media for our new show.

So we took this challenge and tried to merge a traditional TV format (talk show) and the type of media our target consumed most (Facebook).

Facebook’s Live feature provided us with the interactivity and engagement potential we needed, and this is how we got to the idea of launching a Live show series. The best support to prove our network leadership.

After making the biggest investment in network infrastructure in the last 20 years, Vodafone was certified as the best 4G network in Romania by the independent auditor P3. Having the best network has been a key differentiator for years now, but our superiority is constantly challenged by the competitor’s claims.

Vodafone is a brand that has always rooted its communication in local realities and tensions and empowered Romanians to overcome their barriers. So instead of restating our network leadership we set out to prove it with a live demonstration of its reliability and coverage.