Centennial’s, (a local wireless telecommunications cell phone company) brand positioning is that they provide the tools (cell phones, unbeatable network, good signal etc) that help people achieve success. We had to do a promotion that conveyed this message to our audience, males and females aged 18 and over.

We made a tie-in with Sony BMG and created Phone Star, the first vocal talent competition done through a cell phone. Hopefuls could audition through their Centennial cell phone. The finalists, chosen by Sony, had their voices broadcast through TV, radio and Internet. The audience voted for their favorite through text messaging. Phone Star had a weekly segment in the country’s number one TV show where the faces of those who were eliminated were revealed for the first time. The winner received a record deal with Sony BMG and made her debut in a sold out concert.

In only 5 weeks we received over 5,000 valid auditions, over 200,000 hits on the website, over 200,000 votes and extensive media coverage. This is a great achievement considering this was done in a country with a population of 4 million people. The winner made her debut in a sold out concert. Her hit single is playing in radio stations and can be bought in record stores and on itunes. Now every time people see the winner, on concerts and interviews or hear her music, they’ll think of how she got there thanks to the quality of Centennial’s signal.

The most important thing for a record company and for our client, a cell phone company, is the quality of the voice. So making people audition through their Centennial cell phone was the perfect way to reinforce the quality of Centennial’s signal, network and equipment. In each TV spot, where each of the finalists auditions were broadcasted, each finalist was represented by a Centennial cell phone, so the audience got to see the cell phones Centennial offered, plus experience the quality of the signal when they heard the voice of the finalists loud and clear.