To prove the power of Three’s Mobile’s connectivity, we brought Three’s innovative network and business solutions to the forgotten island of Arranmore and reversed over 150 years of emigration.

This is a real-life demonstration of Three’s brand purpose ‘help life mean more through connecting’, with islanders experiencing the brand across the island. From smart connected fishing buoys to help fishing fleets track their catch, to Ireland’s first offshore digital hub enabling modern businesses to operate, to smart classrooms to encourage families to relocate here.

This wasn’t a week or month-long brand experience. It is one that will last a lifetime.

Three Mobile was suffering with network perception issues, and given its scale, the brand was not on the consideration list for many large business customers in Ireland.

For years, Three has been promising “a better connected life” but the only way to convince business customers would be to take Three’s brand purpose into the real world. Rather than promise the benefits of our connection, we would prove them at scale.

To force reappraisal, we needed a surprising and credible way to showcase the strength of Three’s connectivity. We would go to the ends of the earth to achieve this.

We proved that ‘life means more through connecting’ by using Three Mobile’s Network and innovative communications technology to save a dying island from extinction.

By treating Arranmore Island like it was a large business customer, we were able to showcase our approach and a wide array of Three’s technologies and capabilities in a unique way that captured people’s attention.

The idea being that if Three can transform the fate of an island that has been left out of its own governments’ broadband plans and was predicted to be abandoned by 2042, then they would have no problem transforming your business.

The traditional approach to advertising business connectivity solutions, is a B2B campaign that focuses on the minute detail and tech specs of the products and services being sold.

However, our research revealed that the majority of our target audience, of business decision makers, didn’t come from a technical background and were more likely to be persuaded by a campaign that took a human approach over a practical one.

We decided to use emotional storytelling with an activation that demonstrated Three Mobile’s abilities to solve unique challenges and deliver innovative business solutions. Beginning with broad reach mediums and following with targeted comms.

Arranmore had been excluded from the Irish government’s broadband plan because of immense logistical and technical challenges; it was easier to let the island fail.

We put these challenges and the jeopardy of a unique culture left to die at the heart of our emotive business campaign. Documenting every element.

We used the island as a giant brand experience, proving our promises then told the story on TV, radio, and through print and PR, while targeted web films, display ads, and direct mail gave our target audience of business decision makers greater detail of Three’s abilities and technologies.

We then invited people and businesses to relocate.

The Connected Island was Three’s most successful business campaign ever, achieving unprecedented uplifts in business and brand metrics:

+152% YoY growth

+18% Business leads

+17% IoT sales

+23% Connected Products & Services uplift

+203% Corporate business growth

+50% Business solutions revenue

And according to the Arranmore Island Council, since the campaign began and the open letter was picked up globally, there’s been over 3,500 enquiries to move, an 84% increase in tourism, and 11% population growth.

The campaign was even recognized by the European Commission who invited us to present the project, as a blueprint for how to save other isolated communities.