Irish businesses didn’t trust Three.

They had negative opinions of Three’s brand and doubts over Three’s experience and network.

Three was seen as a youthful consumer brand. Fine for personal mobiles but not a partner for businesses who can be risk averse. Especially with something so vital as connectivity. It was understandable they trusted well known suppliers (“nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.”).

We’d have to make Three famous enough for businesses to open their doors and listen to our pitch. To achieve this we wanted to demonstrate the transformative power of Three Business by treating an island like a business to save it from extinction.

Saving The Island.

A remote island off the coast of Donegal, Arranmore had been left

out of the Irish Government’s Broadband Plan due to immense

logistical and technical challenges. Reports forecasted that Arranmore would be abandoned by 2042, as a lack of connectivity was forcing islanders to abandon their homes in search of employment on the mainland.

For customers to take notice of Three Business, we decided to attempt the impossible. We would reverse 150 years of emigration by using Three's unique connectivity solutions to bring jobs and life back to Arranmore, changing the fate of this community. In the process making a statement about the power of Three to help Irish people - and businesses - prosper.

The Island as business customer

Many who had left Arranmore wanted to return to work and raise their families

there. But without jobs, or the connectivity to support remote working, this

dream would never be a reality.

To solve this, we viewed the island like an Enterprise customer made

up of multiple mini-businesses. Each one with its own challenges and requirements. By engineering a diverse range of solutions we could demonstrate Three's unique approach to partnership at a micro level, while also using the challenge of the island’s geography to prove the scale of its network at a macro one.

Bringing connection to every corner

Three began by bringing 5G to Arranmore: making the island among the first places in Ireland to access this technology. They then put that connection to use to transform island life, including:

• Smart buoys to help local fishermen track their catch and an app that connected them to global markets.

• The world’s first offshore digital hub, allowing businesses to move and work

remotely.

• Smart classrooms, so families could move home.

• Health services and connected independent living solutions for elderly

residents.

• Upgrading the Medical Centre’s ICT infrastructure to allow for remote

consultations.

Then we announced to the world that Arranmore was open for business: with an

open letter inviting families from Australia to Canada to move.

We used a national campaign delivered across TV, digital video, display, audio and print. This was supported with highly targeted video content on LinkedIn, social

and VOD going into deeper detail about Three’s solutions to Island

challenges to drive consideration with our original target audience of business decision makers.