VIRGIN MEDIA
To attract award votes and excitement during the BAFTA TV Awards, Virgin Media ran carousel video ads in Instagram Stories for the first time, which attracted 42% more votes compared to other channels.
Virgin Media is a British company that provides phone, TV and internet services throughout the UK. Each year, Virgin Media sponsors the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) TV Awards show—honoring the best British and international contributions to television from the past year.
more votes received via carousel ads in Stories compared to other channels
lower cost per vote with carousel ads in Stories compared to other channels
lower ad spend compared to previous year’s BAFTA campaign
Virgin Media was looking for a way to get more people to vote for its BAFTA “Must-See-Moment” award.
Virgin Media ran its campaign throughout four key stages of the BAFTA awards—voting, pre-awards, awards night and wrap-up—to warm up the BAFTA audience and be part of the conversation before, during and after the awards.
As the first telco company to use the carousel ad format in Instagram Stories with the lead generation objective, Virgin Media wanted ad creative that was as entertaining as it was engaging. It worked with agencies Manning Gottlieb OMD and RAPP to produce a series of video mini-episodes featuring BAFTA ambassador Roman Kemp, who urged viewers to swipe up to vote for Virgin TV’s “Must-See-Moment.” After the awards ended, Virgin Media kept the conversation going by sharing content that would resonate best with its audience.
At the end of the campaign, Virgin Media saw award-winning results. It attracted more interaction with carousel ads on Instagram Stories: compared to other channels, these ads received 42% more votes at a 70% lower cost per vote. The company also reduced its ad spend by 39% using the carousel ad format in Instagram Stories compared to BAFTA 2017 campaign activity.