As its event agency, INSTITUTE OF PROMOTION worked with Telefónica O2 Slovakia during its first year on the Slovak market. We ran a summer promo roadshow across about 60 locations with more than 20,000 people taking part, the product launch of the O2 Pre mňa plans with a press conference on Bratislava’s Námestie SNP, store openings with street promotion, a dealer event and a Christmas campaign. Event marketing, brand activation and sales promotion for a new brand that many people knew only from advertising.

A new operator needs to be seen

O2 entered the market in 2007 as Slovakia’s third mobile operator. Customers already had their operators and their habits. Advertising introduced the brand, but people needed to meet it in person: at the swimming pool, on the town square, at a store opening.

So we built a series of live marketing activities for O2, each leading into the next, from summer through to Christmas.

Come and Surf: the summer promo roadshow

The campaign kicked off with a radio spot and the summer promotion Poďte si zasurfovať (“Come and Surf”). From 19 July to 19 August 2007, three promo teams toured swimming pools, lakes, thermal spas and town squares across western, central and eastern Slovakia. In one month, that meant about 60 locations and more than 36,000 people actively taking part. 

Contests, games and giveaways turned brand activation into fun. The main prize was a surf school in Biarritz, France, and we handed out almost 4,800 pairs of flip-flops and more than 3,000 inflatable surfboards at the pools. For many people, it was their first personal encounter with O2.

Product launch: everything for one crown

On 4 September 2007, O2 launched its new O2 Pre mňa plans, with calls to all networks for SKK 1 (one Slovak crown) per minute and phones from SKK 1. We built the entire launch event around a single symbol: the O2 crown coin.

After the press conference, journalists received a pouch of O2 crowns to exchange for gifts or a drink. Members of the public got paper O2 crowns on the street and needed one to get into the tent. One coin tied together the product message, the press conference and the street promotion.

A press conference in a blue bubble

On Námestie SNP in the centre of Bratislava, we put up a giant blue Bubble tent in O2 design, visible from the whole street. We designed the interior as a brand experience: blue and UV lighting, plasma screens showing bubble visuals, O2’s corporate music and branding in every detail, from the entrance cylinders to the bar.

The press conference for fifty journalists had its own dramaturgy. The campaign visuals stayed covered until O2’s spokesperson unveiled the new offer. At that moment the lighting switched from blue to white, the O2 crown visuals were revealed and journalists could immediately exchange their coins for gifts. They didn’t just hear the key message, they experienced it.

From press conference to sales point in half an hour

The press conference ended at 12:30, and by 13:00 the tent had become an interactive zone for the public. The stage and cinema seating gave way to a sales stand, gift counters and a bar, with candy floss and balloons outside. Visitors could reserve a new number and find out everything about the new plans.

Street promotion across the city centre brought them in. Hostesses handed out flyers and O2 crowns on Hlavné, Hodžovo and Kamenné námestie and at Michael’s Gate, while others rode around the centre on branded Segways. That day, O2 was everywhere in central Bratislava.

One day, one tent, one coin. Press conference, street promotion and sales, all carrying the same message.

From Bratislava to Humenné

After the launch came O2 store openings from Bratislava through Košice to Humenné. We paired every opening with street promotion in the town, so everyone knew about the new store that same day.

We provided hostesses and promoters for O2 events across Slovakia, opened a new call centre in Banská Bystrica and organised a dealer event in the Tatras for O2’s sales partners. We closed the year with O2’s Christmas party and a nationwide Christmas promotion.

One client, the full range of event marketing

From the first radio spot to Christmas, we delivered the full spectrum of event marketing for O2, from creative concept to on-site production. A new brand, a new operator, and an agency that travelled the whole of Slovakia with it.