Saatchi & Saatchi London are back with their latest campaign for T-Mobile, harnessing the power of crowdsourcing and social media to create a superband.
With the success of Saatchi's last two instalments for T-Mobile, Dance and Sing-along, they've set the standard high for creating campaigns that think outside the 60-second spot box. This latest launch is no exception, as the creative team have tasked a member of the public with the mission of creating a superband using just his mobile phone.
"The brief for this campaign was slightly different," say creatives Rick Dodds and Steve Howell. "Dance and Sing-along were both brand spots, where we created moments for the public to share. This time T-Mobile wanted to introduce one of their offers into the mix. The good thing for us is that it's a good offer - free texts and then in November free texts and Internet. So this time we threw the challenge of creating these sharing moments to a genuine member of the public, where they would use the offer to create them. The offer of free texts and internet also naturally points to social media sites."
That undertaking has fallen to Josh Ward, who was selected from a series of voxpop interviews after saying if he had unlimited texts and web access he would create a superband of musicians. Now armed with a mobile phone, the campaign will follow Ward over the next couple of months as he attempts to turn his superband into a reality using text messages and social networking sites MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. Feats he's accomplished so far include a jamming session on an open-top London bus.
"Two documentary filmmakers, Fred & Nick from Pulse Films, are now following Josh around with cameras," explain Dodds and Howell. "It started with him getting some friends together, which turned into 50 people having a jam. Since then he's met loads of members of the public who have contacted him through MySpace. He's had producers, singer-songwriters, recording studios all contacting him and offering to help. We're going to follow Josh as he puts a song together and tours the country in his bid to get as many people as possible into his band."
Along the way, parts of the documentary will be carved up for a series of TV, print and radio executions. But with crowdsourcing such an integral part of the project, even the creatives aren't sure where the campaign will end up: "The campaign is set to continue until mid-January," reveal Dodds and Howell. "How far it will go will be up to Josh. Like you, we're just watching."
