Championing ‘small’ with a telco giant
Vodafone Business wanted to be perceived as the leading digital champion of British small businesses. So, RB2B created a reality makeover series to show SME owners how free digital skills support from Vodafone could transform their business fast.The struggle to connect with SMEs
As one of the largest telco players, Vodafone Business was struggling to win the hearts and minds of time-poor small business owners - particularly in the face of higher spending rivals. Vodafone offered a free digital skills service, V-Hub - but, despite the strength of their offer, awareness was low. One of the biggest challenges to small business growth is a digital skills gap - and our insights revealed the biggest barrier to learning was pressure on time. So our strategy was to tackle this head-on, showing time-poor small business owners that V-Hub could help them achieve their goals fast. To do this, we created a campaign centred on a docu-film series called ‘Digital SOS’ in which struggling SME owners would digitise in a day with help from Vodafone’s V-Hub experts.A credible champion for SMEs
To make an authentic connection, our campaign and series needed a credible partner; a real and respected business champion with digital knowledge and first-hand experience running a small business. So, we teamed up with entrepreneur, investor and TV star Steven Bartlett to present the show and amplify the content. It was equally important to feature real businesses facing real challenges from around the UK. We delivered the first episode from conception to creation in just 6 weeks, having sourced 15 real businesses to feature in future episodes and delivering a full suite of integrated social and digital promotion.Delivering real impact
The campaign - Vodafone Business’s biggest to date - is built on the true stars of the show: the small business owners we feature. Their stories - highs, lows, warts and all - showcase the redemptive power of digital and prove Vodafone Business goes further to turn SME’s ambitions into a reality, delivering real impact for their businesses. But the impact of the campaign itself has been huge, delivering more than 15 million social impressions, 100k clicks and 264 responses to Steven Bartlett’s post, including many from small business owners inspired by the film.