iBurst, digiVOX and others agree: Dial-up really is dead

To give the campaign a kick start, digiVOX made various online media buys, including targeted banner placements, together with age and location targeted social ads on Facebook.

The engaging and interactive banners conceptualised and designed by Popimedia, invited users to “Spot the Difference” between two scenes. One scene featured a dull dial-up environment, the other a more inspiring iBurst Broadband scene. Spotting the differences within the actual ad itself, earned the participant letters in a Hangman type game within the banner, unlocking the secret phrase: “Dial-Up is Dead”.

Once the game had been completed, the final banner frame displayed a “share it” widget for popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, iGoogle, Delicious, MySpace etc. Participants were then able to share the details of the competition, simply by clicking on the preferred social media channel.


On submission of entry, entrants were also offered the opportunity to request contact from an iBurst sales agent by means of a simple check box on the competition entry page.

Finally, on the competition confirmation page, entrants were given the opportunity, via Popimedia's PIActions viral marketing system, to post the competition information to their Facebook newsfeeds, offering further options to share the competition details. In addition to this, the game was playable directly from the Friends' Facebook Newsfeed.


As is evident, there was a big focus on the viral component of this campaign, leaving spreading the details of the competition entirely to those who had played the game within the banner, or actually entered the competition.

16% of all entrants requested to be contacted by iBurst. Considering most entrants were most likely to wait to see if they'd won the prize (which included a two-year iBurst connection and a laptop) before signing up for iBurst, this is an impressive number. The trusted referral component alone, accounted for 24% of all unique entries, and 19% of contact requests.

The majority of entries were as a result of the social ad on Facebook. To keep this in context however, the bulk of the media spend was allocated to Facebook. Following Facebook, email and other syndicated referrals accounted for the second highest contribution towards entries; a clear indication that the viral component of this campaign was very appealing.

Interesting demographics supplied by entrants, indicated that the gender split was pretty even (53% male, 47% female), with the majority being aged 21-30, with current connections being either none at all, HSDPA/3G or ADSL.

Nicole Menego, iBurst Marketing Manager, comments, “We definitely see that this competition has increased our presence and status in the online arena and specifically the social media platforms, which can be tricky to navigate if not done correctly. It has done an excellent job at brand building with the added benefit of offering a relevant and targeted lead generation portal. We have been very pleased with the results.”

The majority of competitions drive low value leads, due to unrelated creative and prize offerings. These merely attract individuals who aspire to the prize, but have little interest in the actual company offering the competition. The careful attention to relevant, targeted media placements, creative and prize offerings on the iBurst Dial-Up is Dead campaign, ensured that leads were well qualified.

Andrea Mitchell, MD of digiVOX points out, “This campaign is a good example of how a well thought out digital strategy can achieve what we believe all good digital marketing should achieve: brand awareness, engagement, lead generation and ultimately, conversion and retention.”