A New Zealand telco is putting short ads into customers’ phone calls as part of a prize-giving promotional campaign.
Developed with agency Colenso BBDO and media partner PHD, the Skinny campaign invites customers to opt in to a system that inserts pre-recorded ads lasting up to 10 seconds into their conversations. In exchange for listening to the ads, participants are entered into prize draws, and the odds of winning improve as they make more calls through the platform.
Running nationwide in New Zealand for four weeks, the campaign is supported by ads across paid, earned and owned media channels, though its central activation takes place within participants’ calls.
To join, customers text ‘HAPPY’ to 414 and follow a series of prompts before being connected to the person they want to call. During the conversation, brief ad breaks play promoting Skinny’s offers.
The campaign leans heavily into the brand’s irreverent tone, with prizes including a jetski, a ride-on lawn mower, hairline treatments and even a year’s supply of rotisserie chickens.
A Colenso BBDO spokesperson said: ‘Every summer, we give customers Free Double Data. And when it ends, so does some of that happiness. But we can’t give away double data forever. So, we needed an activation to remind the cult of Skinny why they’re with Skinny.’
It reflects Skinny’s broader marketing philosophy: finding unconventional ways to generate attention while keeping media costs low. Colenso BBDO and Skinny have worked together on several similarly attention-grabbing campaigns, such as hiring Kiwis with famous names to appear in an advert or getting normal people to record voice notes that were then used as commercials for the company.
Charlotte Glennon, general manager at Colenso BBDO, said: ‘Skinny is massively outspent by its competitors but the one thing we have that they don’t is a cult. We know if we arm them, they’ll do the job of selling Skinny for us.
‘And every Skinny customer has phone calls, we just needed to give them a way to turn them into ads for Skinny. We’ll do anything to keep prices low and customers happy. So, it’s bang on.’
But don’t expect in-call advertising to become a trend any time soon, at least not in Skinny’s campaigns. The real effectiveness of the campaign lies less in direct conversions than in cultural impact. The novelty of hearing an ad mid-conversation is likely to generate organic social chatter, memes, and press coverage — extending the reach far beyond the initial participants.
A spokesperson from Colenso BBDO said: ‘Our prizes are our knowing wink to our audience that we know this is a step too far. Put ads in your phone calls for phone credit. Wrong. Put ads in your phone calls for a chest freezer full of sausages – I’m in.
‘It’s an idea only Skinny can do. And you can only do it once. Help us all if calls to your Nan end up being sponsored by an undertaker.’