Orange Wednesdays

"Creating brand loyalty and improving customer retention"

 

The Challenge

To differentiate its brand and improve customer retention, Orange, one of the most successful mobile network operators in the UK, wanted to create an innovative loyalty campaign. In partnership with 2ergo, Buongiorno and the UK cinema network in 2004, and supported by a national media campaign, Orange launched Orange Wednesdays, offering all Orange customers the chance to receive 'two-for-one' cinema tickets every Wednesday. Wednesday was chosen as cinema attendance was the lowest on this day.

The Solution

Orange wanted to make this process easy for customers and cinemas wanted to ensure their transaction times at the box office were unaffected. To deliver against both organisations' priorities Orange chose to use 2ergo's coupon redemption offering, which enabled Orange customers to easily take up the offer and ensured cinemas could quickly validate Orange customers when they arrived at the box office.

After texting FILM to 241, Orange customers receive a 'two-for-one' unique text ticket code that can then be redeemed at the box office that Wednesday. The code is then scanned or entered into the participating outlets' EPOS system or behind the till GPRS enabled unit. The solution's inbuilt two-way security validation system then validates the Orange user and the coupon number before the 'two-for-one' free ticket is issued. As well as allowing organisations to distribute and redeem coupons the end-to-end capability also meant Orange could manage and track coupons issued as well as receive real time reports on the campaign.

The Results

Orange Wednesdays is now not only the longest running but also one of the most successful mobile marketing campaigns in the world, having been enjoyed millions of times since the deal was launched in 2004.

Through Orange Wednesdays, the number of people visiting UK cinemas every year has increased significantly, adding investment and growth to the industry as well as savings for customers.

Wednesday is now the most popular day of the week to go to the cinema outside of the weekend.

The five year Orange Wednesday campaign has been so successful it has now been extended to offer 'two-for-one' meals at Pizza Express.