Virtual enterprise message increases VAIO sales

The challenge: Educating high-end business users

We had already helped Sony deliver successful business-to-business campaigns to promote their VAIO laptops. Building on this success for the SZ4 series called for a new approach. As the laptops were being sold with a mobile broadband package, we needed to explain the concept that work need not be carried out at a designated office location. Instead, the virtual enterprise – remote-working from anywhere at any time was a reality today and not in the distant future.

Our strategy: Sell mobility through a mobile device

What better way to illustrate the idea of mobile working than through a mobile device? Recognising that high-end business users are always out and about meant that we had to target them all through the day by communicating at two touch points – mobile and online. So we worked with Reuters to produce targeted advertorial for an online microsite as well as a separate WAP site aimed at those accessing news and information on the move. On both sites, educative articles on remote working covered commonly-asked questions such as remote web browsing issues, quality of video services and multimedia content, access to email and business applications on-the-move and the benefits of mobile broadband over cable DSL.

The results: Reuters’ best ever mobile campaign

The Sony WAP portal on Reuters generated 7,600 branded page views and was the most-visited WAP site Reuters had ever produced. It delivered a click-through-rate 28 times that of standard online display advertising. The online microsite generated 10,000 page views which in turn drove 4,150 arrivals to Sony’s SZ4 site. This demonstrated the strong affinity of the VAIO brand with the Reuters audience. It was remarkably cost effective as the highly sought-after business audience was reached at a cost of only 5p per user.

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