The new people powered mobile service giffgaff goes live today (Wednesday 24th). It’s been a busy time for us creating the brand from scratch. But the job has really just begun. Now everyone has to know about it. And what better way for a people powered company to spread the word than let the people do the spreading. Oh, yawn you’re thinking another UGC advertising campaign? Well no.
giffgaff Tool Hire is now open for business. Anyone can hire a giffgaff tool, but here’s the hard bit – you’ve got to go and do something interesting with it. You could take out The Musicle (pictured above) and delight the crowds with pedal-powered sounds. Or you could take out Cuddle Monster with a few friends and fondle… er cuddle people. There are currently 13 tools (with more to come) and all are physically delivered by van to the hirer in a suitably agreeable location. Hirers must then use the tool to help people out in a way that will bring joy to the people, with one of their friends filming them. The carrot is a year’s free service for both of them. A bit of mutual back scratching, like the brand itself. And unlike most user generated campaigns it shows some imagination from the brand. giffgaff provide the tools, the people provide the power.
To be fair no sane company would ever construct such a way of promoting itself. But giffgaff isn’t an ordinary kinda company. The project has nearly buried 2 legal teams, several producers and teams of prop makers.
We’ve even created the giffgaff song. Will it give X Factor a run for its money at Xmas? No.
