The situation

A gigantic fiery Christmas Tree and an adjoining large Tent for events were located at one the most beautiful spots in Lisbon, the major city park at highpoint at the city centre that can be seen from many angles and from far away spots.

Objectives:

To increase the ZON brand awareness, to reinforce positioning and to establish new brand attributes; to increase the emotional connection with the brand; to leverage the brand with innovative strategies through diversification

To use the symbolism of the Christmas Tree to communicate and reinforce brand attributes
• Magic
• Entertainment
• The world of communications
• Young and contemporary culture
• A great experience

The main messages were:

Portugal’s 2008 Christmas Tree is ON with ZON: the Tree and the Tent provide a unique visitor experience for free; the Tree and the Tent are ZON’s Christmas gifts to the population; the Tree belongs to everyone.

Nationwide communication.

Message: Although located in Lisbon, the Tree belongs to everyone. ZON sent a general invitation to the public to visit the Tree at the top of Parque Eduardo VII and to participate in the events in the ZON tent. Many thousands of children and their parents enjoyed a good time at the events sponsored and organized by the ZON partner TV channels.

The Christmas Tree campaign was also used to leverage the ZON brand and to launch a new loyalty programme. The ZON pay TV subscribers (for more than a year) were given a subscriber-only card – myZONcard – that entitles them to a free cinema ticket at any of the two hundred ZON cinemas for a given number of times per year.

Objectives and target group

The consumers in general and B) the ZON subscribers (myZONcard)

The strategy

In order to obtain maximum coverage several media partnerships were established and the media organizations’ stands were localized in the vicinity of the Tree and of the tent

TV: Live national broadcast of the fireworks and lighting of the Tree on the leading broadcaster TVI, that also covered several events in the ZON Tent and created several micro-spaces to promote and attract visitors to the Tree.

Press: Several partnerships were established with daily newspapers and weekly magazines, covering a wide target, ranging from the freebies to quality newspapers like Diário de Notícias or Jornal de Notícias, and with sports newspapers.


Several media were used: broadcast TV, cable and satellite TV, radio, press, outdoors, web, POS

TV: Several phased spots:
a) Came and see the opening of the ZON Christmas Tree: spot 20”;
b) ZON is going to reveal the best Christmas gift ever for its subscribers (myZONcard): spot 30”
c) Gift revelation: spot 20”
d) Came and see the Christmas tree and have a great time in the ZON tent: spot 30”
e) Merry Christmas & Happy New Year: spot 10”

Radio: Spot 30”

Press: Magazines and newspaper with affinity to mainstream target

Web: Half banners, Mrec, Leaderboard , Skyscrapper

Outdoor: Standard Moopy format within a network + 4 big outdoor blocks within the Lisbon area, promoting visits to the ZON Christmas Tree

During the Christmas season, more than ten events in the ZON tent, allowing for strong brand activation near the Christmas tree, and developing a complete experience for the visitors.

Execution and implementaion

Portugal’s 2008 Christmas Tree is ON with ZON and belongs to everyone. ZON subscribers (with more than a year of subscription) were offered a myZONcard with free access to ZON cinema theatres. The gift is perceived as a high value subscriber advantage. This was the first time that ZON addressed its exisisting subscribers with an exclusive free offer. The in-home ZON TV experience is now synergetically prolonged into an out-of-home ZON cinema experience, pay TV subscribers only.

The budget

The marketing objective was to create brand awareness nine months after the launch of the adoption of the new ZON brand name (former TVCabo cable operator) and to consolidate ZON as a brand also offering a complete telecommunications package (broadband, fixed line and mobile telephony).
In 2008, the rebranding to ZON was supported by heavy communication of the triple play offer (pay TV + broadband + fixed line telephony), the launch of the ZON box (HD+DVR) and by the entrance in a new market – mobile communications.

The Christmas season was used to, reinforce ZON as an umbrella brand of different product and service offerings and the perception of ZON as a major provider of personal communications.

The partnership with the largest TV broadcaster guaranteed heavy news coverage and placed the ZON Christmas tree in the programs with the largest TV audiences. Prime time microspaces with news delivered directly from the Tree location completed the soft sponsor strategy.

The measurement

A major icon of the Christmas season, encapsulating the ideas of life, generosity and togetherness, was sponsored by ZON. The Tree was the focus of the Christmas season not only in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, but as its inauguration was broadcasted to the whole of the country, and the continued high media coverage, ensured that the Tree belonged to everyone. The endless different light patterns of the ZON Tree and the entertaining events at the ZON Tent produced an unforgettable sensorial experience for many. ZON reinforced brand values, acquired new ones and leveraged the brand across different businesses. Specially powerful was the idea that it cares about its loyal pay TVsubscribers by giving them access to more, free entertainment out-of-home.