Vocus

Overview

Telecommunications giant Vocus Communications was challenged to merge with Amcom and create a national telecommunications powerhouse when TPG Telecom used its much-larger cash holdings to buy an almost blocking stake in Amcom.

Tasking us to build out a content strategy to support the media announcement. This was achieved with a highly-targeted and strategic social media campaign targeted to mum and dad investors.

Challenge

TPG’s 19.9 per cent stake meant that over 75% of Amcom’s other shareholders had to vote in favour of the Vocus/Amcom merger for it to win. Most similar events only see around a 50 per cent voter turnout. With a $1.2bn merger hanging in the balance, Vocus turned to us to reach and engage ‘mum and dad’ shareholders and sway the odds in Vocus’ favour.

Solution

We produced a 1:44 video which was seeded through paid targeting to shareholders. The creative strategy saw us use Amcom Chairman, Tony Grist, as the focal piece for the video campaign, providing a simple and earnest piece to camera explaining the reasons behind the proposed merger and its benefits for shareholders, with a call to action.

Results

Using unique targeting features on Facebook, we used a database of Amcom shareholders to create a custom target audience. This allowed for us to target the content to just the identified shareholders, rather than casting it out into the ether. This targeting was an essential element of the campaign as it increased the relevancy, social interactions (affecting Facebook’s algorithm) and impact of the content.

• The content was viewed more than 40,000 times at cost of $0.04 a view throughout the duration of the campaign. Of those shareholders targeted through social media, more than 38 per cent directly went through to the voting site.
• Media coverage was generated across the board, including hero pieces referencing the social campaign in the Sydney Morning Herald and the AFR – who described the campaign as ‘an interesting case study in the use of new media in takeover battles’.