Sky ‘Don’t Miss out on the Future’/ Table19

GDPR turned a month old on Monday. Although the influx of GDPR emails to our inbox now feels like a distant memory, in this week’s campaign spotlight we look at how telecoms giant Sky used the fear of missing out (FOMO) in its campaign to coax people to its comms.

We’re sure Sky won’t struggle too much if a few people drop off its mailing list, however the more is always the merrier, and it wanted as many people as possible to opt in to receiving its communications. To do this, it enlisted the help of CRM and customer experience agency Table19 to create a clever campaign. The agency previously worked with Sky on the launch of its Sky Mobile network and perks.

For the GDPR work, the agency was tasked with re-permissioning 22,000 Sky customers who had engaged with the brand in the past, some up to nine years ago, but lacked the GDPR-compliant audit trail – they might not remember ever opting in. To tap into this potential market and keep them in the Sky communications loop, the agency created personalised emails which detailed the launch of a new, game-changing product – a mood-sensing remote control that matches TV shows to your feelings. The launch, of course, was a hoax, but it enticed people in to the email which explained to them that if they didn’t opt-in, they wouldn’t continue to receive the communication that keeps them ahead of the latest tech developments and releases; if the mood-sending remote was to launch, they wouldn’t be in the know.

The campaign works well because it spices up the somewhat dull world of GDPR, while still adhering to its data protection principles. In one fell swoop the telecoms giant appears both considerate of its customer’s privacy, entertaining with its cheeky prank, and innovative – it smoothly fools people into believing it really could have launched a mood-sensitive remote. It re-introduces the target audience to the brand in a positive way, telling those people that only engaged with the 2009 Sky: Look how far we’ve come and look where we are going in the future. We’re ahead of the curve and this is why we better than our competitors.

Table19 claims that the campaign received record open rates (64% against an average of 33%) and click-throughs (29% against an average of 1.6%). Meanwhile, 23% of the target list opted in (against a target of 5%) – worth a potential £180k to Sky over the next three years.

A lot of brands went down the FOMO route for getting people to opt-in to their emails, but Sky managed to come out not looking desperate and frenzied, but cool, calm and collected. It’s ‘too busy working on stylish, exciting next-generation innovations to be getting in a flap about data protection’. The work certainly stands out amidst the sea of GDPR emails that clogged our inboxes in the run-up to 25 May.