O2 expands Priority to small businesses with £2.5m campaign

The network operator first opened up its Priority Moments scheme for small and independent businesses in July, having previously only enabled high-street retailers to run location-based offers for O2 customers.

However, the scheme was initially only open to small businesses that were O2 business customers.

It has now opened up the scheme to all independent businesses, meaning they can use the online interface, devised by R/GA London, to upload deals which are served to O2 customers in the local vicinity.

O2 is targeting businesses with a new marketing campaign, created by VCCP, to raise awareness about the service by featuring case studies. It runs across digital, social media, press and radio.

Zenith Optimedia handled the media for the campaign.

O2 has partnered The Guardian, to create Loving Local, which will feature video content and case studies across print and digital.

It also has a media partnership with the Manchester Evening News and Manchester's Key 103FM to promote the Love Local Weekend in Manchester on 27 and 28 October.

O2 will be rolling out online advertorials and virtual toolkits to show businesses how to use the automated service.

It will also be sending out street teams to target independent businesses across eight UK cities, to raise awareness to the scheme.

Sally Cowdry, marketing and consumer director at O2, said: "We’re passionate about using technology to create new possibilities for both businesses and consumers. 

"Through our new Priority Moments campaign we want to inspire independent businesses to sign up to our easy-to-use service and show how they can harness the power of mobile technology to create bespoke offers and attract new customers," she said.

Cowdry previously told Marketing the scheme has been derived from customer insight around the move towards local.

She said: "We have found that with the economic pressures in the UK, people are getting ever more focused on local – my high street, my community, my local independent shop – the sphere of concern is getting smaller."

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This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk