Blogger's world trip proves Skype is now mobile

Client: Skype
Agency: Albion
Lead planner: Glyn Britton

Strategy
The campaign set out to do more than just raise awareness that Skype is now mobile - we wanted to prove it, while capturing people's imaginations. Skype sent blogger Rebecca Campbell on a 33-day world trip. The twist was that she couldn't stop moving, even to sleep, had to use as many forms of transport as possible and should keep in touch the whole way, using Skype. Her travels and her communications were documented on the Skype Nomad blog on Skype's website.

Activity
We employed a two-pronged strategy: to build a relationship with the blog audience to enable people to get to know Rebecca (the Nomad) and experience the highs and lows of her trip, and to show how Rebecca stayed connected using Skype to call and instant message for free around the world. This was achieved via online and traditional offline PR. Interviews with the Nomad were conducted via Skype video or conference calls or live, as journalists joined her on sections of the trip, including a water taxi ride in Venice and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Results
Nomad's blog was visited 730,000 times and provoked 346 comments, while her Flickr page received 140,000 page views. A YouTube video racked up 320,000 views, while The Telegraph's column on the trip was viewed 10,000 times. A Nomad Facebook profile attracted 668 friends. In terms of press coverage, Nomad was picked up across several UK national and trade titles, and received global coverage across Tomorrow (Germany), Flair, RAI 3 TV (Italy), The Australian, 6PR Radio & News.com.au (Australia), Postimees (Estonia), Milk (Hong Kong), Museein-formatique (France), Tom.com (China) and Resume (Sweden).

Glyn Britton, Planning director, Albion

This article was first published on Media Week