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Virgin Media O2

 | Case study

Cruising and enthusing

How Virgin Media O2 supercharged its employee engagement

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Virgin Media O

How it started

A world divided

One of the UK’s largest employers, Virgin Media O2 represents a new frontier in terms of broadband and telecoms businesses. And in the wake of a pandemic, the roadmap for achieving world-class engagement was never more obscure or challenging.

In the midst of Covid lockdowns, separating people from one another and isolating them in their own bubbles, the company announced to customers its decision not to reintroduce daily rate roaming charges for calls, text, and data used by travelers in the European Union. 

The internal challenge was threefold; spreading awareness, doing so in a way that taught employees how to explain the new roaming rules, and leveraging employee engagement to allow for an organic method of sharing information, with little in the form of initial spend.

virgin media

Where they landed

Divided no more

The solution to these challenges came in the form of an internal competition, offering the perfect prize nearing the end of lockdown: a week-long cruise for two in the Mediterranean. 

To enter, employees were asked to post #dontmisstheboat on any social media platform they pleased before screenshotting that post and uploading it to their Firstup platform— used by Virgin Media O2 for their entire employee base. The results were staggering. 

The Firstup platform delivered

In the two days the competition ran, 750 new users registered on Firstup to post their screenshots, taking the platform’s user count to nearly 4000. This volume of new users was incredible, especially considering the limited-timeframe, organic campaign. 

Firstup was the ideal platform for this type of competition, as its core concept of personalized employee feeds could adapt to a sudden influx of new users very easily, while still maintaining core brand messages and news from the company. 

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About

Virgin Media O2

On June 1, 2021, Virgin Media, the UK’s fastest major broadband provider, partnered up with O2, the UK’s favorite mobile network operator. They are two of the UK’s most iconic brands, combining 46 million+ broadband, mobile, phone, and home subscribers, and 18,700 employees.
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