iiNet launches new campaign as Australia’s number two DSL broadband service provider
iiNet has launched its biggest advertising campaign ever to celebrate its position as the new number two DSL broadband service provider in Australia.
The campaign, created by Meerkats, kicks off this Sunday, February 6, and combines three TVCs with a series of press, radio, outdoor (billboard, cycad, hellibanner, bus sides) and online advertisements and interactions designed to enforce iiNet’s new position while reflecting the brands fun and outgoing nature.
Matthew Dunstan, General Manager Retail at iiNet, said a series of market research sessions in the key markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth identified that iiNet’s significant size and credibility was relatively unknown.
“We are really proud of our number two position in DSL broadband. It’s a massive achievement and we want people to know that we are a big, safe and reliable ISP that continues to deliver great customer service and innovative products,” Dunstan said.
“We have had a lot of fun with this campaign. With the return of our brand icon, Finn, we have been able to create something that will make people laugh while enforcing the message that we are serious about what we do.
“Our integrated approach of combining TVCs with a range of other mediums is designed for maximum impact, especially with the introduction of hellibanners and cycads. It’s by far our biggest campaign yet.”
29 Comments
Sorry, but this is very dull work.
Reminds me of MF’s old powerball ad where BOB was stripped into stock footage of the UN-come to think of it the island was called BOB as well
I don’t think this is brilliant work (I reckon the posting is more about iinet’s achievement than Meerkats). But it’s a nice example of the consistency Meerkats apply to the iinet account. The wry sense of humor they apply to every thing they do makes this one of the most consistent voices in Australia and one of the most well run accounts in Perth. (Apart from everything we do here at 303 of course.)
Another corker from Mike “Can Do No Wrong” Edmonds!
Neither fun, nor outgoing but like most on tv, play it often enough and it will still work so in that sense the media dept is still earning their pay. Not every ad is meant to be wildly creative, I know this, but is there a reason they all end up on this blog? There is merit in being a little selective, surely.
1.06 there was plenty wrong with that dreadful Police & Nurses Campaign!
Wow playing on the number two position.
Avis car rental rang loud as soon as I seen this. This is not smart advertising – just idea stealing.
A big idea needs to be new, not borrowed.
Meerkats do have some great clients but you couldn’t pay me enough to work for them.
I didn’t realise American patriotism was a theme for a WA based ISP (is that the Washington monument in the background??). iiNet has built a reputation on being more than just another big ISP. I guess that has switched and is their USP? Very poor campaign all round.
“Another corker”?
Surely you are not saying this is as good as the HBF campaign 1.06pm?
I hate this iiNet campaign.
With all the growth of the Kats it’s obvious they are really struggling creatively. They’ve done nothing over the past year – even with ikea.
Their good creative is obviously off writing a radio ad. Bring Kurt back, I don’t know who their other creatives are (surely there’s a reason for that) but it’s interesting that they haven’t put their name to it. It’s pretty obvious they don’t have any art directors.
Oops. Two typos in the press ad. See if you can spot ’em …
Before we talk about the creative execution could we talk about the message.
iinet are number 2. So what? Why should I care that they are making a shitload? Avis wasn’t bragging that they were number 2, they were pointing out that as number 2 they had to do better than number 1 to get your business.
The logic in the iinet campaign is that they are better because they have grown
Big enough to be number 2 (although they have achieved this primarily through an aggressive acquisition program). So by their own logic – ie bigger is better – them surely being number 1 is the best? So remind me again why I would go with iinet?
And then there is the creative…
12.45 at the top of the page if you think this is dull look out for what they’ve done for Westnet-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
I presume the intention of this campaign from the start was to take something as faceless as a local internet service provider and make it a brand with personality. You could say the fact that iinet is now number two across the whole of Austrlalia is testament to the effectiveness of Meerkats’ strategy. The same can’t be said for iinet’s competition.
this really is pretty lazy stuff.
What is lazy stuff is that the whole campaign from the very word go is a total rip of Apples Mac v Pc campaign-all they’ve done is remove the pc character leaving you with the smug quirky young dude-it’s about as original as Michael Jacksons face !
7:12 PM agrressive acquisitions and smart business decisions…
From the depths of Mike Malones garrage to becomming number 2 in Australia is quite an achievement indeed. Telecommunicatons is one of the most competitive high performance sectors to work in and to do so in such a short time is huge…. I should know. i worked in it for a decade before changing industry.
The difference is that they have made the acquisitions work. There’s been no mass exodus of customers to other Service providers like the below recent mergers and acquisitions. Customers still remain very happy.
AAPT/PowerTel (still had to sell their consumer business to iiNet who has turned it around)
Commander/M2 Telecom
Soul and BDigital (Soul has completely dissapeared)
Telstra/Kaz Commercial (Kaz was butchered and customers were let down despite promises not to butcher the company)
EFTel.. – my god where do i start? list of failed acquisitions that have seen their stock price plummet.
i could honestly go on.
They’ve proven they are the safe bet. So why shouldnt they brag about it? I got to say it worked on me… Admittedly i even signed up with iiNet yesterday as a new customer.
9:16 AM, what do you know?
Thank you 11.53, we know where you work, even if we don’t know your name.
11.53
Seriously dude, listen to yourself. You must be the dullest person in Perth
I think I spot one typo… should ‘we’ be capital ‘W’ ?
Elephant stamp?
And the other?
ok, I’m catching up but what is it with the American theme? And the term ‘stock footage crowd’, who are you talking to? What a load of chest beating dribble. Anyone who has actually been on hold with iinet for several loops of dialogue already appreciates why they’re only ranked second best and don’t even get me started on the press layout…
And the two typos are (drum roll please)…
In the subhead, there’s a lowercase ‘w’ at the start of the sentence and the full stop at the end should be inside the bracket.
Sloppy writing. Sloppy art direction. The campaign sure does smell like a number two.
Why don’t you all just get outside, enjoy some sunshine and get a life!!! Who cares!
Hi 12.42, you are correct on both counts.
The stop is normally placed inside quotation marks but outside brackets:
“What joy we had that particular day.”
Profits declined (despite increased sales).
But, If the parenthesis is a complete sentence, the full stop stays inside the
brackets:
There was an earthquake in Osaka. (Another had occurred in Tokyo the year previously.)
A parenthetical sentence forms two sentences of text uses both an initial capital letter and an end mark inside the parentheses.
We took a trip to Texas. (It is a big state!)
Hi 2:01, you have a a better perspective on life.
While we’re talking typos, have you seen the double-space in the first super on the TVC – between the words ‘No.2’ and ‘in’. Looks like the press ad will be the easy one to fix.
As an iiNet customer, this ad enraged me. They seemed to be congratulating themselves on a job well done, which made my dissatisfaction with the company all the more galling.
Excellent. Lets shout to the world that we’re number two. Lets reinforce to the whole market that Telstra is still number one and the most popular ISP of choice. It’s like screaming to the world that you got a silver medal in a running race – which is odd – unless you’re used to bronze. I know who I’d prefer running on my team….