A new Rogers Facebook campaign aimed at university students promoting the benefits of being a Rogers Wireless customer has enthralled campuses in eastern Canada. Campus Battle ’09, developed for Rogers by Toronto-based agency The Hive, pits 37 participating Canadian universities against one another in a competition to host a private concert by sentimental indie rock band, Death Cab for Cutie. In one month, 31,000 people have participated, with Dalhousie University in the lead with more than 15% of the student population having voted.
‘We always felt the campaign would work best with a smaller, regional school where they get more excited about having a big band out to the campus…and the campus is more self contained and easier to mobilize,’ explains The Hive’s VP client services Trent Fulton. University of Windsor is in second place with 7% of the student population having voted, while Newfoundland’s Memorial University and the University of Prince Edward Island are in third and fourth place, respectively.
‘Youth are the people who love and embrace the phone,’ he says about the importance of the demo. Toronto’s MBS/The Media Company handled the buy, which also includes promos through on-campus media: tray liners in cafeterias, campus newspapers and street teams. Fokus Media also added a digital element to the campaign, as the contest was promoted through digital screens and interactive kiosks in several Ontario and Montreal schools.
To participate, students log on to Facebook’s campus battle page and download the voting application, developed by mobile specialist Vortex Mobile, also based in Toronto. Rogers Wireless customers (naturally) have an advantage in the competition because they can also vote by text or on the mobile internet browser of their Rogers mobile device. The campaign also links to the Rogers music store where customers can buy Death Cab tracks, graphics and ringtunes. The contest is open until Mar. 1, when a winner will be declared, and the concert will be held in early April.
