Radio hacked to promote a 4G mobile network

The Russian ad agency Voskhod came up with a smart way to talk to consumers in hard to reach places: take over their car FM radios and spread a message about the exceptional quality wireless Internet coverage offered by the telecoms firm Motive.

Online-to-FM radio transmission equipment placed in underground shopping mall car parks was used to hijack the frequencies of radio stations in places where reception usually fails, replacing them with simulcasts streamed via 4G that included inserted ads for Motiv.

The challenge

Motiv Telecom, headquartered in Ekaterinburg, is one of the leading providers of wireless Internet services in Russia’s Ural region. Although it actually boasts the widest 4G coverage in the region, it was perceived by consumers as being smaller than the major national operators. To address this misperception, Vokshod found an ingenious way to prove the strength of Motiv’s network: by reaching out to people via hybrid radio in underground car parks. Vokshod and Motiv brought the music back to drivers in these subterranean places.

Vokshod placed radio transmitters in a number of shopping mall underground car parks, each of which was connected to a laptop that in turn tapped into the online streams of the city’s top radio stations using Motiv’s 4G network. When a driver enters a car park, the radio signal usually fades into static, but in this case it was replaced by a seemingly identical feed on the same frequency. However, the transmissions were interrupted every 60 seconds with the message “Sorry, your radio doesn’t work in here, but Motive telecom does. Enjoy your favourite radio station with our 4G wireless internet streaming”.

The campaign allowed motorists to continue listening to music underground while also advertising the high quality of Motiv’s wireless Internet service via the power of radio.

Commenting on the campaign, Vokshod Art Director Vladislav Derevyannykh explained: “This idea was born in the framework of the work on the global campaign promoting the 4G services of the operator Motiv. The main "trick" of the operator of high-speed Internet - a stable signal and maximum coverage, even in the most apparently inaccessible places.

It was necessary to tell the greatest possible number of people, and, as usual - with a minimum budget. We thought about the common areas, where it is assumed that "nothing works", and it is in these places we try to inform you that Motiv 4G works everywhere.”

Results

The campaign reached an audience of more than 400,000 people over the course of a single month and achieved a 74% share of voice with the hashtag #4G on social media in the Ural region. The campaign also earned a PR value of 1.5 million rubles.

4G Radio was recognised for its creativity, taking awards at the Red Apple International Advertising Festival and the eurobest Festival.

Why this matters for egta members

Radio can be just as much about the medium as the message. Radio’s mass reach technology may be ubiquitous, present in virtually every car on the road, but it can still be used in creative and innovative ways to reach consumers.

Vokshod’s campaign harnesses the technology of targeted, dynamically inserted radio advertising to convey a message in an ear-catching way.

Similar clever radio hack was used in the Radio Ghosts campaign, which highlighted the fatal impact of drunk drivers.