Visible’s CMO on Creating Consumer Connections Through Experiences

Low-cost wireless service Visible is looking to change the way cell phone providers are perceived by consumers. Because let’s face it: Customers tend to reach out to providers when there is a problem with the service. The expectation is that the service works. Period.

So, to create more positive brand engagement with consumers and set the brand apart from competitors within a crowded marketplace, Visible has used experiences and clever, viral marketing tactics to build brand recognition and establish relationships with potential new customers.

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First, it caught consumers’ attention with an intentional spelling error across several billboards within its headquarters city of Denver. Instead of offering unlimited messages, minutes and data for $40 per month, the billboard promised unlimited massages. Twitter caught on (as the brand hoped it would), and a few marketers tipped their hats to the brand for creating the stunt. To prove its reliability and transparency—each a part of the brand promise—Visible held an event locally with unlimited chair massages for consumers. Talk about follow through.

“We’re trying to be as self-aware and irreverent about the fact that yes, we’re trying to sell you something and we’re marketing it,” CMO Minjae Ormes told Chief Marketer. “So, whether it’s a billboard or a bus shelter, there is a bit of a ‘wink, wink’ to the marketing message. A kind of, ‘notice us,’ and ‘we think you’ll like us.’”

Visible’s recent pop-up experience, #Phonetopia, in which consumers tackled a phone-themed obstacle course, was the marketing campaign’s next step. Touchpoints included a ropes obstacle course in the “Notification Gauntlet” zone, maneuvering through hanging spheres of emojis in the “Push Notifications” space and a gymnastics rings course in the “Alerts Jungle.” And lest we forget, the DM slide, where you literally slide into a foam pit of “D”s and “M”s.

Read on for more from Visible’s CMO on the brands’ marketing objectives, creating emotional connections through music collabs, and making not just a positive first impression, but a lasting one.