Liam Gallagher Campaign A Huge Success, Says Philips

Philips has reported “huge success” for an advertising campaign starring former Oasis front man Liam Gallagher, which it says reached 21 million UK consumers in its first 14 days.

The multi-million pound ‘Obsessed with sound’ campaign, which ran from 31 May to 31 August 2011, featured the Beady Eye singer as its ‘sound hero’ and included out-of-home, print, social media and paid search activity.

Philips said the campaign helped it achieve over 1.5m direct consumer interactions as part of a product roadshow in key locations across London, thousands of fans on Facebook, and a week-on-week sales increase.

The integrated marketing communications campaign focused on the Philips Fidelio docking speaker range for iPod, iPad and iPhone. It began with a concentrated £1m media burst that included Tube advertising, highly visible outdoor advertising and targeted mobile communication.

All communication drove consumers to the dedicated ‘Obsessed with sound’ UK Facebook page, which provided a platform for people to share their opinions about the campaign, and gave them access to behind-the-scenes content from Gallagher and other campaign heroes.

“To command the type of attention we wanted, sometimes you have to take a risk,” said Eva Barrett, marketing communications director at Philips. “We know that Liam Gallagher is a polarising character, but he invites a debate about music and sound which is exactly what we want to foster among sound lovers.

“The level of visibility and buzz this campaign has generated for the Fidelio range through the varied touchpoints has been unlike anything Philips has done in the UK before.”

The integrated agency team working on the campaign includes Iris Worldwide, Omnicom’s OneVoice consortium of agencies, Tribal DDB, and Carat.