CorpComms Magazine

Barclaycard and Orange had several objectives for their campaign, described by judges as 'highly effective', to launch Quick Tap, the UK's first mobile contactless payment service.

Firstly, the service had to resonate with consumers (requiring extensive media coverage emphasising its simplicity) and secondly it had to position Barclaycard and Orange as innovators and market leaders in digital technology.

The companies started to prepare the market six months ahead of launch on 20 May with embargoed briefings with national and broadcast journalists to discuss the concept and what it meant for consumers. In doing so, Orange and Barclaycard stole a march on competitors, including Visa's PayWave mobile payment system that was first demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in February.

As the launch date approached, bespoke media materials were produced. More than 120 media briefings took place in a retail environment, where journalists could 'experience' the device while a breakfast event reached out to bloggers and key online influencers.

The Gadget Show presenter Suzi Perry made the first official contactless payment at a fruit and vegetable market stall, to highlight how easy Quick Tap, which requires a specially enabled mobile phone, was to use.

This approach, described by the judges as 'well executed', resulted in more than 600 articles, of which 82 per cent were positive. There were also 843 tweets on launch day while Perry's 'purchase' featured on several news programmes. Some publications even covered the story more than once.

Over the following three months, Orange and Barclaycard were mentioned in 86 per cent of coverage about the technology underpinning mobile payment systems.

Orange has seen 'significant' purchases of its Quick Tap enabled phone, while more than 100,000 unique users have watched videos about the payment system.

'This was a campaign that had clear objectives, stated from the outset, which were achieved,' said the judges.

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Highly commended entry

O2 Indian Soap Star - O2 - Agencies: Blue Rubicon; PD3

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Shortlisted entries

Mind the gap! - Aviva - Agency: Grayling

Designated driver campaign 2010 - Coca-Cola Great Britain - Agency: Portland

Dynamo TV and the TA1 - Panasonic - Agency: Eulogy!

Save water, save energy, save money - Southern Water

The launch of the 30% Club - 30% Club - Agency: MHP Communciations

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