Alltel Wireless "My Circle on Trial" Digital & Viral Campaign

6/1/2006

“My Circle on Trial” was designed as a buzz and awareness generator for Alltel’s My Circle program, and also served as a strategic transition from the previous “Icons” campaign after a cease-and-desist order prevented further use of competitor look-alikes.

We partnered with GMD Studios to create a seven-week mock trial, pitting Alltel’s My Circle against The People Against My Circle Foundation (PAMCF) for allegedly allowing customers to add people to their Circle without consent. The campaign leveraged three websites, including MySpace, to showcase the story from the characters’ perspectives. Each site featured weekly blog updates, audio/video podcasts, courtroom testimonies, and leaked evidence. In the end, the online audience served as the jury, casting votes to decide the verdict. Campaign seeding occurred through non-branded ads on legal blogs and discussion boards, encouraging users to engage with PAMCF’s Class Action Lawsuit narrative.

Highlights:

Coverage in the Wall Street Journal helped the campaign go viral, generating extensive media attention and online buzz across publications, blogs, and social channels
Users spent an average of over 10 minutes per visit, engaging deeply with the content
Websites continued to attract ~1,000 daily visitors four months post-campaign
The campaign set the stage for Alltel’s Chad & the Sales Guys integrated branding, demonstrating early, effective use of social media for major brand storytelling

The ad that set the internet on fire.
This media ran on legal blogs.