COFFEECOMPANY: WIFI

Credits:

Type of Entry: Use of Media
Category: Best Use of Other Digital Media including mobile devices
Title: WIFI HEADLINES
Advertiser/Client: COFFEECOMPANY
Product/Service: CHAIN OF CAFES
Entrant Company: THEY Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Advertising Agency: THEY Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
They They Creative
Ruud Wever Space Cowboys Technology Consulting
Jos Vos X/Os Technology
Details
Results and Effectiveness:
What we first expected to be a problem, people getting confused by the network name, became a bonus. People would ask the barista for the network name and they would answer OrderAnotherCoffeeAlready or HaveYouTriedTheCarrotCake? Which is funny especially when they have to yell it across the room. Most customers take it with a smile. The main goal of this action was to create word-of-mouth. And it did, getting posted heavily on Dutch student blogs and even making it into mainstream media in Holland abroad including Silicon Valley tech-blogs and even The New York Times and Guardian UK.
Creative Execution:
So we moved the cafe's menu onto the WiFi menu that appears on people's laptops. How? By changing the name of the WiFi network from the normal CoffeeCompany to more selling lines like Mmm...YummyMuffinsOnly1.99 Through a special Linux-based technology we developed, the network names could change, at all stores nationwide, without dumping users from the network.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
CoffeeCompany is Holland's largest and most popular chain of cafes. It had recently introduced free WiFi in it's stores near universities. The problem is, students were coming in to use the WiFi, and buying the obligatory one cup of coffee, but hardly looking at the menu.a