2017 Winner: O2, Case Study

This is the story of how O2 showed that second-hand mobile phone customers don’t need to be second-class citizens – all while driving first-class business results.

When O2 was launched in 2002, it set out to be the mobile operator that would always put its customers – and their relationships with their phones –at the heart of everything it did.

That promise – bolstered by award-winning customer service, the UK’s leading rewards programme (Priority) and through a commitment to championing the experiences that matter most (at the O2 arena, and via sponsorship of the England rugby team) – established the brand as the market leader in telecoms. But by 2016, the mobile industry was changing and consumer desire for new handsets – a key part of O2’s business – was in decline.

Through a combination of foresight and insight – particularly the ability to spot and draw on parallels in other industries - O2 was able to act on these market shifts and launch Like New: the first consumer-facing brand dedicated to the second-hand handset market to be launched by any of the major mobile network operators.

Supported by an ecommerce platform and marcomms approach that put consumer insight at its heart, this brand extension answered a very real need, and set in motion a transformation of the status of the second-hand mobile sector.

Within five months of launch, the success of Like New proved itself to be one more testament to the power of O2’s position as the most determinedly consumer-centric telecom brand.