To celebrate 30 years since the first mobile phone call in the UK, Vodafone wanted to highlight the evolution of the mobile phone and the role it’s played over the past three decades.
This celebration wasn’t about selling handsets or signing up new customers; it was simply an invitation to the British public to come and enjoy a world of nostalgia and fun – and give younger generations the chance to experience how different their world would have been had Vodafone never made that call in 1985.
Thinking about how we could bring this to life, it became clear that many of the apps and features found on smartphones were, in the 1980s, only available on the high street: for example, making a phone call when out and about; sending a written message or image; enjoying music; watching a film; playing games; getting the news; and of course ,taking a selfie!
And so 1984G Street was born: a hugely-detailed replica of a 1980’s high street positioned in the heart of London’s Covent Garden – complete with shops such as Spotify Records, the NOW TV VHS Store, a fully-functioning 4G Arcade and an original Vodafone retail store.
Every shop was painstakingly researched and modelled to make it as realistic as possible. Even the brickwork for each of the shops was hand-painted to match the historic cobbles of Covent Garden.
Traditional 1980s arcade games were shipped in. Actors as stereotypical characters of the decade chatted among themselves and with the public. We even had a replica
post box that allowed people to write and post a message, at which point it would be digitised and sent by email to friends and family
Throughout the experience, members of the public were given the chance to win some amazing retro prizes, for example finding golden vinyls in the Spotify Record Store to win exclusive headphones, or playing Snake on the giant replica Nokia in the 4G Arcade.
The pop-up street was designed to allow people to simply stroll in and out at their own leisure and people flowed from shop to shop enjoying all of the different experiences on offer. The genuine sense of surprise and delight on the faces of those who stumbled across 1984G Street was a testament to the painstaking detail placed on making it as real as possible.
It allowed people to relive nostalgic moments from their past as they nibbled on flying saucers from the Newbury Newsagents, while flicking through a Beano comic or taking a snap in our retro Selfie photo booth.
The street was active for a total of three days and we wanted to finish the campaign with an extra special surprise event that would see one of the 80s’ most iconic
artists perform with upcoming British talent.
At the famous Scala venue in London, the kings of hip-hop RUN-DMC played an exclusive and one-off gig alongside rising star Raleigh Ritchie. Although only 500 tickets were available to competition winners, it was important to make sure everyone could witness such an iconic event, so we positioned a number of 360-degree cameras around the venue and stage, and streamed the performance live to mobile phones around the world through the power of Vodafone 4G.
As a result:
- More than 8,000 people visited and engaged with Vodafone on 1984G Street.
- More than 8,000 streamed the gig live on their mobile or through YouTube.
- #30yearsVodafone delivered the best positive shift that Vodafone UK has ever seen on social media.
- 63m impressions of the overall campaign.
Paul Saville is joint managing director of Wasserman Experience
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