Metro lands four weeks of Vodafone activity

LONDON - Metro, Associated Newspapers' free morning daily, has signed a four-week advertising deal with Vodafone, encompassing the print and online editions.

The activity begins today with a coverwrap, created by BBH, promoting Vodafone's mobile broadband and email offering with the line "Commute to your garden". Metro is extending the Vodafone ads onto its website and at points throughout the day Vodafone will be the sole advertiser on the site.

Vodafone will also sponsor the online Metro clock, which counts down to the end of each working day. On Monday September 24, metro.co.uk will feature a homepage peel encouraging people to leave work on time.
To support the print and online activity, Metro is placing posters in national rail stations featuring the slogan "Don't let work steal the best bits of your day". Commuters will be invited to write their "best bits" on the posters, adding an interactive element to the campaign.
OMD UK brokered the deal between Metro and Vodafone.
Andrew Lloyd, associate director of OMD UK, said: "We set out to bring to life the concept of working smarter so as not to miss the best parts of your day -- the thought that underpins Vodafone's excellent new TV ad.
"At the heart of this launch campaign is Metro, who offer us not only access to our key target audience but also imaginative ways of bringing the project to life -- all encouraging the hard- working British public to better control their working day using mobile data solutions."
Grant Woodthorpe, executive director of sales at Metro, said: "We are delighted to be working with Vodafone and OMD on their new campaign. The interactive nature of the activity will appeal to Metro readers and the message is extremely relevant to our urbanite audience."

by Jacquie Bowser Brand Republic 19-Sep-07