The Brief

Sledge was asked to create and implement a company-wide talent search campaign that would raise awareness of The Carphone Warehouse's sponsorship of The X Factor TV show.

A further element to the campaign's objective was to boost morale of internal staff and to find an overall winner who would perform at The Carphone Warehouse's inaugural annual ball in front of 9,000 guests. In order to drive communications, Sledge was required to create a company intranet site, run regional launch events, manage the voting process of participants and produce a campaign video.

The Solution

In order to launch the competition and generate hype and enthusiasm around the campaign amongst employees, Sledge staged various events focusing on the audition element of the show (with Singstar Karaoke units, break dancers and DJs) at staff locations throughout the UK.

A bespoke internal website was created as the main communications tool to support The X Factor Fever campaign and staff were encouraged to both upload videos of themselves singing and vote for their colleagues. Uploaded performances went through a series of audition phases, with the finalists of each category being treated to a VIP day out at The X Factor's television studios where Sledge filmed their live performances. These video clips were subsequently uploaded onto the internal website before a winner was announced. Finally, Sledge produced an overall campaign video featuring clips of Simon Cowell and Dermott O'Leary reviewing the finalists' performances.

The Results

Feedback was incredibly positive, with some contestants claiming that The X Factor Fever campaign had been life changing! The campaign proved a huge success, establishing an internal communications activity with longevity that will run hand in hand with The Carphone Warehouse’s ongoing sponsorship of the X Factor show.