VodafoneThree / SMARTY

The bottom line: 25% sales growth, doubled awareness, and market leadership in simplicity – all while major competitors were slashing prices.

The Momentum Challenge

SMARTY faced an existential threat. The SIM-only mobile brand had built success on being cheaper than the big networks. Until they crashed the low-cost party, matching SMARTY's prices with massive budgets behind them...

The crisis was real: Despite more media investment, sales share was sliding. Customer acquisition dropped. Being the cheapest was no longer enough – SMARTY needed a reason to exist beyond price.

MSQ's joined-up approach: Rather than just tweaking campaigns, we assembled a bespoke team combining data intelligence, cultural insight, brand strategy, and integrated communications to fundamentally transform what SMARTY stood for.

The Joined-up Solution

We discovered the emotional truth in the data. It revealed SMARTY customers weren't just ‘budget-conscious' – they were frustrated with unnecessary complexity everywhere. Our audience over-indexed on negative emotions, defining themselves by what annoyed them.

The strategic pivot: Instead of fighting on price, we repositioned SMARTY as the brand that stands against complexity. “Less Malarkey. More SMARTY" became our rallying cry – taking aim at overengineered nonsense across culture, not just mobile.

Integrated execution across every touchpoint: 

• Creative & Content: Karl Pilkington-fronted campaigns calling out cultural malarkey
• Comms Strategy: Multi-channel approach from TV to reactive press ads
• Customer Experience: Stripped complexity from every interaction
• Performance Marketing: Behaviour-driven communications that built loyalty, not just sales

The Momentum Delivered 

Explosive growth in a declining market: 

• 25% increase in total sales volume
• +1.1pp market share growth (from 3.9% to 5%)
• 64% customer base growth while category declined -8.2%

Brand transformation beyond price: 

• Doubled brand awareness and consideration
• 74% above category average for ‘keeps things simple'
• 367% increase in emotional brand associations
• 15% reduction in customer churn despite rapid growth

MSQ's joined-up thinking delivered scale and flexibility – combining deep audience intelligence, cultural strategy, creative excellence, and experience design to create unstoppable brand momentum for SMARTY.