Pour some sugar on 3

Babes on your mobile

What?: Mobile operator 3 has signed up the Sugababes – who recently racked up their sixth No.1 – to feature in its latest series of ads. The Fresh On 3 ads (costing £15M) will push the operator’s mobile TV and Internet services and will run for three months.

The company is ditching the overly-familiar 30-second spot in favour of short burst 10-second slots. “This approach is similar to the way the likes of Channel 4 and ITV use short idents to push the key ‘benefits’ of an upcoming show,” said 3 Marketing Director, John Penberthy-Smith.

So what?: The nails are going into the coffin of the 30-second ad. As content goes macro and attention spans wane, 30 seconds can feel like a lifetime and the cost of keeping people engaged is rising.

Well-seeded persuasive reminders are effective, acting like gentle taps on the shoulder as opposed to a slap in the face. The futuristic jellyfish ads that launched 3 were clever and visually stunning, yet ultimately felt empty.

3 recently took the unprecedented step of raising the loss-leading price of downloads on its music service, cut back its music staff and removed free downloads. The expensive introduction of the Sugababes sees their marketing strategy shift yet again. With an ad spend dwarfed by its rivals (Orange £71M, Vodafone £53m, T-Mobile £46.6M, O2 £37M) can 3 now re-engage with music consumers?

www.sugababes.com