Connecting to Guernsey’s telecoms history with Sure

Challenge

2021 marked 125 years since the States of Guernsey voted to introduce a telephony system to the island, and Sure wanted to celebrate the occasion. Not many people realise that Guernsey, and Sure, have a long history of being early adopters of the latest technology, and the island’s journey over the past 125 years has been marked by significant milestones.

Objectives:

• Celebrate 125 years of telephony in Guernsey
• Devise a mechanism for informing islanders about some of the notable milestones in Guernsey’s telecoms history
• Demonstrate that Sure is planning the next stage in Guernsey’s telecoms development – using digital networks to build a prosperous future for lifestyles and the economy

Approach

Orchard proposed hosting an event in the George Crossan Gallery in Guernsey’s Market Building, highlighting pivotal moments in history linked to telecoms and reinforcing Sure’s commitment to the community.

At the heart of the campaign was a unique exhibition – Ring please: 125 years of connecting people – hosted in the gallery space for two weeks, using 17 large display boards to provide a timeline of Guernsey’s telecoms history and chronicle its evolution. Written copy was accompanied by archive imagery and modern photography to tell the story of Guernsey’s connectivity. More information about it can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/SureGsy/posts/5963814160326108

Alongside the boards, Guernsey Museums kindly loaned us some old telephone handsets and telephony equipment, and Sure displayed some of the more recent technology that’s been used in the network.

As well as being open to the public, an invite-only evening event was held for invited guests of Sure.

PR

• Ahead of the exhibition opening, Orchard drafted and distributed a media release to promote the exhibition to the local media
• A photographer captured the exhibition for use in future Sure marketing collateral
• An event was held for invited guests, with drinks and canapes. Sure Group CEO Alistair Beak addressed the audience and explained more about Sure’s history and the future

Social

• A telecoms quiz was designed and shared on Sure’s Instagram Stories, teaching islanders some fun telecoms facts and inviting them to visit the exhibition
• A promotional social media campaign ran across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Alistair Beak shared a LinkedIn update about the exhibition and campaign

Digital

• A dedicated history section was created for Sure’s website to distil the content at the exhibition and share it to a wider audience

Results

1. The campaign generated 32,558 ‘opportunities to see’ via media coverage; 5 pieces of branded coverage across local digital, broadcast and print media
2. 17 social media posts were created across the two-week life of the exhibition
   1. 25,531 impressions on Facebook and Twitter (on 10 posts)
   2. 1,149 story impressions on the Instagram quiz
   3. 436 engagements on LinkedIn
   4. 84 reactions on Alistair Beak’s post about the event
3. 321 unique visitors to the Sure history page