Part 1: The Lumia Quest competition by Telstra last month was an innovative and fun free phone giveaway across 5 capital cities across a week. Launched and run via Facebook and Twitter by Telstra’s Melbourne-based Social Media Team, it was the brainchild of Dan Michael – WP7 supporter, official Telstra Exchange Blogger and full-time Ducati enthusiast!  In this Part 1 wrap-up by WPDownUnder, we bring you an exclusive interview with Dan, touching base on all the behind the scenes work that went into creating this successful promotional competition.

In Part 2, we will speak with a couple of the successful participants, fellow #wp7au peeps and now proud Lumia 800 owners!

 

 

I am the Social Media Community Manager for Telstra’s Facebook, Google+ and Twitter news networks. It’s a great big gig and I love it.

I’m a blogger, copywriter, editor, web publisher/designer/geek and creative type social media junkie.

I’m totally obsessed with Ducatis especially my very own Hypermotard EVO SP. I got carried away and started a blog about it – make sure you check out DucatiBlog.com.au & follow me on http://twitter.com/danmikhael

 

 

 

 

Q. What – or Who – was the inspiration behind the #LumiaQuest idea?

I took part in something very similar once and really enjoyed the ‘game’ component of the treasure hunt so we took that concept one step further by making the prizes really compelling

Q. The prize was pretty awesome, not only a WP7 device but a SIM with $1000 of credit on it to use towards your smartphone was pretty attractive. What were the interest levels you saw, both on Social Media – and actually on the days of the competition in each city?

I thought that would catch a few people’s attention  We really wanted the prizes to be extra worthwhile for this campaign, we wanted to promote the Lumia 800 handset and of course the Next G network. We were really happy with the interest and online chatter leading up to it and each day of competition, it was amazing how fast each clue was being solved!

Q.  The competition was run primarily using Facebook, Telstra Exchange and Twitter. Are these the primary services/engagement methods for Telstra in Social Media?

Yes I think you would have to say so, as far as engagement goes. Given the great readership of Telstra Exchange it made absolute sense as the launching platform for the competition, but the Facebook platform was the perfect place to execute the competition and Twitter just came as a natural way to amplify the clues each day using the popular #WP7AU hashtag.

Q. Was Telstra happy with the participation and “return” via Likes, Social Media activity and “Buzz” over the competition – especially considering WP7’s lower popularity and take-up vs. Android and iOS?

Absolutely! Just on Facebook alone there were more than 500,000 impressions relating to 5 days of activity. . For me personally it was all the amazing smiling faces lighting up the Telstra wall as they held up their prizes knowing full well most of them had sprinted to each location desperate to be the first to win. Everyone who won, and many who didn’t, passed on great feedback and it was just a total hoot in the office each time watching the clock and waiting for the final call to say each phone had been found.  I think it is just an added bonus that I could execute this plan (I’d been hanging onto the idea for something special for quite some time) around the Lumia 800 and Windows Phone because I really believe that once people put this device in their hand and had a red-hot crack at how WP works, they’d  be  impressed.

Video Wrap of Winners:

Q. Who came up with all the questions?

That was a lot of fun and our whole team was involved. We worked closely with Nokia to tie in the theme ‘Amazing Everyday’ and we also focussed on white as the theme. Many of our clues tied in white structures or mentioned the colour white because of course we were giving away white Lumia 800s.

Q. How did you feel the difficulty of the questions went?

I was really happy with them, but you can never tell until of course the first one is found. Given the phones were found relatively easily, with some a little harder, I think they were spot on!

Q. Were you aware that people were using social media and people sitting at desktop PC’s to try to help steer them towards a win? For example, I tried to help out a SA #wp7au peep who arranged to call me during both Adelaide clues. It was fun, almost made it feel like you were there with them!

Yes I kind of figured that was happening as many of the comments were talking about friends helping out each other, such is the beauty of social media – loved it!

Q.  Are you able to share the number of Likes and Tweets you recorded for the promotion? By our estimates the 5 days of the actual competition look to have generated about 600 Facebook comments.

Yep, you can see it all on the page. We were very happy with the results and it was just great to be able to engage and reward our Facebook community with such a special campaign.

Q. By Telstra’s measures – are you, and the team (including Nokia) happy with how the competition turned out? By my reckoning, I certainly felt it was innovative, engaging and well-received.

Indeed, and thank you. Personally for me it was one of the best weeks at work I’ve had in a long time. Seeing my idea turn from concept into reality was really very satisfying. It was a little nerve-wracking  before it started thinking ‘maybe no one will turn up’ , so after the first one was found in Brisbane within minutes and the lucky winner had sprinted to the drop spot from half way across Brisbane, I started to feel more relaxed!

Q. What are some of the features of Windows Phone – and the Nokia Lumia 800 – which appeal to you as a smartphone user?

Live tiles! I love the tiles. I pin a few to my desktop and can sit there staring at them for some time with not a bother in the world. I think that simplicity and speed of Windows Phone is key to me. I work at the speed of light (sic) and hate to be held up by technology, if something doesn’t respond to me instantly and work seamlessly as fast as I can command it to execute, then it is a failure in my mind. With Windows Phone, I can do just about anything you ask of me quicker than I can on any other device. #smokedbywindowsphone was a really great example of this and when I first really noticed just how true it was. And although the Marketplace might not be as substantial as other app centres, I think the quality coming out of some of the dev work going on is stellar. Phonealytics is my favourite app and Live Tile, and to sing the praise of Aussie developers you don’t have to look much further than the quality of Developed Down Under to see just how good we are at this.

Q. What’s your day-to-day phone of choice at the moment (can you even admit that working for Telstra ? lol)?

I knew that was coming! I can’t tell a lie and so quite honestly, I use two phones on a daily basis! Spoilt much? I think so! At work I am a Windows Phone guy, the integration of Office and the way Outlook works and displays email just knocks it out of the park for a business phone.  But I’m also an iPhone fan, always have been from day one. The innovation of the device changed the smartphone industry in dramatic ways that you cannot deny. For that reason, and because I do quite a lot of creative work I am a Mac user at home, with a MacBook Pro and iPhone being in perfect harmony, and at work I run Windows 7 on a powerhouse desktop PC synced with a Toshiba Portege laptop also running W7 synced, of course, to my Nokia Lumia 800. One very happy camper!

Thanks Dan. It’s been an absolute pleasure today chatting with you. I’m sure all the WPDownUnder readers and wider Aussie Windows Phone community would want to thank you for your support and enthusiasm for WP7, both personally and in your Social Media capacity at Team Telstra! In the meantime, good luck with your Ducati Blog (link below and Facebook page).

We hope to see more innovative and engaging Windows Phone activities from Telstra and yourself as we approach the brave new world of WP8 later this year!

Sheeds.

<Summary of Lumia Quest Competition>