Sirius Satellite Radio

Sirius Satellite Radio was launched in Canada in spring 2006 with no major advertising and an initial subscriber base of 100,000. Rethink’s goal was simple: increase that number and build brand awareness.

Following its launch in the U.S. three years prior, the agency was able to tap into existing research about the Sirius customer. Namely, they were early adopters, male, between 35 and 50, with above-average incomes.

In Canada, as part of its research, Rethink gave radios to consumers and asked them to log their listening habits. While Sirius offers 110 channels of content (music, news, sports, lifestyle, talk and comedy), most listeners quickly settle on three or four stations. This was the basis of the agency’s insight: Each listener’s Top Three was unique – and eclectic. For example, one listener loved 80s Hair Bands, Martha Stewart and BBC Radio One. The resulting tagline was “110 channels of whatever you’re into.”

The campaign included TV, cinema, radio and print. The print creative, for example, showed a basketball-playing punk nun, a NASCAR fan who also loves rock music and news updates and a Broadway show tunes-singing Rastafarian with a keen interest in the Weather Network.

Sirius increased its subscriber base from 100,000 in May 2006 to 300,000 in February 2007, and the brand boasts an 88% share of the Canadian satellite radio market.