Amazon · 2018
Amazon × Vodafone España
Embedded Amazon Prime inside Vodafone Spain's 2018 Christmas TV campaign, getting Spain's third-largest telco to do Amazon's brand-building for it, with zero allocated partnership budget.
Context
- Vodafone, Spain's third-largest telco operator, launched a promotion bundling Amazon Prime into their subscription package.
- Two real constraints: Amazon had no dedicated budget to promote telco partnerships, and Vodafone's bundle also included Netflix, so Prime needed to feel like the headline benefit, not a footnote.
My role and scope
- Spain partnerships and marketing lead, designed the partnership angle, negotiated the integration with Vodafone, and ran joint creative approval end-to-end.
- Coordinated implementation across Amazon brand, legal, PR, and local marketing alongside Vodafone's media and creative teams.
- Steered both organisations through TV, radio, digital, social, and print activation in a single Q4 window.
Goal
- Get Amazon brand visibility inside Vodafone's flagship Q4 campaign without spending Amazon media budget.
- Drive Prime membership uplift in Spain through high-reach telco distribution.
- Position Prime Free Shipping as the differentiator versus the Netflix bundle component.
Strategy
- Reframe the deal: instead of Amazon paying Vodafone for inclusion, position Prime as the emotionally resonant element that makes Vodafone's Christmas spot work.
- Lean into Free Shipping as the visual hook, Amazon boxes arriving at the door, because it's a benefit Netflix bundles can't match.
- Lock joint creative principles upfront so both brands stayed protected through TV, radio, digital, social, and print versions.
- Use Vodafone's owned social channels as a 2-month always-on layer to keep momentum past the TV burst.
Execution
- TV spot: Vodafone customers receiving Amazon boxes at home as the emotional centrepiece, with a clear end-frame CTA: 'We give you a year of Amazon Prime' free.
- Adapted versions across radio, digital, social, and print, all aligned to the joint creative framework.
- 2-month organic social plan on Vodafone's Spanish channels with editorial content on Prime benefits and Prime Video releases.
Results
- Generated a measurable uplift in Prime subscriptions in Spain (exact figures Amazon confidential).
- Indirectly contributed to a Q4 sales uplift through new Prime member shopping behaviour.
- Reinforced Amazon's brand relevance in Spain by associating it with one of the country's biggest Christmas campaigns, at zero direct media spend.
Learnings
Repeat
- · When budget is the constraint, design partnerships where the partner's media is your media. The right value exchange is worth more than the right line item.
- · Lock the joint creative principles in writing before production. It saves weeks of brand-side review on every adaptation.
- · Pair a TV burst with the partner's owned social channels, the always-on layer is usually free and sustains the result well past the spot.
Improve
- · Embed measurement clauses into the partnership contract, attribution gaps cost weeks of post-campaign analysis that should have been instrumented from day one.
Films & spots
Gallery
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