O2 signs Ian Wright to star in the App and create “O2 Future News” films.

O2 has created “Future Timeline”, a future-gazing app which allows Facebook users to see their year predicted and mapped out in front of them. The app has been created to showcase the mobile network’s Pay & Go Go Go tariff – which gives customers more and more benefits the longer they stay on it.

Future Timeline creates a personal Facebook timeline for anyone who uses it, projecting their status posts for the year ahead to bring to life an idealised future based on existing timeline content.

The app analyses existing timeline content to create “ideal futures,” predicting things that can range from dates with a user’s celebrity crush to hints of fabulous trips abroad or even favourite football teams winning the Premier League. All are made a virtual reality with Future Timeline.

Customers can then re-post these possible futures to their walls and show off about what the year has in store for them to friends, family and followers.

The app that plans the perfect year for anyone who signs up is part of a marketing campaign to support O2’s Pay & Go Go Go tariff.

To help Facebook fans imagine a better future, O2 has signed former Arsenal front man, now football presenter and pundit, Ian Wright to front the O2 Future News. He has created a series of O2 Future News video clips that predict imaginary sporting happenings. The “unreal news” broadcasts will live within the app and on the O2 Future News YouTube channel. The first video based around the transfer deadline is live at http://o2lin.kr/TransferDeadline

O2 predicts that they will also unveil a high profile “Future Timeline” showbiz correspondent in the very near future.

Paul Fabretti, Head of Social Media at O2 said:

“At the heart of this idea are two of our essential social media pillars – relevance and value. Is the idea relevant to our audience and will it deliver a valuable experience to them? From our insights, we found that Facebook is the ideal channel to reach a Pay & Go audience with the message that our tariff gets better with time. It was equally important that this was a content-led idea that will create buzz and invite sharing – while at the same time delivering the message about the product and how customer’s loyalty is rewarded.

“This is the first time that marketing on this scale has created a campaign that could deliver a different experience for every person who sees it, each tailored to their Facebook interests. As a result, there are literally millions of permutations of the content that we’ve created, with hundreds of future-gazing posts in O2 Future Timeline.

“The signing of Ian Wright to present the spoof O2 Future News will give customers a richer timeline and access to a unique take on the football transfer window, RBS 6 Nations, The Ashes, Wimbledon, Tour de France and all the major sporting events of 2013”

Football Legend and “O2 Future News” sports anchor-man Ian Wright said:

“I channelled the energy of Will Ferrell, Sir Trevor McDonald and Des Lynam to become the news anchor of the O2 Future News. We wanted to reward the loyalty of sports fans by making news reports that imagine their sporting dreams coming true. By future gazing we have made the fantasy of sport even more fantastical”.

The public will be able to log in and see their ideal future come to life before their eyes from 25 January 2013 as O2 Future Timeline will be launched to predict the unpredictable at http://www.futuretimeline.co.uk/

O2 Pay & Go Go Go is the tariff that rewards customers for their loyalty. Customers who top up either £10 or £20 per month and stay on the tariff are regularly rewarded with benefits including more minutes, text and data, as well as extra money back on their top ups.

The campaign has been developed by R/GA and will be delivered by O2’s in-house team, working alongside Hope & Glory and Newcast.

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