The Brief
Virgin Media O2 Business needed to break through to a key decision-making audience: IT and operations leaders in UK retail. Fresh from merger, the brand wanted to establish itself not just as a connectivity provider, but as a strategic partner with real business intelligence to offer retailers.
The key was O2 Motion – a proprietary platform that uses anonymised and aggregated mobile network data to map how people move across the UK. Our challenge was to turn this data into actionable insight for retailers, and to use the national business press as a high-impact route to reach the right people.
The Activity
Working closely with Virgin Media O2’s comms team, data scientists and engineers, we created the quarterly Business Movers Index blending proprietary O2 Motion data with fresh polling from businesses and consumers. Each edition spotlighted timely, retail-relevant trends: back-to-school footfall, shifting commuter flows, the impact of major events like Black Friday or the summer heatwave.
The content was built for retailers – giving decision-makers a clearer view of changing consumer behaviours and helping them plan smarter. We led the sell-in each quarter to national business titles with newsworthy angles and standout storytelling to ensure the data landed directly in front of senior retail audiences.
As the Index gained traction, it didn’t just drive coverage – it drove demand. Media started coming to us with briefs of their own, keen to tap into O2 Motion’s unique lens on the UK.
The Impact
The Business Movers Index became a go-to source for UK mobility trends, particularly among retail decision-makers.
Since launch:
- Coverage more than doubled – from 140 pieces in 2023 to 396 in 2024, with 362 already in 2025.
- Commetric CQI scores (a measure of coverage quality) consistently above benchmark, hitting 2.20 in Q2 2024
- Coverage in The Economist, The Times, Evening Standard, Business Leader, and Daily Mail
- Ongoing inbound requests from journalists for bespoke mobility insight
