• by Tanya Gazdik , April 2, 2012

Skype is preparing to launch a digital campaign in the U.S. with the goal of educating consumers about all of the ways Skype allows them to have more human communications, according to Francie Strong, Skype's director of global customer-base marketing.

"We aim to illustrate how all Skype products and features –- not just 1:1 video chat -– enrich our communications by restoring their humanity,” Strong tells Marketing Daily.

The campaign targets consumers who already use Skype as well as those who might be unfamiliar with it, Strong says. “The primary goal of the campaign is to expand people’s perceptions of Skype and how it really enriches everyday communications, bringing some humanity back into the digital world,” Strong says. “Therefore, we are specifically targeting groups that really connect in this space.”

The campaign, with the tagline “It's time for Skype,” kicks off April 19 in the U.S. The digital partner list includes: 33Across, AOL, BBC/Lonely Planet, Buzz Media, CBS, CNN/CNN International, Facebook, Federated Media, Glam Media, Google, Hulu, Interclick, iVIllage, MailOnline, MSN, SocialTyze, Travora, Tremor, ValueClick, WIRED and Yahoo.

The U.K. portion of the $12 million global campaign launched April 2 with an out-of-home experience consisting of campaign posters and wraps in the London Bank Subway and on the London Torch, electronic billboards on the Canary Wharf, digital posters on bus shelters and in the Eurostar departure terminal in London Heathrow Terminal and more.

The campaign is focused on social connectors, family relationship builders and business travelers. The key message coming out of the campaign is that Skype puts humanity back in communication through the various Skype products and features that enrich our connections.

Social connnectors use email and social networks to communicate with friends, family and coworkers and are always connected on mobile devices. Family relationship builders like to write, visit or comment on blogs, and like to post and share photos with family and friends and are consistently communicating using instant messages. Business travelers regularly book or look for travel information online, reads/researches business and news content.

Beyond the out-of-home experience, Skype will also launch a campaign landing page and roll out digital assets, such as contextual display brand ads and custom publisher units, over the next few months. And for social connectors,there will be an application on the Skype Facebook page that lets page fans create their own Humoticon -- a picture of themselves expressing a human emotion -- and share it with their network.

“With so many ways to communicate, there has been a shift towards communicating in ways that are less conversational, more transactional -– less human,” Strong says. “With Skype, we have an array of products and features that let our users communicate with people in a more human way every single day. We wanted to bring the human aspect of Skype communications to the forefront for target audiences, while highlighting the various products and features that enable these communications on a daily basis.”