The result was the U Gotta Be Free campaign, which hit gold in this year's Hong Kong Effies.

The creative team decided to cast Taiwanese pop heart-throb Jay Chou Jie-lun for the second time as the hero of the campaign. Chou was the man for CSL's winning MMS - Lovers campaign last year.

The new campaign continued the triumphant concept of infusing drama in advertising, but with even more creative elements.

Michelle Au, CSL general manager, marketing communications and PR, explained the creative effort.

'Instead of creating another love story drama, a theme One2Free explored before, we decided to segment the campaign in a series of short television campaigns, each featuring a different data service in a humorous way,' she said. 'Casting Jay Chou, a star considered cool, to portray different personalities made the series interesting and engaging.'

Chou played a kung fu boy in the famous yellow Bruce Lee jumpsuit, a student, a marathon runner, a boyfriend trying to recover his favourite handset from his girlfriend and a fun-loving youth taking self-portraits in a bumper car.

CSL's communication strategy incorporates television, outdoor ads, print, youth channels, direct mail and online community building.

The mission was to aim multiple offers and services at multiple audiences, and the firm had to adopt a carefully synchronised multimedia strategy. Each medium had a designated function to elicit a desired consumer response. At the same time, the various elements had to work in harmony to drive the consumer towards the ultimate desired response.

The campaign achieved the desired outcome across the range of objectives, and figures measuring campaign success impressed the Effie judges.

Data usage grew 26 per cent, or 173 per cent over the target. There was a 38 per cent increase (1.3 times the target) in active users of the Video World service.

Use of the MP3 Ringtone service increased 47 per cent, or 1.35 per cent over target. Take-up of the Ring Master service increased 5 per cent, while Java game take-up rose 10 per cent.

The campaign was also responsible for making 73 per cent of the youth segment perceive the One2Free plan as cheaper than they considered it was six months ago.

Meanwhile, advertisement and brand recognition among the youth segment achieved an all-time high of 92 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively.

By highlighting the data services and various special offers in a series of short duration television commercials in an entertaining and humorous way, One2Free successfully sustained its position as a trendsetter; at the same time data usage rose by 26 per cent, Ms Ho said.

'We have to understand the needs and behaviour of target segments and develop the right communication message and media mix to enhance reach rate and cost-effectiveness,' she said.