Sky Broadband – Bringing Broadband to Life

It all started with a question from Sky: what if you could see WiFi? Sky was interested in developing a broadband offering, with lightning-fast, unlimited internet. We designed the Sky broadband brand based on the idea of bringing this ultra-speedy WiFi to life, although we had to slow it down just a touch so it was visible to the human eye. The brand palette, lifted from Sky's masterbrand, uses a deep blue to set off the lightning-golden 'trail' of the WiFi, which became the key element of the brand.

As we pondered the question of what WiFi would look like if you could see it, we realised there was an opportunity not only to make WiFi something you could see, but to really bring broadband to life. And so, WiFi Guy was born. HeyYou developed and named the character, a living embodiment of WiFi that was part of an augmented reality experience designed to help users test the strength of their WiFi. WiFi Guy offered an opportunity to be a bit cheekier than the Sky brand: let's put it this way, he's not afraid to tell you if your WiFi's a bit on the slow side. Although he could go a bit further with jokes than the Sky brand itself, his voice sat alongside the light-hearted broadband brand voice, with the two combining to create a cohesive package unified around the idea of living WiFi.

They say it takes a village to raise a WiFi Guy (or, at least, we say that). While HeyYou handled the character creation and development, design, UI/UX, and WiFi Guy's tone of voice, Studio Local brought our sketches and renders to life. Our friends at MyWave led the development of a Progressive Web App (PWA) that allowed WiFi Guy to enter people's homes and assess the strength of their WiFi.

In creating WiFi guy, we didn't just bring broadband to life, we gave it a personality, too.

Ready to meet him? Test your WiFi here: wifiguy.sky.co.nz