Orange is celebrating five years of Orange Wednesdays one of the longest-running and most high profile mobile promotions. The 2-for-1 cinema offer has been enjoyed 14 million times by Orange customers, and, says Orange, has helped to increase brand loyalty.
In the first week of Orange Wednesdays, back in 2004, just 12,039 Orange customers took the plunge, texted FILM to 241 and watched blockbusters such as Gothika and Starsky and Hutch. These days, the number has increased somewhat, with up to 300,000 people going on an Orange Wednesday cinema outing on any given week. 
Orange says that Orange Wednesdays has saved customers more than 30 million, and at the same time, has resulted in up to 3 million additional annual visits to UK cinemas, adding investment and growth to the industry. Wednesday is now the most popular day of the week to go to the cinema outside of the weekend – when it used to be the slowest.
The most popular movie to date for Orange Wednesdays was the Abba hit Mama Mia, with 276,549 customers taking advantage of the 2-for-1 deal. The top 5 Orange Wednesdays customers have redeemed 2-for-1 tickets an average of 70 times each. And around 85,000 customers have benefited from the Orange Wednesday Pizza Express Partnership, which launched in February, and equates to 170,000 pizzas and approximately 1.36 million doughballs.
The success of Orange Wednesdays goes beyond the enjoyment of millions of customers and the loyalty that has fostered, and it has helped solidify our position as the number 1 brand association with film in the UK, says Orange UK Brand Director, Spencer McHugh. As our brand and our range of services have evolved, film has become central to our vision of providing entertainment to our customers when, where and how they want it.
Phil Clapp, Chief Executive of the Cinema Exhibitors' Association, says the profile that Orange Wednesdays has brought to UK cinema has been both welcome and effective.
I would like to congratulate Orange on five years of sustained excellence and look forward to our continuing to work together in the years to come, he says.
To celebrate five years of Orange Wednesdays, the company created the largest bucket of popcorn in the world and hung it at Tower Bridge earlier this week. Inside the tub, there was one tonne of popcorn and 10,000 worth of prizes, and it was released to 100 lucky competition winners who joined in the festivities.