Cricket Sponsorship Activation

Background

The objectives of the campaign were threefold: to leverage Vodafone’s sponsorship of the England cricket team, inspiring cricket fans to activate Sky Mobile TV; more specifically to promote the Sky Sports News and Factual Pack which included live Sky Sports coverage of all England’s cricket matches this summer; and finally, to develop an integrated creative proposal for all communications.

Idea

RMG Connect adopted a two phase strategy to meet the client’s objectives. The first phase consisted of a multi-media approach at grounds with single-minded communications aimed to launch cricket coverage on Sky Mobile TV and overcome barriers to 3G technology (understanding and relevance). The second phase was to use the data captured at grounds to drive follow-up activation and acquisition activity.

The main activity at grounds was the ‘Take a catch for England challenge’. This involved a modular stand where cricket fans could be filmed making a catch (thrown by Alec Stewart) against the backdrop of a blue screen. The clip was then superimposed onto a live background and edited into a real Sky Sports News report from last year’s Ashes. They were then given an access code driving them to a website (www.vodafonemycatch.co.uk) where they could download their clip, and send it on via email or to mobiles, thereby creating their own personal viral that delivers a product demonstration to friends and family.

Outside the experience stand, promotional staff dressed in cricket whites-style clothing gave out flyers and demonstrated the live mobile cricket coverage service. Giant handsets at the ground showed Ashes footage with end frames driving people to subscribe to Mobile TV and enter a prize draw to win a trip to the Ashes in Australia or a two-day cricket experience with the England team. Big screen stills at each ground promoted the competitions via text response. Press ads within the test match programmes also promoted the live cricket coverage, Vodafone’s sponsorship and the Ashes competition. A text to activate or win element was always used to capture as much data as possible.

Results

The campaign generated more than 16,000 SMS shortcode responses across all channels at the grounds, of which 13,000 were in response to the big screen stills. Nearly 3,000 people took part in the ‘Take a catch’ experience, of which 86% downloaded the clip to a PC, 53% emailed it to a friend and 59% sent it to a mobile. Overall, the combined activity achieved data capture of more than 20,000 mobile numbers and culminated in 1.35m fans being made aware of the cricket coverage on Sky Mobile TV.

Target Audience

‘Confident communicators’; professional, 25 to 44-year-old males. Although many event attendees will be professionals, they attend cricket matches for pleasure and not corporate invitations. The audience are not early adopters, but more the early majority who are not afraid of technology, but not yet savvy with newer services.

Size

England vs. Sri Lanka test series (three tests), 10 one day internationals and two twenty20 internationals, England vs. Pakistan (four tests).