Sky Tv: SKY LIVESPOTS

Credits & Description:

Type of entry: Best Use of Direct Marketing
Category: Direct response broadcast: TV, radio & infomercials
Advertiser: SKY
Product/Service: SKY
Agency: SERVICEPLAN Munich, GERMANY
Teamlead Champions League: Frank Dammann (Sky)
Production Manager Sports: Julia Boettger (Sky)
Senior Manager Campaign Communications: Sabine Schernthaner (Sky)
Senior Manager Content Marketing: Benno Unterforsthuber (Sky)
Director Campaign Communications/Social Media: Esther Henze (Sky)
Senior Vice President Marketing: Ivo Hoevel (Sky)
Media Agency: Daniel Epailly (Mindshare)
Agency Producer: Florian Panier (Serviceplan)
Graphic Design: Andreas Heuschneider (Serviceplan)
Account Supervisor: Alexander Wieland/Katrin Eberbach/Felix Emmerlich (Serviceplan)
Art Director: Franz Roeppischer (Serviceplan)
Copywriter: Lorenz Langgartner/Frank Seiler (Serviceplan)
Creative Director: Sandra Loibl/Oliver Palmer (Serviceplan)
Executive Creative Director: Matthias Harbeck (Serviceplan)
Chief Creative Officer: Alexander Schill (Serviceplan)
Describe the brief from the client
In Germany, only the pay TV channel Sky broadcasts all Champions League matches live and in full length.
We wanted to bring this exclusivity to life for a broad audience.
With an innovative broadcast concept that would immediately create high desire. Leading to a significant increase in sales, as well as positive PR and word-of-mouth for the Sky brand.

Creative Execution

The execution was a world premiere and relevant for Sky on many levels:
1. Exclusivity: Being a Pay TV channel, the exclusivity of it’s premium content is Sky’s biggest asset and it’s USP. To demonstrate this value by broadcasting an exclusive game free for everyone for a limited period of time seemed most appropriate and original.
2. Technical innovation: Sky promises to deliver it’s viewers a unique viewing experience through innovative, user-friendly technical features.
Due to the idea’s technically advanced execution, Sky could present themselves as an innovative media company – in B2B as well as in B2C.


Creative Solution to the Brief/Objective.

We chose the most direct way to convince the audience of our product: by letting them experience its premium value – but also its exclusivity.
We broadcast the Sky exclusive Arsenal London versus Bayern München on 19th February 2013 live to free-TV ad breaks. Live – but only for 40 seconds.
Six individual live ads. 60 seconds each (40 seconds live content). On four major channels (SAT.1, ProSieben, KabelEins, Sport1).
Every ad concluded with the direct purchase call for action.
The desired outcome was a two-digit raise in sign-ups compared to previous matches.


Results

After the announcement on the day before the match, the whole of Germany talked about the idea: From major offline/online newspapers (front page in biggest national newspaper BILD) to specialized press, radio and social media.
During the match, more than 5.3m viewers saw at least one of the live ads.
The topic was trending on twitter, reaching it’s peak when even a goal was captured in one of the live ads.
Altogether, more than 160m Media Impressions were generated.