Category: Best use of brand sponsorship integration (where there is no product overtly displayed in the film, show, event etc. but it is aligned to a brand message)
Advertiser: COBRA
Product/Service: COBRA BEER
Agency: BEATTIE McGUINNESS BUNGAY
Art Director/Copywriter/Creative Director: Julia Martens (Beattie Mcguinness Bungay)
Director: George Belfield (Somesuch & Company)
Managing Partner: Jeremy Chatterton (BMB Neon)
Account Director: Lucy Murray (Beattie Mcguinness Bungay)
Planner: Andrew Wright (Beattie Mcguinness Bungay)
Director Of Photography: Simon Pinfield (Somesuch/Co)
Editor: Anne Perri (The Quarry)
Executive Producer: Michael Tait (The Guardian)
Executive Producer: Andy Pietrasik (The Guardian)
Executive Creative Director: Trevor Beattie (Beattie Mcguinness Bungay)
Media placement: 3 X Documentary Films - Travel Section Guardian.co.uk, Cobra Youtube Channel, Facebook - 1st March 2012
Campaign Description
In the UK, Branded Content & Entertainment is not always a straight line for brands to follow.
The BBC, for example, is not a commercial broadcaster and any implicit association with brands has been strictly prohibited. The boundaries are pushed through online support, but the commercial stations are more open to such relationships.
Traditionally branded entertainment has sat in Off Peak slots due to the production levels and associated costs of talent that peak viewing demands. OFCOM who oversee the regulation of such areas of content impose restrictions on the number of visual and verbal mentions that can be attributed to a brand.
The challenge is to create programming where the audience is happy to understand the transaction between content and the brand. Often the driving force in the space has been in sport and music; however, networks are becoming more open to other areas such as food & cooking and the like.
Cobra needed a partner that could allow a more fluid, editorial style partnership, in a way that brand partnerships have not behaved before. The Guardian’s heritage, values and ambition aligned perfectly with Cobra’s intention of associating ourselves with contemporary culture in a credible, editorially sound way.
Effectiveness
Challenge: Cobra is the UK’s no. 1 curry beer. However, with 96% distribution in licensed curry houses, the opportunities for growth with this positioning were limited. We needed to extend from this strong base and cement Cobra’s position as a credible premium beer.
Objectives: Increase off trade sales. Secure distribution in pubs & bars. Get more people drinking Cobra in bars where stocked.
Strategy: Cobra beer was born in 1989, brewed to an authentic Indian recipe, with less fizz for a smoother taste.
Research showed that our audience would respond well to a shift in the brand’s image and associations. We found that they were fascinated by the cultural and economic renaissance in today’s India, which Cobra was a part of. This was a side of India most Brits hadn't seen before, but which opinion-forming UK press, such as Wallpaper magazine, were starting to write about.
This bright young India was the key to Cobra’s unique perspective.
It inspired Cobra’s new brand platform...a fresh take on authentic India.
Execution: The 3 documentary films submitted form 1 major part of an integrated campaign for Cobra.
The rest of the campaign includes a TV ad, a promotional competition and a major social media presence.
To ensure consistency across all elements of the campaign, we enlisted ‘collaborators’ who were already part of the scene in fashion, music & food: Manou, BLOT & Vandana.
They ensured that the campaign had the cultural credibility it needed to make this new idea of Cobra resonate with the target audience.
In The Guardian’s words, the films presented ‘an inspiring, exciting portrait of an India we never get to see, a switched-on hip insider's city filled with leading-edge fashion, music, art and delicious food, a thrumming hive of bright colours, texture and simple beauty’.
Implementation
On the day of launch, the content featured on the front page of guardian.co.uk for 24 hours, and 4 hours on the most prominent slot: the ‘Superpixie’. This was seen by a global audience of 60m. The films now sit on the Mumbai ‘My City’ section in perpetuity.
We achieved this due to quality of content (editorially sound in terms of production values and aligning with key Guardian policies), representing nations and people from their own perspective and executing a model of 'Open Journalism’.
The collaborators also accessed their own networks, pushing people through to the guardian.co.uk.
Outcome
The campaign only went live the week Cannes entries were due, so sales data is not yet available. However early signs are very promising:
After 1 week, we’d amassed 72,000 total views of the Mumbai City Guide, including over 23,000 views of the videos themselves.
2 weeks into the campaign, we have over 10,000 new fans on our Facebook page and 370,000 views on our Cobra YouTube page.
At this point business measures are purely anecdotal, but we’re seeing increased interest from pub chains and customers and an upturn in sales.
In The Guardian’s own words, “Working with Cobra and BMB is the first of The Guardian’s commercial/editorial ventures in this area but the result has been ‘a content-rich, multimedia, interactive proposition that has worked in a virtuous circle for all partners. Our audience have just loved it and they want more…”