Capital One: CAPITAL ONE CUP'S DEBUT SEASON

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: CAPITAL ONE
Agency: STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP
Category: Best Use of Branded Content & Sponsorship
Head Of Strategic Marketing/Partnerships: David Malkinson (Football League)
Head Of Brand UK: Gurpreet Dhillon (Capital One)
Activation Account Director: Bethan Keeley (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Business Director: Kirsty Barnes-Spickett (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Group Director: Gary Grant (AMV BBDO)
Account Director: Jonathan Reeves (JAM)
Head Of SMG Sports: Robin Clarke (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Partner: Richard De Costa (JAM)
Partnership Manager: Stuart Trigwell (Football League)
Associate Director: Kate Oates (Starcom MediaVest Group)
Senior Account Director: Tom Gladstone (Synergy)
Senior Consultant: Jon Izzard (Synergy)
Director Of Brand Communication UK: Sally Camms (Capital One)

Effectiveness
We involved 9.2 million fans through our Semi Final Live Blogs and tweets. Twitter Posts generated 13m exposures of the #capitalonecup hash tag and dozens of Facebook posts reached 25,000+ fans. "According to Brandwatch, 7% of all online mentions about domestic Cup football this season have featured the Capital One brand.” [Marketing Week, Feb 2013].The integrated activity across our partnerships generated 130,348 fans for Capital One’s UK Facebook hub, up 172% from before sponsorship launch.Ultimately, our key objective for season 1 - Spontaneous awareness and acceptance of Capital One as title sponsors of the League Cup increased by 220%.

Execution
We partnered with TalkSPORT who broadcast the games live and ran bespoke AFP 'Capital One Cup' talk-shows exploring classic Cup games, complemented with features in Sport Magazine. TalkSPORT promoted ticket giveaways via Facebook, aired match previews, reviews and draws, culminating in a live broadcast at the Wembley Final. Sky and Capital One co-produced emotional montages of the tournament, updated after each round and aired across their portfolio including Zeebox and Sky Pub.The Sun recruited ‘champion fans’ from teams involved and published their opinion amongst professionals’ editorial in the all-important back-pages. We knew that the unofficial fan forums were where real fans gathered so we engaged football Bloggers to run live match blogs via their sites and twitter feeds. We ran supporting mobile activity so fans could access content on-the-go via Facebook, our hub of conversation and content. Club-specific branding via Instadia media enforced Capital One’s support at the games.

Strategy
Capital One sought a way to differentiate their brand in a competitive and complex financial services market, to increase awareness as a credit card provider. Their opportunity came in the form of one of the League Cup title sponsorship. Following the contract signing, 2012-13 was one of the most exciting League Cup seasons in memory, giving us the perfect opportunity to integrate Capital One into the emotional fabric of UK football. As an American-owned credit card company, Capital One needed to develop credibility in this space. Devoted, never-miss-a-game avid football fans are cynical and opinionated and they are the loudest voice in this environment, influencing broader football fans. We had to win over core football fans to bed our sponsorship in and to be seen as a valuable partner. Our strategy was simple- give both the Cup and avid football fans the credit and recognition they deserve.