Category: Publications & Media
Advertiser: SKY
Product/Service: SKY GO
Media Agency: MEDIACOM, London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Manager: Jan Neumeister (MediaCom)
Digital Planner: Charlie Lockett (MediaCom)
Digital Account Manager: Lorraine Fontaine (MediaCom)
Media placement: MOBILE CAMPAIGN - SMS/MMS & BANNERS GEO-TARGETED & CONTEXTUAL TO SPORTS & MALE ENVIRONMENTS - 1ST AUGUST 2011
Media placement: OUT OF HOME - 48-SHEET (NATIONAL), TARGETED 6-SHEET - 1ST AUGUST 2011
Insights, Strategy & the Idea
If we reach one sports fan when he’s with his mates, we’ve reached all his mates too.
Live sport has always been shackled to the TV in the living room or the pub….until now. Sky Go allows Sky subscribers to watch Sky Sports live through their mobile handsets.
However, sports fans’ early experiences of trying to watch sport via their phones were less than satisfactory - hampered by small screens, lack of Wi-Fi provision and lack of content. This led many to dismiss the medium altogether.
However, we found that sports fans love showing off new technology (like a brilliant new app) to their mates. And because sports fans play and watch sport with their mates, if we target them at these times we will reach not one fan but a whole team of them, when the sports addict we reach says “have a look at this!” to his mates.
Creative Execution
“Geo-targeting” at the pitch and in the pub maximised word-of-mouth and viral uptake.
We targeted groups of sports fans at the pitch and in the pub.
Firstly we capitalised on the seasonal uplift in mobile traffic to football sites, ensuring that we had a dominant share-of-voice in that category. This allowed us to nudge fans into downloading the app every time they went to check the latest on their club or breaking transfer news, whilst out-and-about with their mates.
Secondly we “geo-fenced” key environments, such as football stadiums, five-a-side pitches, gyms, sports grounds, and pubs where they were watching football. Upon entry to the venues, an SMS/MMS to the user’s handset was triggered, prompting them to download the app and start enjoying live sport on-the-go. These environments allowed us to reach people whilst they were with groups of mates, driving word-of-mouth, “fan-envy” and viral uptake of the service.
Results and Effectiveness
Three million-plus downloads, great ctrs, and lower churn.
Over 3m sports fans now feed their habit with the Sky Go app, making it one of iTunes’ most downloaded of 2011.
Once our audience had downloaded the app they loved it, generating 5 million streams in the first 3 weeks alone – there are now 40 million streams a month.
SMS activity delivered average CTRs over 170% above the existing industry bench mark – with display CTRs delivering 133% above average throughout the campaign.
App users are getting more value from their Sky subscription which is having a positive effect on churn figures.