Alistair Gammell, Director, Earnest
Lawrence Dallagio helps convert new advertisers to ITV
With the Six Nations underway, commercial (as well as patriotic) thoughts are already turning to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand starting this September. Our thoughts are with all the people of New Zealand at this difficult time and hope that the RWC will give the country something positive to look forward to.
On our shores given that England tends to perform well, having been in the final for the last two tournaments and (at time of writing!) are putting in some confident performances this Spring. Here at Earnest, we have been thinking about the 2011 Rugby World Cup since last November when we were appointed by ITV to produce a personalised direct marketing campaign showcasing their free to air broadcast and online tournament coverage.
Our integrated campaign will help remind new ITV advertisers that RWC coverage offers a cost-effective ways to reach affluent, upmarket and engaged audience (that’s fifteen times that of the FT over a typical tournament four weeks, didn’t you know). And whilst I’ve got you, most of our home nation games are on the weekends, so audience figures are expected to be higher than the last time ITV broadcast the tournament from the Southern Hemisphere (which was watched by 77% of ABC1 UK men).
Our direct campaign had to showcase all the media options that ITV will offer as fans will spend more time interacting with ITV’s online and mobile content in addition to the broadcast coverage. We needed to educate new advertisers that ITV can offer more than high rating family shows and online now forms a considerable part to the media mix (the RWC web pages are expected to deliver well over 8m impressions, not to mention over 5m video views). Also given the timings we expected brands to use the tournament to kick start the ‘back to business’ autumn period after the summer holidays.
The campaign was fronted by RWC 2003 winner Lawrence Dallagio who offers the rallying call for new brands to ‘be part of the passion’. Each handpicked senior marketer received an astroturf printed box which held a personalised brochure, video message on a personalised USB stick taking them to their own personalised company website on the itvmedia portal. What’s more the centrepiece of the mailer was a Lawrence Dallagio signed rugby ball, urging each brand to join in ITV’s RWC experience. Having seen him up close for the personalised video shoot, you can see he still has the same passion to be involved in the big tournaments.
The logistical challenge to bring all the elements together started with sourcing official New Zealand 2011 rugby balls which delivered 110 to ITV’s offices one day. In addition the box it came in needed to be reinforced to survive transit as well as hold an astroturf base and A5 brochure. The first mock up from the printers failed to take into account the balls would be inflated and multiple pens were tested to ensure Lawrence’s signature wouldn’t smudge against the waterproof ball coating!
Last year we had sent GPS devices to clients but this was the first time we simultaneously compiled packs with personalised print (letter and brochure), merchandise (ball and USB stick), video and online! For two days our first floor meeting rooms were turned into a distribution chain with varying elements being checked off and added as they arrived. To make matters more exciting we had the pre Chinese New Year rush, which meant our rugby shaped USB sticks only arrived the day before dispatch (following a prolonged stopover in British customs). We were close to sending Lawrence down there.
But it went out on time with a sigh of relief and all the hard work from both ourselves and the marketing team meant we conveyed the sense of passion that goes into the tournament coverage. We hope that advertisers looking to reach affluent rugby fans will get as excited about the marketing opportunities as our chances of winning.
Alistair Gammell is a Director of Earnest , an award winning b2b marketing agency that specifically works within the entertainment, service and financial sectors.