BT Sport and SKY Sports: Round 4

The plot thickens; wires are crossed in the form of mixed messages, BT and SKY Sports competitors become allies and then competitors again in the same day. At the same time Virgin Media is dragged into the ongoing sports-package rivalry bout...WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Round 1: The battle for TV sports customers started on May 9th when BT Sport launched a £100m+ campaign, executing 1,132 press ads within 33 days.

Round 2: SKY Sports then hit back with a series of direct competition ads and big budgets to boot.

Round 3: David Beckham is brought in as the trump card to endorse SKY Sports.

Now, we're into round 4 and the ad battle has escalated to the point of confusion. SKY has fired a broadside across the BT's bows, by guaranteeing the best price for both packages, whereas BT has countered stating you can only get BT Sport through BT:

Who to believe?!

Furthermore, Virgin Media and ESPN have unwillingly been thrown into the ring too with another message contradictory to that of the previous SKY Sports ad:

Very confusing for potential customers and it seems the only beneficiaries are the media owners.

At least SKY and BT can't be criticised for rolling out the same creative throughout the whole campaign. 

Lets see what happens next!

#PurePoint

Be More Dog

This highly impactful 48-sheet from o2, executed by our sister agency VCCP has a simple message but hides a complex and engaging campaign running across multi media.

We are impressed by the depth of this fantastic engaging campaign, with the digital execution integrating some smart technology encouraging us all to "Be More Dog".


Once you log on the website http://bemoredog.o2.co.uk/ you are greeted with a short intro from the (wannabe dog) cat featuring throughout the campaign:

After you've been told you his bio, you are given a unique code to log onto the website on your mobile. This in turn loads up a mobile optimised frisbee for you to throw towards the cat/dog on the PC screen:

Amazing integration, slightly indulgent, and so much fun!

The campaign also involves a twitter hashtag; #BeMoreDog, which is causing a lot of online conversation:

And the TV campaign is also very loveable:

o2 said the campaign aims to "spread positivity, excitement and inquisitiveness ... to rid the UK of cynicism" by getting people to "embrace their inner dog".

We think this has been absolutely achieved that, and whether you're a cat or a dog lover, the campaign is extremely impressive!

#BeMoreDog

This weeks leading contender for  #PureAdOfTheWeek

Our Royal Baby Media Snapshot

The Royal Baby has finally arrived!

And as to be expected, the media are all over it like a rash .........

We've picked out a handful of our favourite, tactical press ads and custom made print media offerings. Starting with the front page of The Sun today:

They have published possibly the most momentous front page adaptation of all the dailies; no plugs, no ads and no editorial. The issue has gained huge traction within social media and other top media platforms: 

Our weird, little friend #BrianTheRobot is also making the most of the birth with a unique creative execution in the papers this morning. Often associated with creating awkward situations, here Brian harmlessly holds a "Baby on Board" placard and a patriotic flag and asks in regal speak - How he might save us pounds?

No controversy caused this time as another footnote in the Life of Brian is executed. Just a simple tactical ad idea, planned to feature in print in a very timely fashion.

The flexibility of the #ShareACoke campaign enables Coke to adapt the names on the bottles shown to take advantage of situations. 

We have seen Coke execute similar tactical ads a number of times since the #ShareACoke campaign started and each time it works incredibly well! Let's see how quickly they publish another tactical ad (or produce a limited edition bottle) featuring the name of the 3rd in line to the throne.

We love Jelly. We really love clever, sweet and thoughtful Jelly!

Over the past few weeks Bassetts Jelly Babies have been executing a series of small fractionals within newspapers, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Royal newborn.

This was finally topped off with a larger page dominant fractional ad this morning - Celebrating the new arrival.

A great example of how a bespoke smaller budget campaign can be created to deliver tactical associated messaging and make the most of positive news events!

Plenty more examples running online ... where the flexibility of the digital space allows for quicker turnarounds and greater opportunties for multiple executions and updated creative.

From the team here at Pure Media, congratulations to the Royal Family!

#PurePoint

Supermouse and Rory: Unfortunate Ads

It is extremely difficult to predict negative PR, especially as daily papers such as The Metro and The Telegraph give advertisers little or no time to react to issues. Added to this is the issue of avoiding placing ads near brand-deterring features, which in itself is a challenging feat.

Here at Pure we’re massive ad geeks; we don’t miss a thing! And every now and then we’ll empathise with advertisers who have been incredibly unfortunate with their ad placements.

Today there has been two cringe-worthy mis-haps:

1) Supermouse vs. Picnic Club

On page 9 of today's Metro reads an article about Tesco's apparent "Supermouse" issue with the headline: Tesco failed to clean up droppings, grease and filth after failing three inspections.

With a Tesco “Picnic” ad on the following page:

Ouch! A perfect example of why it is important to liaise with editors around current issues to avoid this situation.

2) Terrible round...Great watch nonetheless!

Poor Rory McIlroy had a "miserable" opening round at the Open yesterday, finishing 13 shots behind the lead. The Telegraph did not let him off lightly with a series of unflattering photographs and write-up which evokes a cringe of sympathy:

To add insult to injury, an abject post-feature Omega ad endorsed by, you guessed it, Rory McIlroy.

It is incredibly unfortunate to have an ad placed so closely to a feature which achieves the absolute opposite to the brand goals. Using celebrities as brand ambassadors increases the risk, another example is our Sharapova-Evian #PurePoint. 

It's just one of those things all of us in the industry have nightmares about!

Round 3....

...Ding Ding!! .....There is seemingly no end to the exhaustive budgets and sporting rivalry between BT Sport and SKY Sports ... with SKY producing a power punch in the latest round by introducing David Beckham to front their current advertising campaign.

Probably the most recognisable British sportsman, certainly in the world of football, a mass ad campaign launched this week across Sky and terrestrial TV channels as well as outdoor, print and digital activity.

WPP agencies Maxus and MediaCom must be loving the ongoing battle as the budgets continue to get ploughed in to multi media campaigns.... Just how many rounds can they afford to go??

Initial contender for #PureAdOfTheWeek

A Kick in the Teethgate

As a direct, competitive reaction to Colgate's "brush hour" at Waterloo Station this week which saw thousands of angry commuters causing mayhem with old toothbrushes in hand expecting a direct free swap for a newer model, Philips decided to capitalise on the situation with the following full-page ad in yesterday's Evening Standard:

The idea was generated, the ad produced, media space bought, ad was signed off by the client and supplied to publication in less than 24 hours after inception - not a bad turnaround at all! Especially considering that Philips usually have a long-term brand vision as opposed to the quick-turnaround, tactical approach.

The tagline; "the best things in life aren't free" adds insult to injury and something else for Colgate to worry about after dealing with the dirty-mouthed comments from customers and recovering from the embarrassing  fiasco.

#PureAdOfTheWeek

Brimful of Ashes

The recent KIA campaign has grabbed our attention with the execution of a small series of neat and tactical tongue-in-cheek ads running in the build up towards the Ashes.

 

These three print ads ran on consecutive pages in Sport magazine last week around an exclusive feature about Matt Prior. This implies an impressive level of attention to detail towards media planning with the placements in a highly relevant creatively synergistic editorial feature, which can often be overlooked with big budget campaigns.

An outdoor campaign is also running, where multi format activity can be seen dominating Vauxhall Station - the home of  'The KIA Oval' which will be hosting the final test of the series next month.

Whilst the placement of activity is timely and is highly relevant in terms of targeting and proximity, it would appear that the cretive team have made an uncharacteristic wrong-turn by including the name of one of KIA's main competitors "SEAT" in the creative.

 

 

 

 

Which 'SEAT' is it ??

 

 

 

Apart from this apparent creative slip-up, the campaign's timing and execution has been very well thought-out.   #PurePoint

Whose Sponsor is it Anyway?

Following the Sharapova/Evian sporting blunder another supposed brand ambassador who hasn’t quite lived up to expectation is Mario Götze, who completed his £31.5 million transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich today.

Unfortunately, he didn’t really think through his outfit, given that his new employers are sponsored by Adidas and indeed hold a 9% stake in the club.

#PurePoint

Live Young With Ageing Creative

Evian’s offering in the annual Wimbledon tactical ad-fest is a neat iteration of the Baby and Me campaign, seeking to highlight the rejuvenating effects of water by showing the delightful Maria Sharapova and an infant version of herself, as seen in the following half-page DPS in the latest issue of Time Out mag:

The media strategy has been executed nicely, with impact being achieved through strong OOH placements (**London Bridge posters**) and some neat 1/2 DPS strips in Metro and the Standard, but the fact that Maria literally tumbled out of the tournament in the second round surely evaporates the impact? Surely just securing the ad space with one creative execution is letting the brand down in this instance as they haven’t covered the eventuality of her being knocked out so early.

The APP they have produced, where you can take a headshot on your camera-phone/ tablet and see what your infant equivalent looks like, would probably have greater uptake if Sharapova was still grunting and screaming her way through the tournament at SW19.

We’ll take a large PIMM's with some strawberries and cream – they never get old!