20150428_APG_BPL_Awards_Doc

Barclays Premier League

Author: Thomas Henry

Client: Barclays

Brand: Barclays Premier League

Barclays #YouAreFootballA new way to bring true fans closer

This is a paper about breathing new life into an old discipline.

Big sponsorship activation is one of the most traditional forms of marketing a brand can engage with.

Even today, huge sums of money are being spent by brands purchasing rights to popular sporting and cultural events. Yet in spite of, or perhaps because of the amount of money involved, most brands fail to realise the potential of their investment.

In this paper we will show you how the Barclays Premier League sponsorship bucked that trend, how sponsorship can be effective when it works in line with their central brand purpose.

We will show that, far from being an ‘old fashioned option’, the modern marketing world provides an unprecedented opportunity to deliver sponsorship assets, advertising and content with disproportionate effect.

Finally, you will see how a central strategic thought, combined with an agile optimisation process can take great creative further, faster, with more impact.

You will see how a modern sponsorship program should work.

This is how we did it. Barclays Premier League

Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:

Refocusing Operations

Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results

Learning For Other Brands

In 2012 Barclays were found guilty of manipulating the London Inter Banking Offered Rate; this became known as the ‘LIBOR’ scandal. In the wake of the scandal ‘trust’ in Barclays hit rock bottom and ‘consideration’ for the retail bank took a serious beating too (1).

These statistics were a major commercial concern to Barclays because when trust and consideration for the retail bank go down, revenue goes down too (2).

To combat decline in these key perception metrics, Barclays set out a new vision for how and why they do business. All of their marketing efforts became focused on: “Helping people to achieve their ambitions in the right way”.

Barclays understood how this would work in central marketing activity, but there was a huge question mark hanging over how this vision would translate to Barclays’ most famous marketing property: their sponsorship of the Premier League.

Barclays had sponsored the Premier League for 10 years but the investment had always been measured as a way to generate ‘efficient awareness’ rather than delivering against central marketing objectives.

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Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results



It was clear that Barclays’ sponsorship of the Premier League was underutilised as an asset that could rebuild trust post LIBOR and deliver on the ‘in the right way’ vision.

The key question to answer was: “How could this brand vision be translated effectively into the football world?”.

If Barclays wanted to help people achieve their ambitions in the right way, then the opportunity for Barclays’ Premier League sponsorship was to reward fans who play, support and love football in the right way.

To deliver this agenda effectively, we had to uncover the role that Barclays should play in an incredibly crowded and well-serviced football market. This role would have to meet a genuine fan need.

The one unmet need that was consistent across all types of fans was the desire to feel ‘closer’ to their club and particularly the players (3).

As the title sponsors of the Premier League, Barclays had an incredible amount of access to talent and club assets, but no way of organizing it into a meaningful activation.

DARE gave Barclays a role that brought these disparate assets together in a powerful way. It was a role that delivered on the sponsorship vision and met a fan need.

“Barclays bring true fans closer to the players they idolise”.

The final step in setting our initial strategic direction was to create a fan-facing line that could bring Barclays’ role to life and hold together a full season of activation across social media, advertising, in stadium and PR: an emotive line that could add to fan conversation in a meaningful way.

Barclays wanted to reward fans who do things in the right way because whoever you are, wherever you are,

#YouAreFootball.Barclays Premier League

Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


We made huge logistical changes to how sponsorship assets were distributed to deliver the #YouAreFootball activation.

This was no small task, given that we had an impressive but daunting amount of sponsorship inventory to organize.

Previously, sponsorship assets had been distributed in a way that was simplest for Barclays. We changed that process so that each piece of inventory was assed on its ability to ‘bring true fans closer’.

The most visible example of this was the Barclays Ticket Office. In previous seasons, Barclays had given away 12,000 pairs of tickets a year through random codes generated on the back of ATM receipts and through a dedicated website. We proved that these tickets were mainly being redeemed by professional coupon hunters not fans. To put a stop to this and reward real supporters, we completely overhauled the ticket distribution process.

#YouAreFootball Ticket Office

#YouAreFootball Asset List taken from Excel

Football fan focused messaging

Generic football interest

messaging

Alternative entry channel(no Twitter account

complaints, problems)

1. Follow @BarclaysFooty

Monday, Wednesday, FridayTweet promoted

24 hourentrywindow

Tuesday, Thursday,

Saturday

After 5 days of no reply, new winner chosen

2. Wait for the competition tweet

3. Send reply or direct tweet with #YouAreFootball

4. Competition closes

5. Dare complies entry list with

Sysomos

6. Fufilment company randomly

chooses winner

6B. Winner sent DM with prize claim details

7. Winner replies. Details sent to

fufilment company

6A. Winner name tweeted

8. Winner receives tickets 5 days before match

Enter through Ticket Office

website

Dare adds entrants to list

ParticipationAwareness Driving Fufilment


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


This required engaging with the sponsorship, marketing and digital teams at Barclays in order to build a bespoke ticket giveaway system. We created a website and back end process so fans could simply tweet to tell us why #YouAreFootball. The most ‘in the right way’ stories received tickets every day.

We built ‘surprise and delight’ elements into this system, like sending Barclays ambassador Alan Shearer to Newcastle so he could hand deliver tickets to two young magpie fans. Alan’s visit inspired this years’ TV advert.

We had transformed the ticket giveaway from a ‘pot luck’ proposition to a vital proof point that helped raise awareness of the #YouAreFootball campaign.

The next major asset we looked at was the Barclays Ambassadors, changing their role from ‘photo filler’ to living embodiments of #YouAreFootball.

The most successful example was Ray ‘Romford Pele’ Parlour. Using the same contracted hours that were available during previous seasons, we sent Ray on a 12 hour round trip from Highbury to Anfield on a ‘Barclays Bus’ full of delighted Gooners. Fans were selected on their ‘in the right way’ credentials, and the trip was the perfect way to bring them closer to their club.

Combining the bus and ambassador assets created the ideal #YouAreFootball story.

We took the same approach to ‘community assets’ like ‘Play on Pitch’ and ‘Mascots’. We changed the allocation process for both so that fans of all ages had the opportunity to meet their heroes because of their #YouAreFootball stories.


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


To create content from these operational changes we employed a team of expert football journalists to reveal and celebrate great stories that would ‘bring fans closer’ and deliver on Barclays ‘in the right way’ agenda.

Our editorial process, which required planners, journalists and partner agencies to work together, is explained in the diagram below.

This approach was a totally new way for Barclays and their agencies to run marketing. In previous years, individual agencies with individual remits had reported to individual clients. By bringing Barclays Premier League marketing together, we were able to reach and engage more fans more often with centrally allocated assets (4).

To justify this new approach, we created a simple model showing how an evidence based editorial strategy would enable us to use content and sponsorship assets to deliver on our marketing goals more effectively.

The approach divided into the areas:


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:

Refocusing Opterations

Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


Planner identified weekly insights to

inform content

Editorial team compiled creative

opportunities based on insights

Editorial team presented creative opportunities at weekly ‘Editorial Board’

meeting with partner agencies and clients

Cross agency agreement and client sign off on which opportunities

to progress and which channel to use

Content Role Content Description Creative Example

Reward Centered around the revamped Ticket Office we rewarded individual fans with great #YouAreFootball stories showing how they support football ‘in the right way’.

Relate Deeper club-focused stories that showed the unique bond that fans have with players and managers.

Reach Large-scale activity that powerfully dramatised what it meant to be a fan.


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


Fans BroughtCloser to Players

RewardRelate

1. Fan action embodies the ‘spirit of the game’

4. Other fans add their own commentary to the moment

identified

2. Barclays identify this as a #YouAreFootball

moment

5. News organisations & fan sites share to networks

3. Barclays thank the person responsible & put fan action in context of club or players

6. Content/stories that capture imagination receive special attention

from Barclays broadening the

Reach

The #YouAreFootball Editorial Model

Initially, we took a more ‘broadcast’ approach to content in this model, focusing on raising awareness of #YouAreFootball. But every piece of content we published yielded feedback that helped us hone our ideas.

Rather than just counting numbers in our weekly reports, we conducted cumulative, qualitative analysis of fan conversation around our content and judged this in the context of broader football conversations. This allowed us to make agile adjustments to content and assets with disproportionate effect.

For example, early in the season, the content we published from Player and Manger Appearances (PAMs) was usually an image of a famous player and a simple #YouAreFootball message. Analysis clearly showed us that fans wanted to go beyond the ‘façade’ they see from players on Sky Sports.

The film interview we made with Chelsea’s Gianlucca Vialli was a great example of us reacting to this. Planners indentified an opportunity to highlight the ‘nostalgic’ relationship that fans have with certain players at a club and that Barclays’ ‘in the right way’ agenda was easier to convey through these relationships.

Assessing our list of sponsorship assets, a PAM featuring Vialli jumped out as the perfect opportunity. By conducting an editorial quality interview, our journalists were able to get an exclusive quote from Vialli that resonated deeply with Chelsea supporters and football fans more broadly:

“I adore Chelsea fans, we fell in love with one another”.

The quote featured as a headline in stories on Chelsea blogs, The BBC website and in the London Evening Standard. The film we created also ran as a dedicated feature with full branding on Chelsea TV.

This optimisation process also helped us create content for other Barclays channels. Branches, retail banking social media channels, DM and email communications were all able to feature #YouAreFootball content during the season because the insights that led to the content all stemmed from the ‘in the right way’ positioning. The agile nature of our reporting meant we could contribute to an existing program of activity anywhere in Barclays’ business..Barclays Premier League

Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


Terms and conditions apply. For full details visit www.barclays.co.uk/youarefootball. Barclays Bank PLC. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No. 122702). Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

Tell us why #YouAreFootball to win Barclays Premier League tickets.Visit barclays.co.uk/youarefootball

For going into extra time when the whistle blows, thank you.#YouAreFootball

Terms and conditions apply. For full details visit www.barclays.co.uk/youarefootball. Barclays Bank PLC. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No. 122702). Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.

Tell us why #YouAreFootball to win Barclays Premier League tickets.Visit barclays.co.uk/youarefootball

For giving your time to give others a shot, thank you.#YouAreFootball

Our reporting wasn’t just week to week. Monthly strategy reviews discussed larger opportunities that our planners had unearthed through content optimisation.

The most important discovery we made was that, for fans, being ‘closer’ really meant gaining acknowledgement that they give as much as players do on game day. Our cumulative analysis gave us confidence that this was a serious opportunity that deserved a large-scale creative execution.

The idea that we developed to capitalise on this opportunity was The #YouAreFootball Experiment, a world first that scientifically compared fans across five cities, four teams and two continents. The experiment measured heart rates to scientifically prove that fans who love football ‘in the right way’ give as much as players on game day.

As well as being a giant logistical undertaking, The #YouAreFootball Experiment required sign off from the Premier League, Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City. We also had to work with industry-leading data analysts, sports scientists, cardiologists and celebrity players to turn a clever advertising idea into an editorial story that could be told around the world.

The Experiment was viewed over 1million times across YouTube and Facebook within 48 hours of launching. Hundreds of websites and fan blogs picked up the story. We also secured dedicated editorial segments on BT Sport TV and Bloomberg TV as well as national press in the UK and South Africa (5).


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


The #YouAreFootball activation paid dividends for Barclays in a number of ways. The Experiment alone delivered over £1million of earned media reaching a conservatively estimated audience of 15million fans worldwide (6).

The weekly reporting optimisation process increased engagement by 300% during the season, drastically improving reach and share of voice for #YouAreFootball with fan numbers increasing by 80% on digital channels (7).


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


1.6% 16000

2.0% 20000

1.4% 14000

1.8% 18000

1.2% 12000

1.0% 10000

0.6% 6000

0.8% 8000

0.4% 4000

0.2% 2000

0.0%13/08/2017 Aug 17 Sep 17 Oct 17 Nov 17 Dec 17 Jan 18 Feb 18 Mar 18 Apr 18

% E

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Engagement Mentions

Improving Facebook engagement through optimisation Improving #YouAreFootball mentions through optimisation

13/10/2017 13/12/2017 13/02/2018

The operational changes we made during the #YouAreFootball campaign have become a permanent reality at Barclays, providing a framework for how the marketing team now co-ordinates assets and content.

These content and operational results led to drastic improvements in key perception metrics of trust and consideration during the campaign. An independent Kantar tracker showed that consideration for Barclays among football fans increased substantially from pre-campaign levels. Over the same period, trust increased to the highest levels since Barclays began tracking (8).

The commercial return of the brand impact we generated has been estimated by Barclays to be worth £20million incremental value for the UK retail bank. This was achieved using an activation budget of £1million (9).


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


40% 16%

35% 14%

30% 12%

25% 10%

15% 6%

20% 8%

10% 4%

5% 2%

0% 0%Early 12/13 Early 12/13

% T

rust

Inc

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Inc

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Trust Consideration

#YouAreFootball Campaign

#YouAreFootball Campaign

Trust increase amoung football fans Consideration increase amoung football fans

Mid 12/13 Mid 12/13Late 12/13 Late 12/13Early 13/14 Early 13/14

• Sponsorship success should be assessed on central, business level effectiveness measures rather than simple awareness or ‘media efficiency’ figures.

• Allowing one agency to centrally control asset distribution is far more efficient than devolving responsibility across multiple partners.

• Using traditional brand planning principles to develop an initial strategy is crucial, but this should be aligned with an empirically based content optimization process that allows your sponsorship to constantly make the most of assets and opportunities.

• Developing your ‘brand role’ from a fan point of view to deliver against an unmet need, will broaden and deepen the influence of your sponsorship.

1. Barclays Brand Metric Report 2013 2. Information supplied by Barclays retail bank Commercial Team 3. Taken from Sysmos Social Media study, football media analysis, cross

referenced with Mintel “Football – UK” report 2012.4. Improvements in reach and engagements taken from Facebook.com/

BarclaysFootball viewing figures and youtube.com/barclaysfootballtv viewing figures

5. Taken from Facebook.com/BarclaysFootball, youtube.com/barclayfootballtv and Twitter.com/barclaysfooty and Gorkana media analysis

6. Taken from BARB reachfigures and value calculatd using AVE equivalent7. Taken from Sysmos analysis 8. Taken from Kantar Barclays Premier League Mid Season analysis 20139. Supplied by Barclays Sponsorship Team using Kantar Barclays Premier

League Mid Season analysis 2013 and Barclays Retail Bank commercial data on the assumption that the overall effect on non-fans would be neutral and that the impact would be maintained for one year.

Barclays Premier League Exec summary

word count:176

Essay word count:1945


Executive Summary

The Problem

The Opportunity:


Editorial Approach

Optimisation

Results


20150428_APG_BPL_Awards_Doc

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