Following auto brand Kia’s association with cricket in the UK, the brand wanted to further raise awareness and uphold regular dialogue with ABC1 males so it launched a multi-platform media partnership with Sky Sports which centred around broadcast sponsorship of Sky Sports Cricket with supporting digital content and competitions.
Territory: UK
Agency: Sky Media / In-House
Objective
Kia suffered from a brand perception that lagged behind reality and therefore needed to change the view of a low priced brand offering small cars.
The objective for this 2017 campaign was to establish Kia as a brand offering quality, design and good value, by showcasing their outstanding products to their target market of ABC1 Men.
Insight
By establishing itself as both an English Cricket Board (ECB) and Surrey County Cricket partner, Kia wanted to extend its brand awareness with cricket fans in a new way, and uphold regular dialogue with the illusive upmarket male audience.
As a partner, Kia held exclusive naming rights to both the KIA Women’s Super League and the Kia Oval, leaving the partnership with Sky Sports to reach fans on new platforms to cement and amplify the cricket association.
Research was carried out and found that Sky Sports cricket viewers typically spend (on average) 46% more on their cars vs other UK adults.
This stat alone confirmed that Cricket on Sky was the right platform for KIA’s campaign.
Plus, Sky Sports Cricket fans were 7 x more likely to follow the latest cricket news online – demonstrating just how passionate they are about the sport.
To reach such a desirable audience, whilst they are watching content they are highly engaged in is an advertisers dream!
Activation
The idea was a multi-platform partnership between Sky Sports and Kia across linear, digital, VoD, social and Sky Go.
With broadcast sponsorship of Sky Sports Cricket at the heart of the campaign, Kia could immediately establish itself as a synonymous partner of the sport amongst cricket fans.
This activity would be further supported with TVC’s, branded content, editorial content with talent, social media coverage, OOH and digital competitions, to drive engagement with fans beyond the Sky subscription base.
Broadcast sponsorship kicked off the campaign, supported by 30-second spots which were broadcast across the Sky channel portfolio, extending the reach even further.
Beyond the upmarket Sky subscription base, the coverage was broadcast to over 40,000 pubs, clubs and health clubs across the UK, extending the partnership reach with an already engaged fan base. In addition to commercial promotion of the KIA brand, Sky Sports integrated KIA within the editorial coverage of the sport, with over 15 on-air mentions from Sky Sports cricket talent.
In a first for Sky and to take the partnership to the next level, Sky’s Sports’ award winning in-programme feature ‘The Zone’ was re-branded to ‘The KIA Zone’.
The feature saw Sky Sports pundits ‘take a closer look’ at technique and skills from batting to bowling. Some of the biggest and best names in cricket also took part in challenges, which gave the feature real credibility and authenticity. Those values were passed on to KIA as they integrated their brand within relevant, authentic editorial content, loved by cricket viewers.
To further extend the reach beyond the Sky Sports linear TV audience, a co-branded digital hub was created, housed on skysports.com, available to both current and non-Sky subscribers.
Populated by exclusive Sky Sports editorial coverage, talent lead branded content films and bespoke competitions, the hub closed the sales link with consumers, driving them to the Kia website to book a test drive.
Competitions included the chance to win a trip to Mumbai to watch a highly anticipated IPL match and the chance for a fan and their local cricket team to play at the iconic Kia Oval.
Win the chance for your team to be coached and then play at the Kia Oval courtesy of our partners @KiaUK pic.twitter.com/TZDsjWiHMM
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 6, 2017
Five branded content films were created, specifically for KIA, featuring a raft of ex-England Cricket Captains and legends such as Sir Ian Botham, Nasser Hussein and David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd.
These films lived exclusively on the ‘Kia Hub and provided unparalleled gravitas to the partnership, promoted heavily via digital media placements across the Sky Sports website.
This was further amplified through KIA’s own in-ground advertising at the Kia Oval, again directing fans to the KIA branded hub to drive visits and engagement with the raft of content.
The exclusive branded content and online competitions were supported by both the Sky Sports and Sky Sports Cricket twitter accounts. With over 4.5million followers, Sky Sports tweeted the partner led competitions and content links to drive engagement and entries.
Outcome / Results
Awareness
- 21% increase in spontaneous awareness for KIA among Sky Sports viewers
- 9 million individuals reached on promos across 25 Sky channels
- 141 million digital impressions achieved across the campaign
- 9 million individuals reached
- 3 million ABC1 men impacts on Sky Sports Pub
Qualitative
- Viewers regarded KIA as an appropriate sponsor of cricket on Sky. This suggests that the sponsorship proved itself as an ideal platform to promote the brand and achieve its ambitions to synonymously associate itself with an upmarket sport
- Viewers recorded feeling more positive toward KIA following the sponsorship, and were also more willing to recommend KIA
Purchase intent
- Purchase intent of cars increased significantly across the campaign, with 38% of viewers indicating their certainty to buy a car within 12 months, up from 27% previously)
