2017 Silver Best use of social media

RAPP UK

Client: Virgin Media

140 Thanks

Campaign overview

There’s always a buzz around the BAFTAs, but it doesn’t last.

Embracing Twitter’s brevity, Virgin Media turned the tables on A-listers to get content out to fans before anyone else could.

Strategy

The goal was to get content out to TV viewers while they still cared about it. Cutting through the press pack, social content had to be out to the market faster and in a more dynamic format than any other outlet.

Virgin Media’s headline sponsorship gave RAPPUK backstage access to the BAFTAs, the challenge was to then get both celebrities and fans’ attention in a way that no other brands were.

The rapid turnover of content on Twitter meant the network leant itself to the challenge. Using the sponsorship benefits and the fast-paced nature of the channel, content would be posted to viewers before anyone else had even begun their interviews.

Creativity

Just like Virgin Media’s customers, RAPPUK wanted to seek out the best content by getting as close to the stars as possible - before pulling it all together in one place.

Channelling the mind-set of an excited film and TV superfan, RAPPUK employed a mischievous approach to acquiring content. Mimicking Twitter’s famed 140 character count, BAFTA winners were no sooner met, before being unexpectedly being cut off as they hit their character limit.

These short soundbites were captured using speech recognition technology, and were then uploaded instantly to Virgin Media’s Twitter channel. Unedited, unscripted and with unintended results, the snippets were available to watch on fans’ feeds in a snappy, digestible format.

While other brands were still interviewing or waiting for their editors to splice footage together, Virgin Media’s footage was already live on Twitter.

Results

Posting content quickly meant Virgin Media could reach an already engaged BAFTA audience before the masses. Viewership averaged at 62k and peaked at 138k, with the spoken soundbites achieving a view-through rate of 34%, hitting their highest rate at 43%.

Using a platform that thrives on rapid turnover of content and the speed at which the content was delivered meant dividends were paid off. The awareness of Virgin Media and BAFTA as a partnership was also strengthened across social as a result of the campaign.

Team

Adam Rolfe (Creative Director) RAPP UK - Stephen Gordon (Creative Director) RAPP UK - Laura Tohtua (Copywriter) RAPP UK - Ben Fegradoe (Art Director) RAPP UK Ronak Mokhtassi (Planner) RAPP UK - Katrina Bain (Business Director) RAPP UK - Katherine Dove (Agency Producer) RAPP UK

Contributors

OMD (Media Agency) Blindeye Films (Production Company) Jack Lightfoot (Director) Kyle Rossiter (Editor) Influence (Event Agency)