2013 Silver Best use of Technology

Client Barclaycard

How did the campaign make a difference? The objective was to engage men, (re)introducing the brand and bespoke offers via football – a subject more important than life and death for many. This campaign created a database of over 113,000 addresses, with more than 347,000 unique visitors in just four weeks. The unsubscribe rate has been exceptionally low (just 0.64%), a fantastic boon to the bespoke service.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Barclaycard launched bespoke offers into a competitive marketplace, with established rivals like Groupon, Wowcher and Living Social. It needed to build a database of non-Barclaycard customers. The challenge was in communicating the benefits of the service. The campaign had to create interest, to make non-customers initiate a relationship at a time when consumer confidence in banking was low, and to encourage people to continue receiving emails about bespoke offers once they'd signed up, as well as deliver when the bespoke offers were launched. This happened to coincide with the end of the football season. Barclays' sponsorship of the Premier League gave access to an audience already familiar with Barclays beyond its role as a high street bank, plus Barclays' Premier League assets, including: LEDs and programmes across all matches and banners on PremierLeague.com and other owned media, such as Facebook and Barclays Ticket Office.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? The MyPlayerTwin idea was not only engaging, but addictive. A microsite using the latest facial recognition technology (also used in airports) allowed users to find their player looky-likey from a database of over 500 Premier League footballers. Then they gave access to their email address via Facebook Connect, uploaded their photo… and the site did the rest. Sometimes there was a close match, but some users also posted multiple photos, shared results and encouraged others to play. It generated fun and shareable content, drawing people in from social networks like Facebook and Twitter. A gallery of top twins provided a viral element. Beyond the contactable Barclaycard customers, it was possible to tap into Barclays Premier League channels. A paid and organic seeding strategy was executed, targeting sports blogs and forums, sports shows, and tech websites.

Results Visibility and awareness of MyPlayerTwin was high, with 367,000 unique visitors. Users played it again and again: an average of three times per registered user, creating strong engagement with Barclaycard bespoke offers. Dwell time was high, nearly six minutes on average, and unsubscribe rates to the offers emails exceptionally low, at 0.64%.