2018 Bronze Utilities and telecommunications

Agency: RAPP UK

Client: Virgin Media

Campaign name: No one does a 'plus one' like Virgin TV

Campaign overview

Sharing awards love with TV superfans

The brief

Reinforce Virgin TV’s entertainment credentials by making fans feel part of its BAFTA sponsorship

Strategy

Fans are demanding more access to their favourite TV shows. To maximise its BAFTA sponsorship, Virgin TV put viewers front and centre, treating them as a ‘plus one’ from the red carpet to backstage.

The strategy began with a comparison of rival awards shows, revealing they were mainly carbon copies creating a passive viewing experience.

Celebrating fandom and bringing viewers closer to the action was identified as a key differentiator.

Creativity

The best way to appeal to entertainment fans is to give them exactly what they want. The creative proposition, ‘as if the fans covered the BAFTAs themselves’, reflected this.

An end-to-end campaign put superfans at the heart of everything, engaging them throughout the night.

Features included ‘greeting’ arriving stars with a 360-degree Red Carpet Live experience featuring a two-way, ninefoot mirror where viewers could post messages via social media.

Fans also went ‘backstage’ where winners scribbled down their Winning Words for gamified, interactive social posts.

Results

Awards superfans were enthralled. The campaign generated 21.5 million impressions, 6 million video views and 1.9 million engagements, equating to a 34% increase on the previous year’s activity.

Users viewed a total of 1,114 hours of the live-stream red carpet experience, despite it only being live for an hour.

Adoption of new sponsorship packages and 100% share-of-voice takeover products ensured Virgin was at the heart of BAFTA conversation.

Team

RAPP UK - Adam Rolfe, Creative Director - Jeffrey Osborne, Head of 3D and Motion Graphics - Stephen Gordon, Creative Director - Hiten Bhatt, Creative Director of Design - Lee Jarrold, Designer - James Nawka, Designer - Ben Fegradoe, Art Director - Laura Tohtua, Copywriter - Kinga Wawrzyniak, Art Director, Sam Milburn, Copywriter - Chiara Trecchi, Senior Producer - Katherine Dove, Producer - Jamie Marks, Account Director - Katrina Bain, Business Director - Ben Phillips, Senior Account Manager - Michael Ogundare, Social Strategist - Darren Cushway, Senior Strategist - Oliver Easthope, Copywriter - Cathy Crocker, Art Director - Cressida Laing, Business Director - Kit Rowcliffe, Account Executive

Contributors

Manning Gottlieb