February 27, 2018
Sponsorship
Last week we read this article about Channel 4’s study of 80,000 viewers over the past five years to gather their views on the efficacy of sponsorship, as opposed to other forms of advertising. The study found that 89% of those asked rated TV sponsors as more trustworthy than other advertisers.
Sponsorship is cutting through and reaching the hard to reach 16-34 age bracket, with two-thirds of those asked saying they were engaged by sponsorship.
With an impressive 54% of the 80,000 saying they were more likely to purchase a sponsor’s product, it’s meant that Lexus and Dominoes have renewed their sponsorship deals with Drama on 4 and Hollyoaks respectively.
Results from a separate study that was commissioned by Thinkbox found that TV sponsorship makes brands appear more successful. The study was carried out by YouGov and House 51, and 300 participants analysed eight TV sponsorship deals.
The study found that viewers of a TV show were more likely to regard the sponsoring brand as popular or successful than non-viewers and House 51 said this could be due to "costly signalling" as TV sponsorship is understood to be expensive, and so this signals success.
The findings also suggest that the benefits of TV sponsorship are long-lasting. On the last day of a campaign, sponsored TV show viewers were 5.4 percentage points higher than non-viewers on a set of brand health metrics.
The difference had only slightly decreased, to 4.3 points six months later, and it was still at 3.8 points after nine months.
Factors have been discovered by YouGov that can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of a sponsorship - when the sponsorship creative was a good fit with the TV show, the set of metrics were 5 points higher for viewers than non-viewers. However, when the fit was less obvious, this difference was only 2.4 points.
So, which brands have reaped the most success from their sponsorship deals?
This was the first year Bake Off was aired on Channel 4 which allowed brands to not only sponsor the show, but also to advertise during the breaks. The proof is in the pudding as around six million viewers tuned into the show each episode, which rose to almost nine million per episode over a seven-day period. The most successful series ever on the channel in over six years.
Despite bigger brands keen to spend the dough and land the sponsorship deal, it was Channel 4’s suggestion that sponsors Lyle’s Golden Syrup should team up with Dr Oetker for a deal that’s said to be worth around four million. No doubt they will be basking in success due to viewing figures.
With no product placements featured on the show, Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Dr Oetker were in the limelight and The Great British Gamble of Channel 4 buying the previously BBC aired show has paid off. It allowed the sponsors to reach that hard to engage the 16-34-year-old audience with around 2.5 million tuning in each episode.
Initial feedback shows that Lyle’s Golden Syrup is gaining a growth on sales week-on-week, compared to the same period last year, and its web traffic has doubled.
Growth in spontaneous brand awareness and opportunity to engage both bakers and aspiring bakers were key drivers for Dr Oetker and a 40% increase has been reported.
Data from Hitwise indicates that searches for Lyle’s Golden Syrup grew throughout the series, increasing by nearly 46%, while Dr Oekter’s have grown 13% over the past two months.
The online food delivery brand Just Eat signed a sponsorship deal with The X Factor this year and is continuing to build on this with its biggest ever brand campaign, which is set to continue even after the show finishes its current run. The sponsorship deal is said to be worth around £30 million, but as the show is only airing for three months, Just Eat wants to keep themselves in the limelight.
The brand is looking to ‘reassert its position in the market’ and released its ‘The Magical World of Just Eat’ campaign, which takes viewers behind the scenes of its restaurants using a flying delivery scooter.
Just Eat’s largest ever multichannel marketing campaign spans TV, radio, digital, out-of-home, PR, social media, and restaurant partner marketing, and launched with a 60-second TV advert on Saturday 28th October during the first live show of The X Factor.
The campaign aims to tackle the fact that half of the UK population would rather use a telephone than an app or website to order food. The food delivery giant aims to convert customers by creating averts that entertain people by putting its restaurants front and centre. The early signs have been positive with brand awareness increasing and getting people talking.
Many of the hard to reach 16-34-year-old audience are X Factor viewers too, and Just Eat has bagged a slot in front of them.
It’s safe to say that landing a big sponsorship deal with a show as well-known as The X Factor or The Great British Bake Off will do wonders for your brand, and it’s great to keep up the advertising after the deal ends to stay in the minds of your target audience.
For more information on how ECHO could help you with corporate sponsorship opportunities, get in touch at hello@weareecho.co.uk or for all the latest news you can follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
November 2, 2017Sponsorship, brand awareness, TV Sponsorship
