ITV: Next Generation Sponsorship – the word is Fusion
MRS Awards
Finalist, December 2014
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ITV: Next Generation Sponsorship – the word is Fusion
MRS Awards
Finalist, December 2014
ITV: Next Generation Sponsorship - the word is Fusion
SPA Future Thinking and ITV
Summary
The challenge:
ITV sits at the heart of popular culture. Viewers can experience, enjoy and engage with ITV's shows across any platform on a
24/7 basis.
The opportunities for advertisers to sponsor these journeys and forge strong customer relationships are also growing; offering
the ability to build evermore powerful and connected campaigns with sponsorship playing a central role.
Whilst the market had changed the established thinking around sponsorship had not. It was time to rethink sponsorship.
Our approach:
Partnering with SPA Future Thinking we created the UK's most comprehensive look at TV sponsorship.
We integrated qualitative (3-hour workshops), quantitative techniques (1,000 viewers) and statistical analysis, incorporating 37
sponsorship campaigns and 95 waves of research.
Outcome:
The findings proved that brands and consumers had outgrown more traditional sponsorship. Brands can create deeper 360o
campaigns around ITV's shows; with sponsorship playing a leading role in a brand's media strategy.
Next Generation Sponsorship paved the way for FUSION, ITV's recipe for powerful partnerships. FUSION is fully embedded in
ITV. Launched in October the findings have been presented to the most influential agency customers across the country. What
about the ROI? ITV sponsorship revenue has broken the £100m barrier for the first time ever!
Synopsis
Background:
ITV content reaches into the heart of popular culture. It connects with viewers by giving them new ways to experience, enjoy
and engage with their shows across any platform on a 24/7 basis.
The influence of its content is growing daily. From the big shiny entertainment hits like Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor,
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2 to the addictive soaps that become part of viewers' everyday lives.
The opportunities for advertisers to sponsor these journeys and forge stronger customer relationships are also growing and
offer the ability to build evermore powerful and connected campaigns with sponsorship playing a central role.
Clearly the market had changed but the established thinking around sponsorship had not moved on. It was time for a shakeup! It was time to revisit sponsorship and help educate advertisers about the fantastic opportunities to partner with ITV's
content.
Objectives:
We designed a research programme to challenge established perceptions of TV sponsorship. We wanted to push the
boundaries, helping advertisers create more effective brand partnership campaigns around our content.
We set out to understand precisely how TV sponsorship works within the wider media ecosystem to deliver brand and
business benefits. Our aim was clear; to show how sponsorships thrive at the heart of brand strategy, not on the side-lines.
ITV set out with three clear objectives for the study:
1 To create an industry leading piece of research that clearly demonstrated that sponsoring ITV content should be the first and
most important priority for any client campaign.
2 To educate advertisers, change perceptions and encourage investment.
3 To establish 'Next Generation Sponsorship' as a bridge to access the 'Campaigns of the Future.'
Our approach – what we did:
ITV and SPA Future Thinking worked in partnership to create the UK's most comprehensive look at TV sponsorship.
We developed a truly extensive research programme demonstrating how sponsorship can deliver against an advertiser's brand
and business objectives. It needed to understand the past, current and future role of sponsorships for UK advertisers, where
consumer behaviours and attitudes are changing in response to technology and social media. In addition, it had to be framed
by the fact that published content is also being made more widely available across new consumer touch points to maximise
reach of their audience.
Outputs from this study needed to support, stimulate and influence communications planning and work to:
A three-stage approach was adopted:
Stage 1 Qualitative:
Sessions explored perceptions of sponsorship, natural viewing behaviour and reactions to specified sponsorship content insitu.
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3 Stage 2 Quantitative:
Survey conducted amongst a large (1,000) representative sample of TV viewers to validate key rules from the qualitative
element. 12 ITV sponsorship case studies were also measured. Ranging from low integration, low investment campaigns (e.g.
The Only Way Is Essex & Blue Inc.) to full integration, high investment campaigns (e.g. Britain's Got Talent & Morrisons).
Stage 3 Statistical Analysis:
To measure correlations between variables on the ITV sponsorship norms database (37 campaigns, 95 waves of research).
We were uniquely able to perform statistical analysis on these historical campaigns that had consistent metrics over the last 5
years. The approach tested a number of hypotheses e.g. fully integrated sponsorship campaigns drive greater business
benefits for advertisers. This statistical analysis, combined with qualitative and quantitative data, was particularly important in
validating the key elements that drive a successful sponsorship through increasing levels of media integration across
consumer touch points.
Results:
Engaging directly with viewers through the intensive workshops opened our eyes to the scope available for brands to create
deeper 360o campaigns around shows.
The findings showed categorically that sponsorship had evolved. It's exciting, has many layers and is incredibly effective.
These were just some of the responses from viewers involved in the study. To them sponsoring ITV content was a no brainer
for brands and the benefits were clear.
Five key themes emerged:
I want to be entertained.
Viewers expect more from sponsorships.
Think again.
The established sponsorships rules have changed.
Sponsorships can be more than just an ident.
Integration and activation can add huge value for brands.
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4 Brands take note.
Viewers see the benefits of fully integrated campaigns.
Sponsorships do more than drive awareness.
They engage viewers at a deeper level.
I want to be entertained. Viewers expect more from sponsorships
Sponsorship has an important and growing role, and is both noticed and understood by TV viewers. However, viewer
expectations of sponsorship are evolving and becoming more demanding. Viewers expect sponsorship to be cleverer and work
harder to stand out and engage. As the sponsorship works harder, engagement and enjoyment is increased.
Compare the Market's partnership with Coronation Street is a great example of a brand that understands and loves the same
content as the viewer.
Think again. The established sponsorships rules have changed
The findings showed that a strategic link between the brand and programme is always a key requirement, however a creative
link, if strong enough, can also ensure the relationship works successfully.
l
51% of respondents agreed that even if a brand doesn't go with a programme the sponsorship credits can make it seem
like there is a link.
Surf's partnership with TOWIE showed how a brand could fully immerse themselves with the content. It was a runaway
success with respondents.
Due to the deep dive approach to the study ITV and SPA Future Thinking were able to develop 7 executional guidelines to
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5 help advertisers produce an effective sponsorship creative:
Sponsorship credits are most memorable and appealing when they emulate the programme (i.e. format/content/tone).
An episodic storyline is the most memorable execution, but a single credit must be intelligible on its own.
Creative should both tell a story and be entertaining.
Humour will help generate stand out.
Music acts as a cue to generate and increase brand recall.
The brand should be voiced over for maximum impact.
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6 The creative should build on/reflect other brand advertising.
Sponsorships can be more than just an ident. Integration and activation can add huge value for brands
Integration and activation play an important role in adding value to on-air sponsorships. The research showed how in-store
activation worked for Morrison's & Britain's Got Talent (BGT) sponsorship.
The analysis also showed that greater integration of a sponsorship across multiple media touch points correlates more highly
with top of mind recall.
Fully integrated campaigns made complete sense to viewers and engaged with them at a deeper level
50% of respondents agreed that they expected a sponsor to be involved in other things to do with the programme'.
The study identified 3 areas of integration that help maximise the success of a sponsorship campaign.
Conclusion:
The findings proved brands and consumers had outgrown more traditional sponsorship. They are clearly becoming more
brand and comms literate and expect brand communication to engage at a deeper level than traditional advertising routes.
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7 The study provided ITV with evidence that sponsorship plays an important role within this remit; via integrated programme and
sponsorship storylines, the use of talent, long-term partnerships and brand activation.
Sponsorship also complements both traditional and social media platforms and thus can work within a wider media plan to fully
immerse consumers within a brand at all touch points.
The study identified 5 of the most influential elements at the heart of all great campaigns, which led to the creation
of FUSION, ITV's recipe for powerful partnerships.
Fusion was launched in October 2013 and presented to 17 agencies to help position ITV as thought leaders in this space. ITV
also trained 245 staff, across 7 weeks, to approach and deliver all campaigns against the five key elements.
The research has also been made available within ITV as an in-house resource, via an online analytics tool, to help the
development and planning of sponsorship campaigns with clients.
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