One of the more funky strands of British & Irish Lions principal partner Standard Life Investments’ multi-strand activation programme sees it tie-up with Sky Media/Sky Sports on the ‘Fan Van’: a branded vehicle driven by former Lion Scott Quinnell which travels around New Zealand following The Lions tour.
The Fan Van, nicknamed the ‘Quinnebago’, is branded and wrapped in the 2017 Lions jersey (which bears the Standard Life logo).
Quinnell, a Sky Sports rugby pundit and former Welsh forward, shares daily updates via the finance brand and the media company’s digital and social channels as he drives around the country interviewing Lions legends, current rugby stars and fans.
From ‘Vanpool Karaoke’ sessions, to online films, Twitter comments and Q&A’s, to showcasing the stunning sights of New Zealand, Quinnell (and this activation strand) aims to give fans back home in the UK and Ireland an insight into life on the road with The Lions.
Daily episodes are rolling out across both Standard Life and Sky Sports’ digital and social platforms – such as YouTube – and recent episodes include ‘Day 2/1June’,
‘Day 5/6 June’,
and ‘Day 9/8 June’.
Quinnell is also offering content, insights and match-specific comment across other social channels too – including Twitter.
We're en route to Russell with the @SkySportsRugby #fanvan and @ScottQuinnell #LionsNZ2017 pic.twitter.com/7aomxecdP3
— Standard Life Invest (@SLI_Global) June 4, 2017
.@SkySportsRugby @ScottQuinnell gives his thoughts on the @lionsofficial #CRUvBIL win #LionsNZ2017 #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/yMjGgZABzd
— Standard Life Invest (@SLI_Global) June 10, 2017
This activation strand tie-in to Standard Life Investments’ sponsorship of Sky Sports’ coverage of The Lions across all platforms (as well as its official principal partner role with the team itself).
Indeed, the Sky alliance and Fan Van work sees the financial services brand aim to further increase awareness of its jersey sponsor status as it seeks to engage dedicated rugby fans across its own digital and social platforms, as well as those belonging to Sky Sports and The Lions.
This media partnership was brokered between Ptarmigan Media and Sky Media.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Sky Sports to give all fans the opportunity to really engage with the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour,” explains Standard Life Investments , global head of marketing and client relations Nuala Walsh.
“This is a once-in-a lifetime event for many. Scott and the Fan Van are doing a terrific job of bringing fans closer to the live action at the provincial matches as well as the hugely-anticipated test matches.”
While Rachel Bristow, director of partnerships at Sky Media added: “We are thrilled to be working with Standard Life Investments and Sky Sports to deliver this unique partnership around the British & Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand; one of the highlights of the sporting calendar in 2017. Through the power of TV we can reach viewers at scale and through our digital and social platforms, deliver engaging branded content.”
Activative Comment:
Standard Life Investments, the principal partner of The British & Irish Lions and jersey sponsor of the 2017 tour to New Zealand, first began activating its Lions rights back in early 2016 with an integrated programme that spanned a launch event, the unveiling of its ambassador and endorser team, as well as digital/social film and a ticket competition (see case study).
Its activation evolved in the early part of the year and then in May, leveraging interest around the climax of the Northern Hemisphere rugby season and the Lions squad announcement and get together, it began it second activation phase by airing a film focusing on the Lions’ Mission 71 training centre.
In addition to the Quinnebago, other strands of its activation thus far have stretched from a bespoke branded digital hub at http://thelions.standardlifeinvestments.com/ which includes Lions news, views and a curated social wall, tour videos, input from the sponsor’s Lions ambassador team (which includes coach Warren Gatland, and former Lions Shane Williams, Gavin Hastings, Paul O’Connell and Martin Johnson), plus a Drone Kick Game for fans/customers to test their virtual kicking skills and to win Lions merchandise (see https://drone.theworldwidepartner.com/),
plus a more direct, business-focused gateway to the brand’s investment solutions and services.
The brand is aiming to activate around the whole tour with content piece stretching from ambassador led videos such as ‘Gatland Q&As’,
and ‘Gatland On The Plane’,
as well as legends picking their teams,
or films focused on specific aspects of the game,
to behind-the-scenes training spots
fan interactions,
and game highlights.
The overall objective behind the partnership sees Standard Life Investments link with the Lions as a partner that ‘shares our values and ambition helps us to strengthen and build our business around the world’.
The underlying activation themes and sponsorship objectives include ‘commitment to excellence’, ‘depth of expertise across a talented team’, ‘delivering potential and confidence’.
According to the brand, the Lions’ tour’s one billion strong global TV audience (spanning 120 countries), coiupled with its unique, 125-year-old sporting heritage ‘provides a powerful platform to build our brand worldwide’.
The partnership is based on five key pillars: ‘teamwork’, ‘commitment to excellence’, ‘client focus’, ‘forward-thinking’, plus ‘power and performance’.
Other major Standard Life sports sponsorships include The Ryder Cup (see our case study on the 2016 ‘Story Of World Class’ campaign)
and an ambassador deal with Andy Murray (see our case study on its 2016 ‘Master Your Dreams’ initiative).
Indeed, the brand even blended this latter endorser deal with its Lions work via a Murray ‘Good Luck Lions’ video message.
Links:
Standard Life
http://thelions.standardlifeinvestments.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/StandardLifeInvest
https://twitter.com/SLI_Global
http://www.standardlifeinvestments.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/standard-life-investments
British & Irish Lions
https://www.facebook.com/BritishandIrishLions
https://twitter.com/lionsofficial
