Paddy Power celebrated The Open’s return to the bookie’s native Ireland by marking f Tiger Woods arrival with a cheeky campaign revolving around the fact that it is 10 years since the worst drive of his life.
The campaign, led by online video and outdoor billboards, references the US golfing titan’s journey from rags to riches, through rehab and then back to the top of the game.
With an emphasis on the anniversary of when Tiger hit rock bottom personally and professionally and drove his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant back in 2009.
To exploit his past troubles and to celebrate the impact of his return to form by winning 2019’s Masters, Paddy Power erected a double decker bus sized billboard on the outskirts of Portrush to wish him well ahead of this weekend.
And the followed up with a second OOH sign following after an unconfirmed, alleged ‘incident’ – marketing stunt – with the first billboard when it was damaged by a 3 tonne Cadillac Escalade plunging into it emblazoned with the copy ‘Tiger’s Arrived. Hope His Driving Improves’.
The outdoor stunt was amplified through a pair of online videos running across Paddy Power’s digital and social channels.
The first spot features Paddy Power himself saying: “We wanted to celebrate the many challenges Tiger has overcome in the past decade, but we ran out of billboards.”
“Woods is an inspirational athlete and if he can bounce back from this with nothing other than the right mind set, a loving partner (or partners) the best doctors available to man and a bottomless bank account, then anyone can. We think that’s worth acknowledging.”
The Irish betting company also gave away the vehicle used in the stunt via its social media channels through the course of the tournament to ‘ensure one lucky individual will drive home a win this weekend, even if Woods doesn’t’.
Comment:
Apparently, building the giant billboard posed some serious technical challenges.
The SUV had to be secured mid-air with a custom-built truss structure which was lifted into position by a crane on top of a shipping container filled with 10 tonnes of ballast.
The whole OOH stunt sign took 12 men, 50 hours to build and a 60 tonne machine was needed to lift the vehicle into position.
This is yet another classic Paddy Power campaign that straddles the line between comedy and offense.
It seems a shame that when it came to the golf at Royal Portrush it was Northern Irish super star Rory Mcllroy who started the tournament with the worst drive of his life.
Links:
Paddy Power
https://www.youtube.com/user/PaddyPowerVideo
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