F1 team sponsors will be pleased with the new campaign promoting the BSkyB’ launch of its dedicated Sky Sports Formula 1 channel.
Acer, AMD, DHL, Johnnie Walker, Lucozade, Pirelli, Red Bull Santander, Shell, Tata and Vodafone are all team sponsors who feature prominently in Sky’s own media rights campaign.
This multi-channel initiative kicked off on 17 February and spans cinema, TV, outdoor, press, digital and social media elements.
It will run on full power until the season’s first race on 16 to 18 March and then will continue with a lower profile for the rest of the season.
The TV ad features high-definition footage from F1 racing and comes in a variety of high-tech formats. The creative is shot in HD. Furthermore, when broadcast on Sky, existing customers will be able to click on the red and green buttons on their remote controls to watch the full film or download extra content to their Sky boxes.
It comes in a full five-minute version, along with three-minute, 90-second and 30-second cut downs.
All heavily feature on-car and on-driver suit logos of the aforementioned brands.
This TV work is supported by a UK nationwide outdoor campaign includes traditional posters, augmented reality ads and interactive ads on digital outdoor.
The flagship outdoor execution is a huge 3D installation on Clear Channel Outdoor’s 96-sheets on Cromwell Road, London. This installation will comprise a set of six panels featuring F1 cars emerging from a Grand Prix scene.
In addition to further print and inserts in consumer and trade press, there are also online banners and skyscrapers as well as site takeovers and display ads. These click-through to Sky’s specially created new F1 microsite.
The campaign also uses social media to boost awareness and rive traffic to the microsite.
The campaign was created by agency Brothers & Sisters, while the TVC was directed by Ivan Bird at Rattling Stick.
Corin Dimopoulos, director of sports and news marketing at Sky, said: “This campaign is all about bringing Formula 1 to life. We’re targeting new and existing audiences and the creative reflects Formula 1 being given the Sky Sports treatment.
“With stunning cinematic film, incredible close-up imagery and interactive augmented reality, the campaign reinforces the fact that the race is only part of the story on Sky Sports F1 HD.”
Comment:
This campaign is itself effectively a premiere-style sneak preview of the high-tech, innovative approach Sky will take to its coverage.
Sky signed its pay-tv deal with F1 in July 2011. Under the terms of the deal, the BBC, which used to have the rights exclusively, will only broadcast half the races, while Sky will broadcast every race live.
Despite this combined approach Sky’s approach is illustrated by its press release which states: “There won’t be any ad breaks. Every second of every race will be live and uninterrupted. It will be the only place to watch every race live.”
The Sky F1 channel, called Sky Sports F1 HD, will go on air on Friday 9 March and the first race of the Formula 1 season is the Australian Grand Prix the following weekend (16 to 18 March).
In addition to the Formula 1 races, Sky Sports F1 HD will include news, interviews and insight, as well as footage from the GP2 and GP3 series. Interviews and a weekly magazine show will be available on the Sky interactive service.
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