Archive for April, 2012
PR Week showcases Synergy’s ‘Betfair Presents…Man Utd Live’ – a Q&A with three Manchester United players hosted on Betfair’s Facebook page, which attracted over 50,000 views and increased ”likes” by 36%
Click here to read the case study in full.
By David Gerty on April 26th, 2012
Tags: Press Clipping
Tim Crow and Dom Curran are interviewed by Sports Industry TV ahead of the 2012 Sport Industry Awards to mark Synergy’s nomination for Sport Agency of The Year.
To view the interview, click here. (VIDEO)
By Synergy on April 20th, 2012
Tags: Press Clipping
At Synergy we live and breathe the need to help our clients create authentic partnerships in order to drive credibility with consumers; so, after 10 years of partnership and the provision of medical cover for over 29,000 treatments, Bupa’s partnership with UK Sport certainly ticks that box.
Prior to 2012, Bupa hadn’t used the partnership in a marketing campaign, spending the last decade quietly helping elite British athletes with their aches, pains and serious injuries. So, our task when we were briefed to create a campaign around Bupa’s partnership with UK Sport was relatively simple: raise awareness of the partnership and deliver the message that Bupa has been treating Great Britain’s elite athletes for the last 10 years.
The integrated roll-out was led by a WCRS-created ad campaign featuring Mo Farah (Athletics), Dan Keatings (Gymnastics), Stef Reid (Paralympic Athletics), Jazz Carlin (Swimming) and Ed Clancy (Cycling), which went live on 1st March 2012. The objective of the PR campaign was to raise the profile of the partnership in the media, clearly demonstrating editorially the role Bupa has played with specific athletes.
The main challenge was a cluttered media landscape containing numerous brands claiming to support British athletes. As such, we knew our campaign had to be creative and true to Bupa’s role, providing human support to thousands of athletes, in order to get cut-through. To launch the partnership we teamed up gymnast Dan Keatings with Britain’s Got Talent winners Spelbound to perform the world’s first ever ‘Human Vault’ in Trafalgar Square. The stunt gave us an impactful picture story and viral to sit alongside interviews with Dan, landing strong messaging in key media including the Daily Mail and The Guardian.
The partnership gives Bupa an opportunity to showcase relevant products and services, which in this campaign saw each of the athletes put through a Bupa Fitness Assessment. The test compared and contrasted the differing fitness attributes of a cyclist (Ed Clancy), to a long distance runner (Mo Farah) and to a swimmer (Jazz Carlin). This allowed us to team athletes up with journalists – gaining coverage and demonstrating that the Bupa Fitness Assessment is relevant for consumers and not just elite athletes.
Bupa created a dedicated microsite to host the details of the partnership, profiles and case studies of the athletes, materials from the launch, Bupa Fitness assessments and relevant Bupa product offerings. The campaign is ongoing, but upon completion there will be over 30 pieces of coverage across print, online and broadcast, raising awareness of Bupa as a partner of UK Sport.
By Adam Raincock on April 17th, 2012
Tags: Athletics, Default, London 2012, PR, Public relations, Sponsorship, Synergy, Team GB
For most people the very thought of Sport Relief and all it stands for is nothing short of humbling. This year we Engineers didn’t want to just sit on our laurels and watch the heroic efforts of funny men John Bishop and David Walliams to raise money and awareness for Sport Relief. That’s why our in-house CSR team ‘Our Little Bit’ took matters into their own hands and launched Engine ‘Off the Road’ for Sport Relief, a chance for Engine’s agencies to join forces and show the power, energy and commitment that lives under one roof at 60 Great Portland Street.
The challenge? To cycle from Engine’s London HQ to our offices in Edinburgh - all 405 tortuous miles of it! The whizz kids at WCRS rigged up an exercise bike to Google Street View so we could virtually track the route and count down the miles over three days of hardcore cycling.
In the spirit of charity and of course light-hearted competition, Synergy led the way on the numbers of volunteers who put themselves forward to demonstrate their athletic prowess (or lack of it). Our very own Dominic Curran, Caroline Ayling, Philip Sanford, Jon Izzard and Ash O’Rourke took to the peddles for the great cause and didn’t do too badly at all.
So, how did the Synergists do?
Results…
- 62.55 miles cycled
- Averaging 12.51 miles per person
- Average speed of 20.98mph per person
- A staggering £3,500 raised within the whole of Engine
Chapeau to Rick Hirst of WCRS who gave Sir Chris Hoy a run for his money and registered an impressive individual average speed of 26.53mph. But Rick’s effort couldn’t prevent Calling Brands from taking the acclaim of ‘fastest overall company’ with a combined average speed of 22.2mph. And although we were only supposed to cycle to Edinburgh we ended up 152 miles further north just past the Loch of Harray.
So, looking back with sore legs and a slightly battered ego - despite our combined sporting credentials we didn’t take the fastest company spot - we’ll definitely be back next year, although a summer of intensive training awaits!
Jon Izzard
To see how we fared in detail check out http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/enginepeddlers.
By Synergy on April 17th, 2012
Tags: Charity, Cycling, Engine, Our Little Bit, Synergy Loves
Synergy has once again been recognised as the UK’s leading sponsorship agency after scooping three Hollis Sponsorship Awards. Our Chairman Karen Earl, who founded the company in 1984 as Karen Earl Sponsorship, was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award; Synergy won Agency of the Year; and our client Betfair was awarded the Best Use of PR for its ground-breaking ‘Bum-vertising’ campaign for Betfair Mobile.
The judges were full of praise for Synergy’s work, with Rosemary Sarginson, organiser of Hollis Sponsorship stating:
“Synergy demonstrated revenue growth, profitability, high levels of client retention, numerous new business wins, campaign creativity, a good grasp of the digital domain and a commitment to developing its people…[A] cleverly constructed campaign saw Betfair use QR codes as a way to drive people to its mobile betting service [generating] high levels of consumer interest and PR coverage, thus securing a significant number of mobile betting account sign ups.”
Receiving her award Karen Earl commented:
“It’s a great honour to be recognised by those I respect and work alongside in the sponsorship industry. Since we began the agency in 1984, sponsorship has developed exponentially and now presents clients and agencies with very exciting opportunities. The industry has never been better placed to communicate with audiences and London 2012 will be a great example of its effectiveness.”
Tim Crow, Synergy CEO said:
“We’re incredibly proud to have been recognised both as an agency for what was a great year, and for the Betfair campaign which was a stand-out piece of work by any measure. And it was just wonderful to see Karen honoured for the pioneering contribution she’s made to our business and to the industry.”
By Francesca Gamble on April 5th, 2012
Tags: Awards, Media, Sponsorship, Synergy
Jameson were back again this year with the popular and truly global film competition, Jameson Empire Done in 60 Seconds, which sees amateur directors re-make their favourite movie masterpiece in just 60 seconds. Yes, exactly, how do you begin to cram the epic storyline of a classic like War Horse into just 60 seconds…surely that’s impossible?
Well, this year saw exactly that and more from entrants spanning 20 countries, with hundreds of entries whittled down to a shortlist of just five finalists by the 16,000 avid film fans voting online at Empire Magazine. The UK entries were up against 33 finalists from around the world who came together to showcase their films at the London Film Museum in front of a judging panel of cinematic experts, including Editor of Empire Magazine, Mark Dinning, Sky Movies Premiere presenter Alex Zane, Bridesmaids award-winning actor and comedian, Chris O’Dowd and the director of Monsters, Gareth Edwards.
The 2012 UK finalists included three budding directors who have previously entered the competition: Jack Kendall, Simon Jago and Michael Whaite. Jack Kendall re-created The King’s Speech, the Oscar-winning picture directed by last year’s Jameson Empire Done in 60 Seconds judge, Tom Hooper. Simon Jago created a remake of the cult sci-fi horror movie The Thing and Michael Whaite reduced the Star Wars Trilogy down to 60 seconds with his quirky animated film. New to the competition were David Smith, with his remake of Steven Spielberg’s epic War Horse and Philip Askins with his 60-second animation of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Jameson Empire Done in Sixty Seconds ambassador and star of Bridesmaids and The IT Crowd, Chris O’Dowd spoke of his support for the competition and the opportunity it gives aspiring young film-makers:
“I am delighted to be on the judging panel of such a great competition. Jameson Empire Done in 60 Seconds is a fantastic way for amateur directors to showcase their talent in the film world. Empire and Jameson have created a novel award that really tests entrants’ creativity and editing skills. Making a movie in 60 seconds is a tough challenge, one that even an experienced film-maker would find daunting – I’m excited to see what they deliver!”
Synergy also worked alongside eight key influential film bloggers to ensure depth of messaging for Jameson, giving them access to the Done in 60 Seconds (DISS) judges, Alex Zane, Mark Dinning and Gareth Edwards. As a group they did a fantastic job of reviewing the event and in turn Jameson received a vast amount of well-branded coverage. Hurray!
At the Jameson Empire Done In 60 Seconds global final, Philip Askins from the UK was confirmed as one of the five contenders with his entry of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The overall winner, which was announced at the star-studded Jameson Empire Awards went to Indira Suleimenova from Kazakhstan, who recreated Black Swan in 60 seconds, and even managed to pay homage to some of Natalie Portman’s other films including Léon in a very clever way.
A true winner in our eyes, Philip Askins with the DISS Judges
On Sunday, the Jameson Empire Awards kicked off in true style, as a whole host of Hollywood stars made their way up the red carpet. Synergy worked closely with film blogger Hey U Guys and lifestyle publication MSN to capture and document the evening as it unfolded.
Michael Fassbender Wins the Jameson Hero Award
Olivia Colman Wins Best Actress and Gary Oldman Wins Best Actor
The cast of The Inbetweeners Win Best Comedy
Synergy ran a VIP competition in the Metro to give one very lucky film enthusiast the chance to mingle with A-list celebrities for the night, socialising in the same room as Olivia Wilde and Gary Oldman. The prize also included VIP tickets to the after-show party at Café de Paris.
It was a star-studded weekend from start to finish and flew past in what felt like 60 seconds. Both Synergy and Jameson are very proud of all our UK DISS Finalists and wish them lots of luck in the future. We have made some lovely friends and look forward to working with extremely knowledgeable film bloggers Hey U Guys, MSN, Who’s Jack, Film Pilgrim, Establishing Shot, Best of Film, Cine Vue and Hollywood News in the future.
To all budding film directors: one day it could be you attending the Jameson Empire Film Awards. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2012 Done in 60 Seconds competition and in the meantime, log on to the Jameson Empire Done In 60 Seconds Film Academy to learn top movie-making tips from the stars: www.jamesonwhiskey.com/DISS.
By Francesca Gamble on April 5th, 2012
Tags: Alcohol, Awards, Celebrity, Film, Media, PR, Public relations, Social Media, Sponsorship, Synergy, Twitter
Tim Crow tells Marketing how brands should approach the challenges presented by an Olympic year and predicts that ‘this will be the year when a clear difference emerges between brands that activate in a traditional way and those that embrace new positioning and platforms.’
Click here for the article.
By Synergy on April 4th, 2012
Tags: Press Clipping
Synergy triumphed at the 18th edition of the Hollis Sponsorship Awards on March 27.
Synergy was named Sponsorship Consultancy of the year and also picked up the PR award with Betfair for the now famous ‘Bumvertising’ QR code campaign. To round off the night, Synergy founder Karen Earl was recognised with the prestigious Outstanding Achievement Award, reflecting the huge contribution she has made to sponsors and to sponsorship industry.
Synergy’s Dominic Curran said: “Winning the Hollis Agency of the Year Award is recognition of the mould-breaking and creative work being done by all the team at Synergy as we pioneer the Social Era of sponsorship.”
Click here to read more.
By Synergy on April 4th, 2012
Tags: Press Clipping
With Conference Premier football club Kettering Town FC on their financial knees and with their very existence at threat, there was only one place to look for redemption; to a time of bigger hair, shorter shorts and fatter ‘taches. I’m of course talking about the 1970s.
To celebrate Kettering Town’s status as the first English club to adopt a football shirt sponsor in 1976, Betfair threw ‘The Poppies’ a lifeline by agreeing a one-off shirt sponsorship deal and cash injection, just days ahead of their visit to the Royal Courts of Justice to face an HMRC winding-up petition.
At the home fixture with Stockport County on Saturday 31st March, the struggling club agreed to wear a specially made retro playing strip, faithful to the original 1976 design and featuring vintage ‘short’ shorts. Betfair was also set to offer season-ticket holders unbeatable value with a rebate to attend the match for just £1 – the cost of entry in 1976 – with fans able to pocket the difference or donate it back to the club.
To get the Kettering squad in the mood for the fixture, we visited the club to undertake a transformation back to the spirit of the 1970s, as brought to life in this exclusive photo shoot. The players were enthusiastic and willing models, with player-manager Ashley Westwood and midfielder David Bridges proving more than a little comfortable in the ‘70s ensemble.
It’s impossible, however, to recall the nostalgia of 1970s football, and not bring to mind images of stirring broadcast coverage. In a tribute to the Dickie Davies-anchored ‘World of Sport’ and other such TV gems, we created “Betfair’s Big Match”, following hapless sports reporter Dave Mandelson as he visited the team in preparation for the crucial Stockport County fixture.
The story sought to raise awareness of Kettering Town’s financial plight, with football fans encouraged to back a campaign run by The Poppies Trust, looking to raise funds to safeguard the future of the club. National press were fully behind the move, with The Metro and Daily Mirror running stories on launch day, and the likes of DailyMail.co.uk, DailyStar.co.uk as well as football bloggers such as WhoAteAllThePies and 101GreatGoals running the video, in addition to local broadcasters ITV Anglia.
The surge of media interest caused quite a stir in the Football Conference, however, with league sponsors Blue Square Bet objecting to a rival betting brand operating within their apparent space. On Friday 30th March, and just 24 hours ahead of the crucial fixture, Kettering Town were faced with the threat of possible league expulsion if they went ahead with the unique deal. In light of this development Betfair reluctantly withdrew the shirts from the match itself, whilst still donating the much needed cash to the club.
The club were delighted with the generous contribution, helping ensure a club with a unique role in UK’s football history lived to fight another day.
We’ll never know if those shirts would have inspired the team to victory, as sadly Kettering succumbed to a 1-3 home defeat, and face an uphill battle to remain in the division next season.
From all at Betfair and Synergy (and of course Dave Mandelson), we wish the club all the best. “COME ON YOU POPPIES!”
By Donald Parish on April 4th, 2012
Tags: Content, Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, PR, Sponsorship, Sport, Viral Marketing, YouTube
Staying close to the nationals is standard practice for us here at Synergy, both to keep on top of the zeitgeist and to help our clients become part of it.
Last weekend was no different: as well as scanning the nationals for the usual stories, we were on the lookout for the annual hoaxes that mark every April Fool’s Day, and to see if one of our own had been picked up (it was, more of which later).
Here’s a round-up.
This story in The Sun alleged that the Queen had called up James Bond to open the Olympic Games this summer, which, whilst an exciting idea, left us shaken but not stirred.
Alesha Dixon’s ‘miraculous rise’ to the GB Fencing Team after only weeks of training might not have sounded particularly convincing, but why not? She is young, takes good care of herself and is clearly ambitious. The fact that she had beaten Claire Richards, formerly of Steps, in the final run-off sadly took the claim away from reality and into April Foolery.
Mo Farah’s brand new cotton wool style training suit featured in the Sun on Sunday, revealing plans to keep the medal prospect wrapped up until the start of London 2012.
This fool was in fact one of our own, but the closely guarded secret still left many Synergists momentarily guessing. Almost as amazing, yet believable given modern training gear, was BMW’s new ‘Driverless Running Coach’ that allows your motor to follow you whilst you hit the streets for a run.
When it came to Arsenal Football Club we smelled a rat from the start. The fragrance that offered fans a chance to bottle the scent of the Emirates Stadium, fronted by Jack Wilshere, strangely enough coincided with the launch of an online interactive stadium tour. Funny that!
However, our favourite story featured in the Sunday Mirror depicting bromantics ‘Simon Cowell and David Walliams of Britain’s Got Talent’ on a picnic date, complete with flowers and swan boating on a lake. Everybody loves a happy ending, even on April Fool’s Day!
By Luke Auty on April 2nd, 2012
Tags: Advertising, Athletics, BMW, Celebrity, Communications, Default, Football, London 2012, Olympic sponsorship, PR, Public relations, Social Media, Synergy, Team GB
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