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
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