The King of the World is dead, long live the King of the World.

You have to hand it to James Cameron: at $1.88billion in takings to date, his 3D epic Avatar is officially the biggest box office ticket of all time. And having taken only six weeks to eclipse the record set by Titanic, JC’s last feature film, this is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Yes, the world and his wife (and their three children, plus extended circle of friends) have queued up at cinemas to see Avatar: whilst it’s not perhaps a film for everybody, it has nonetheless garnered some strong reviews, and, 3D effects aside, features some of the best CGI ever used in medium. The spectacle in 3D, however, elevates Avatar beyond movie to experience, drawing the audience into Cameron’s alien world of Pandora without simply resorting to the customary “oh, that was the 3D bit” camera pans. Not all 3D films can claim to do the same.

Avatar is a 3D success because the extra something this technology brings makes us believe it more, enriching the immersion and further suspending disbelief. The question is, how to monetise this on a more regular basis, as opposed to only once every 15 years, when Mr Cameron decides to take us one step beyond?

Naturally, the answer came in the form of the ever-inventive Sky, with Sky Sports’ first foray into 3D programming the live coverage of Arsenal vs Manchester United last weekend. For those lucky enough to be in one of the nine bars across the UK to feature 3D screens - well, if you’d call ‘lucky’ being reciprocally filmed by Sky Sports looking like the rejects from a Buddy Holly casting session - the experience was mixed. The customary Sky Sports graphics, player line-ups (where a sense of depth and perspective is inherent to the camera view) and wide angle shots from behind goal were suitably impressive; however, the third dimension was not the totally eye-popping revolution many were imagining.

To be fair, Sky does spoil the viewer: with up to 20 cameras tracking the game in regular Ds and lovely High Definition crispness for those willing to pay an extra tenner a month - it’s hard to say whether the final spectacle of 3D could ever match up to our expectations. It’s no massive surprise that this was basically a glorified experiment by the broadcaster - football may not be the ultimate sport to benefit from an extra dimension, versus, say boxing, rugby, or even golf - but the fanfare of such a world’s first certainly captured the public’s imagination, leaving viewers hungry, or at least peckish, for more.

Whatever the future holds for in-home 3D, it’s clear that from a sporting perspective, as James Cameron understands, the extra dimension needs to add something to our experience, to give something back, with Sunday’s experiment representing a small step in furthering Sky’s opinion on exactly how it plans to achieve this.

By Jonathan Izzard on February 2nd, 2010

Tags: Barclays Premier League, Branded content, Broadcast sponsorship, Experiential marketing, Football, Football Sponsorship, Manchester United, Media, Sport, Television, Television audiences

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Just when Tuffers and Dizzy thought they had got over the worst of the dangerous, nerve racking and quite possibly life-threatening Betfair Challenges, they arrived at a farm in Leeds ahead of the Headingley Test to bowl each other down a giant hill in zorbs, attempting to hit the super sized inflatable stumps at the bottom. 

Sky Sports News and BBC Look North turned out to film the action and there was much concern from both Dizzy and Tuffers that they may well be sick live on TV!  Tuffers bowled first and sent Dizzy down the hill at 30mph with a googly that uprooted offstump.  Dizzy levelled the Challenge by launching a very ill-looking Tuffers down the hill and in to the stumps.  Challenge drawn, leaving the series poised at 2-1 to England, with the all important 6-aside cricket match to be played.

The final Challenge took the series to the Hurlingham Club in West London - and Tuffers continued his good form and brought the trophy back to England. Although Dizzy had “The Cat” cowering to square leg against his aggresive fast bowling, Tuffers’ Tyrants held on with the help of a majestic knock from ex West Indies batsman Jimmy Adams.  To watch all the action go to FanvFan.com

Dizzy now has to face a forfeit for losing the Betfair Challenge series.  He will have the honour of having the St George Cross emblazoned across his chest at The Oval and have to cheer England on amongst the Barmy Army as England look to win the real Ashes in the final Test.

By Simon Roche on August 20th, 2009

Tags: Ashes, Branded content, Default, Digital marketing

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It’s the biggest worry for any newspaper proprietor out there. Actual paper sales are on a downward trajectory while traffic to their websites is flying upwards - but how can they make a viable business model out if?

A quick look at the numbers underlines this mounting difficulty. For example, digital revenue comprised less then 10% of Trinity Mirror’s regional revenue in 2008 and although newspaper sites are amassing huge numbers (MailOnline had 29.4 million global unique users in June), domestic advertisers are reluctant to pay for a largely overseas audience. On the flip side print ad revenue is falling fast - Associated Newspaper saw revenue fall 15% yoy in Q2. So something needs to be done and fast.

Last week, Rupert Murdoch declared that News Corp newspaper sites would soon begin charging for online access. The likely model is going to be charging for premium subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal while The Sunday Times in London is planning a stand-alone website.

Some rivals have been quick to dismiss the idea as there are so many free online news sites such as the BBC so why would consumers pay for it? However, Murdoch believes we will pay for celebrity news, major scoops and exclusive content.

So the key to success would seem to be having that content people are willing to charge for - and this focus on high quality, opinionated content and scoops could be the shot in the arm for under pressure (and sometimes understaffed) newsdesks. While the system of charging needs to be made as simple as possible with clear entry points and ‘walled-garden’ systems.

Murdoch won’t be the first to try - The FT have done it with some success while The New York Times had to rapidly u-turn on its first attempt at a charging system.  Critically though, he will be the biggest to try and there’s no doubt the rest of the industry will sit up and watch with interest.

Lest we forget he’s led the field before in proving people will pay for unique content - twenty years ago Sky was launched off the back of sport and movies.

By Dominic Curran on August 17th, 2009

Tags: Branded content, Communications, Default, Media

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Previously, golf’s best-known connection with Tweeting was the (probably apocryphal) story of Tiger Woods’ ’I just wopped Tweety Pie’ SMS to friends, having just beaten an infamously canary-clad Sergio Garcia in the final round at The Open in 2006. But now Ian Poulter is opening up a new front for golf in the Twitterena.

After only a matter of months, Poulter’s microblogs have attracted almost 250,000 followers - a phenomenal number for the platform - and won him widespread media coverage and praise. Which is just how the savvy, outspoken Poulter likes it. “It’s a very clever marketing publicity tool and one that I have complete control over”, he was quoted as saying recently.

Poulter’s success is no accident. It’s down to two factors

First, his dedicated, thoughtful use of the platform. As he puts it: ‘…this is a great way of getting the information out there quickly and giving golf fans some insight they’ve never had before.’ And he’s as good as his word. Take this morning for instance, when Poulter uploaded pictures from each tee at Turnberry as he practised for The Open. Brilliant.

Second, his use of media interviews to market his microblog and create his very own content factory. Enter ‘Ian Poulter Twitter’ into Google, for example, and you currently get 120,000 returns, and plenty of interviews like this, from today’s Times.

Plenty of food for thought for marketers on a variety of fronts. But Peter Alliss won’t approve at all.

By Tim Crow on July 14th, 2009

Tags: Blogging, Branded content, Default, Digital marketing, Golf, Tiger Woods

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In football especially, we’re used to seeing teams, governing bodies, brands and celebs attempt to make a few quid around major events by releasing a track which attempts to capture the zeitgeist, and there have been some brilliant moments - especially Three Lions, Nessun Dorma,  World In Motion, and the Nike-inspired A Little Less Conversation. Which brings me to The Ashes, the 2009 edition of which starts today, and two very new, and very different attempts to join the pantheon.

First up is Hey Hey Ricky by The Barmy Army (with a lot of help from Naked), which falls firmly into the ‘make a few quid’ category, the Barmy Army being, as The Times demonstrates today, something of a hand-to-mouth operation.

The track has a catchy riff (which many will recognise from the days when the BBC televised cricket) and some clever, light-hearted, Aussie-bashing lyrics. I have to say I hated the film though, with its clunky, gratuitous brand placements, and equally gratuitous Benny Hill meets Eric Prydz moments. But judge for yourself here.

Next up is The Duckworth Lewis Method, a concept album of cricket-inspired songs by Irish musos Neil Hannon (of the Divine Comedy) and Thomas Walsh (of Pugwash).

We shouldn’t be surprised, incidentally, that two Irishmen have turned their attention to cricket - after all, Ireland  bowled out the mighty 1960s West Indies for 25 back in 1969 (albeit with with more than a little help from Arthur Guinness the night before) and Samuel Beckett was a fan and played at first class level, and as such is the only Nobel Prize-winning author to feature in Wisden.

I’m sure that Sam would have approved of TDLM, and I’d be shoulder to shoulder with him. It’s barking mad, but utterly, utterly brilliant, and I unreservedly urge you to buy it.

By Tim Crow on July 8th, 2009

Tags: Branded content, Cricket, Default, Music, Product placement

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Ever thought about naming a star? How about owning a nice plot of land on the dark side of the Moon? Fancy sponsoring a three-toed sloth in Costa Rica?

As PT Barnum famously never said, “There’s a sucker born every minute” – applying Newton’s Third Law (he’ll now be spinning in his Westminster Abbey sarcophagus) would suggest an equal and opposite reaction. After all, you only know you’re a mark once you’ve been conned, right? Therefore every sap needs a swindler, and in today’s society, there always seems to be someone out there ready to sell you something:

a) That isn’t theirs to flog

b) The customer can never really own

c) With strong virtual but low actual value

So it’s nice to see a company turning the tables on the snake oil salesmen and scammers: why buy something that’s worth nothing, when you can use something that costs nothing?

The company in question is Intel, whose 2009 ATL campaign, set to roll out over the next three years, sees the technology giant using the sign-off “Sponsors of Tomorrow”. I mean, who’s going to monetise ‘Tomorrow’…Annie?

It’s interesting that Intel should be using the collective plural ‘sponsors’ here, a move, in line with the content of their ATL, to both humanise the company and express the broad range of areas across which it – I mean ‘they’ – work.

Neatly turning things on their head, the campaign is less ‘Intel Inside’, and more ‘Inside Intel’. The execution below might aim at geek-chic, but it also emphasises who makes up the company, not just what the company makes.

You’ll notice that even the brand-defining/ubiquitous/maddeningly annoying Intel ‘chimes’ are now performed in the new ads by company employees (okay, the actors portraying company employees), reminding us of a company’s most important asset – its people.

As “Sponsors of Tomorrow”, the casual perspective of Intel being just a sticker on your PC may have had its chips.

By Jonathan Izzard on June 12th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Ambush campaign, Brand marketing, Branded content, Digital marketing, Employee engagement, Media, New Product Development, Sales promotion, Sponsorship, Viral Marketing

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When we started out as Karen Earl Sponsorship in 1984 we had little idea what the future held, nor did we realise just how far sponsorship would develop as a global marketing phenomenon.

What a ride it has been. So many wonderful clients and sponsorships, so many great friends and memories. Lots of hard work too of course, but always great fun - and is still. I’m so proud of our work, our people, and the unique reputation we’ve built.

Looking ahead, we’ve never been in better shape. We have the most talented and committed group of people in our history, and a client list that’s unrivalled in the industry - and growing. Our international work has grown exponentially in the last few years. And as part of The Engine Group, we are ideally placed to continue to spearhead sponsorship’s unique role in modern marketing.

Easy to say, but let me explain.

We evolved into Synergy a year ago and moved into Engine’s new building just north of Oxford Circus. This meant that, as well as our three existing specialist units - Consultancy, Experiential and Communications - we were able to offer four new services: Branded Content, Digital, Employee Engagement and Sales Promotion. And all under one roof.

Our clients all tell us the same thing: they love it!

We now provide them with the broadest, most flexible and most relevant toolkit for 21st century sponsorship. Successful sponsorships are those which are truly integrated into brand marketing campaigns. Truly outstanding sponsorships are those which act as a catalyst for this integration using compelling ideas which both cut through the media clutter and effectively engage consumers.

We help our clients do that every day.

You can see numerous examples on our website. Two that immediately come to mind are the Guinness Premiership and the Powerade InnerGear campaign, each of which completed a clean sweep of the three major sponsorship awards in the last two years.

Our 25^th year makes this a landmark year for Synergy, but there’s going to be a lot more to shout about. We’ve already announced, for example, that we’re now working with Philips on their global Formula 1 sponsorship and with Betfair to develop their sponsorship strategy and portfolio. There are more announcements in the pipeline - watch this space.

Here’s to the next 25 years!

Karen Earl, Founder and Chairman of Synergy

Ed Kemp from Marketing spoke to Karen about the last 25 years - read his blog here

By Karen Earl on June 4th, 2009

Tags: Branded content, Communications, Consultancy, Digital marketing, Employee engagement, Experiential marketing, Guinness Premiership, Olympic sponsorship, Sales promotion, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Synergy

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Last night I watched the first episode of I’m Running Sainsbury’s on Channel 4. The branded content programme followed the story of Sainsbury’s shop floor worker Becky Craze and her inspirational initiaitive to retail ‘Family Food for a Fiver’ in one bag, ready to pick up off the shelf and head straight to check-out. A brilliant idea!

The staff initiative, to engage Sainsbury’s workers across the country, allowed our girl Becky to pitch her idea to the Sainsbury’s board and see it all the way through to implementation.  Employee engagement probably doesn’t get better - and you get to be on the telly!

I lift my hat off to Sainsbury’s for being so bold and brave, to really give their employees a voice and chance to shine. It was a real shame that Becky’s fantastic idea didn’t take off - for anyone who watched, I think the chicken pasta would have cut the mustard - but no doubt she’ll be a success if she keeps that creeping pessimism in check.

We’ll see what happens next week when Brenda hits Sainsbury’s suited and booted in Holborn with her idea (brace yourselves people I think she may cause a storm!)

By Caroline Ayling on June 3rd, 2009

Tags: Brand marketing, Branded content, Employee engagement

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The first thing I noticed on arrival at Wembley was the smell.  The second thing I noticed and the bane of my bank holiday weekend was the fact the inner workings of the stadium are a labyrinth; complete with secret doorways and lifts that lead to everywhere you don’t want to go.   Amazingly the 90,000 capacity stadium can be evacuated in twelve minutes which shows that the labyrinth design works, not only if you have a PhD in quantum physics but also in emergencies.  This was the second year the Coca-Cola Football League Play-Offs have been staged at the new stadium and as a ‘Play-Offs virgin’ I got to see what a great event it is for the first time.  193,885 fans travelling thousands of miles to watch their team try and grasp promotion in the final game of the season. 

Burnley v Sheffield United

The majority of Coca-Cola’s experiential activity this year was focused on Olympic Way; the route from the tube to the stadium.  Fans had the chance to receive a video message via Bluetooth from their team’s manager (which they could then download from Coke Zone), and also a message telling them about Coke’s other activity – the Coca-Cola Fan Cam.  At the Fan Cam marquees, fans could record a message of support for their club, the best of which were shown on the big screen at half time. To reward the fans who couldn’t make it to Wembley a Coca-Cola TV advert was created for each day of the Play-Offs.  The ads (which were shown before kick-off on Sky Sports each day), featured the relevant team’s fans describing what their clubs mean to them.   I believe this is an advertising first. 

Some fantastic goals were scored over the weekend, particularly in the League 1 game between Millwall and Scunthorpe.  The best part of the weekend was having the opportunity to walk onto the pitch at the end of each game to hand the winners their ‘We’re Going Up’ t-shirts.  After working so hard for 90 minutes in 90°F, and indeed working hard all season, it was great to see the elation on the faces of the players. 

At the end of each day it was back to the hotel and it’s extraordinary clientele – the cast of Britain’s Got Talent, whose shrieking in the hotel bar was certainly on a par with the smell of the Wembley Stadium plumbing.  Overall it was a fantastic experience, a scorching weekend and some great memories that will stay with me forever (providing I don’t spend any more time in a bar with the Football League!).

By Erica Hodges on June 2nd, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Branded content, Event management consultants, Experiential marketing, Football, Football Sponsorship, Media, Mobile, Sponsorship, Synergy, Television

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I’ve been in plenty of creative meetings recently. Creative sessions to me are brilliant: lots of enthusiasm, energy, ideas and the best thing is you can’t be wrong (often!)  One of my favourite things is how fresh and innovative they can be. However, in the last year or so, one thing always seems to come up; flash mobbing. Now I’m not opposed to it - quite the opposite if you see below - but I don’t think it works for every brand.

Hats off to T-Mobile who reignited the trend once again at Christmas.  I’m sure you’ll have read about it and seen the ad but if not take a look below:

A quite brilliant intro to the use of flash mobbing, I’m sure you’ll agree.  Now for my new favourite, one I’ve just been sent today.  This is from NY400, an initiative set up to celebrate 400 years of friendship between the Netherlands and the USA.  If you’re in a hurry skip the first 30 seconds, but well worth a watch.

Not right for everyone maybe, but definitely right for some brands and this one certainly got me thinking about going Dutch.  So next time we have a creative meeting and the ‘flash mob’ gem pops up we’ll be giving it some thought. This piece demonstrates beautifully that you can still be innovative with a concept that’s been used time and time again.

By Ben Wilkinson on April 7th, 2009

Tags: Advertising, Brand marketing, Branded content, Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, Flash mobbing, Media, Music, Television, Viral Marketing, YouTube

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