Fitness First

This month there’s not been a lot bouncing on the trampoline of news about which a column dedicated to the subject of broadcast sponsorship can get very excited - unless the absorbing world of kitchen towels grabs you in which case you’ll be pleased to learn that Plenty are sponsoring the new series of How Clean is your House? Mercifully however, there was a degree of confusion in the marketing press the other day about the new title sponsor of The X Factor which piqued my curiosity.
First a press release from Fremantle Media announced their new action packed sponsorship and activation package with Talk Talk – including an impressive array of customer engagement vehicles including X Factor parties, tickets to the live shows and a chance for viewers to create ‘bright dance’ graffiti for broadcast during the break bumpers. All good stuff and we’ll no doubt all have an opinion on the final executions when they air later this year.
But a few days later, in Marketing, Guy Douglass of design firm FLB commented that he was in awe of OXO sponsoring the same show. How odd! Could ‘The mighty atom’ once again be stealing the limelight? Certainly Mr Douglass thought so. And if he’d been right, he’d have been right (if you see what I mean). If OXO had been the new sponsor it would have been a smart (if expensive) move on many levels.
Putting aside the obvious typographical similarity between the names of the TV show and the brand (indeed OXO have even changed the shape of the familiar cube into an X) the fact that families are more likely to sit down together to watch The X Factor than they are to enjoy a meal around the same table would appear to be a good basis on which to build a rationale for sponsorship during early evening Saturday prime time. To be picky, perhaps Britain’s Got Talent would have been the better show for pure variety and family appeal but still the association would merit consideration.
But the sad truth is that OXO aren’t sponsoring The X factor at all. What they’re actually doing is looking for a group (apparently there’s no such thing as an OXO family anymore) with the ‘OXO Factor’ to make a short beefy homemade commercial using a pre-prepared script. Consumers then upload their witty 30 seconds of footage which will then be voted on by the public and the best will be shown during an ad break in the final of The X Factor TV show. A neat idea extremely well executed online and with a variety of funny clips on how to act and direct TV commercials - no doubt supported amply on pack and in store (but I’m afraid I’ve not been to the supermarket to find out). It’s not sponsorship I know but it is a great creative promotional idea put together with such great attention to detail that you know the team responsible was passionate and had huge fun making it happen. In fact, it’s this kind of creative thinking that should be supporting broadcast sponsorship; it uses original content to entertain, engage and reinforce brand values using a wide range of response channels.
If I’m honest, I was rather hoping that Mr Douglass hadn’t got it wrong. With great ideas like this OXO need a good platform from which to launch their campaign. I’m sure Talk Talk have the budget to make their huge X Factor property sing for them - and the audience match will be spot on of course - but will the big spend be matched by well executed big ideas that stitch both customers and viewers into the very fabric of the brand? Anyone can write a big cheque.
Whichever is the most appropriate sponsor of this TV goliath is a matter of opinion; ‘fit’ between a brand and a programme is a very subjective thing. And as we all know sponsorship is effective only when people can make a connection between the two. It either works for you or it doesn’t. But the important thing is to get it right. It’s the first thing on the list.
The good news is that people will try very hard to make a connection (they want to because it’s part of a programme they appreciate). The bad news is that if the connection is unsuccessful it will be ignored and possibly antagonise. It’s very easy to see how a poor execution can quickly become an irritant when you consider a programme’s frequency – perhaps 4 times in a half hour soap which when multiplied by the number of episodes in a series begins to look like torture.
To this point, the other day I came across a good article (available free and online) by Mike Hall of Hall & Partners in Admap called Broadcast Sponsorship: How does it work? We all like to think we know but the article features research findings, ideas on how to measure success and some interesting cases to make his points. I’d recommend going online today and downloading your own copy.
Well worth a read on the train home tonight.