Sports Direct / Cork GAA / Wavemaker
Rebel Evolution.
Details
February 2021 opened a new chapter in the history of Cork GAA as Sports Direct took over as its main sponsor for the next five years. Working with Wavemaker, Cork Beo was picked out as the perfect match to amplify the partnership on a hyper-local level. Speaking directly to the people of Cork, over two weeks in February, we came up with ‘Rebel Evolution’ to position Sports Direct at the centre of the rebel county, building excitement and anticipation for the new 2021 partnership.
The approach
Engage & Excite
The campaign kicked off with a launch article about the new five-year partnership and showing off the new Sports Direct jersey. The engagement and excitement came from the ‘Rebel Evolution’ consisting of interactive quiz and poll features.
The quiz focused on how well the Cork Beo audiences knew the past Cork GAA jerseys and the poll was an opportunity for users to vote for their favourite Cork GAA jersey of all time. To sustain reader engagement around the campaign, a social competition went live in the second week of the campaign and over five days we gave away two of the new Sports Direct Cork GAA jerseys. The competition was a massive success as everyone wanted to get their hands on the new jersey
Pay Homage
We created a highly engaging, beautifully presented online reader experience through our shorthand storyboard product, taking the user through the history of the Cork GAA jersey.
A branded sponsorship bar affixed to the Cork Beo website masthead was placed on every page of Cork Beo for the duration of the campaign acting as a direct click-through to the ‘Rebel Evolution’ storyboard.
Reach
On day one, a HPTO creative officially launched the campaign on Cork Beo and other high impact display units lived on Cork Beo for the rest of the campaign, which had two functions:
1. to direct users to the Sports Direct website; and
2. direct users to the Rebel Evolution shorthand.
Results
Overall the campaign was a massive success and overachieved on all KPIs.