Our Work - Case Studies

Tesco Sport for Schools and Clubs was launched in September 2005 to get kids more active and trying new sports. Tesco customers receive one voucher for each £10 spent, which they give to their chosen school or sports club, to redeem for equipment and coaching.

Tesco enlisted three athlete ‘ambassadors’ - Paula Radcliffe, Frank Lampard and Jason Robinson - to appear in a multi-media campaign, and on in-store and in-school material.

The challenge Tesco set us was to build warmth for the scheme, and in turn increase purchase intent.
Paula Radcliffe playing rugby … capturing her ‘Have a Go’ attitude.
In order to generate emotional warmth for Tesco we decided to further capitalise on the stars’ involvement, by capturing the spirit of the scheme on film. We developed the campaign idea of ‘Have a Go’, showing kids that it’s OK if they are not immediately great at a sport, but with good coaching, equipment and a ‘Have a Go’ attitude it is possible to improve, become more active and, vitally, enjoy themselves.

We believed that ‘Have a Go’ could not be fully communicated through interruptive (Push) advertising alone. Real engagement comes when consumers ‘Pull’ messages in themselves. We persuaded Tesco to use Digital media to drive a brand message for the first time, with none of the comforts of promotional hooks.
We created ‘Have a Go’ footage for use across multiple digital platforms. We briefed sports marketing agency Octagon to create ‘Have a Go’ video content showing the three athletes, with kids, being coached at a two day event at the National Sports Centre, Bisham Abbey. Coaching sessions were delivered by senior national coaches. We also captured the athletes’ ‘top tips’ and special events e.g. the first-ever world class egg and spoon race - Paula cheated and Frank won!

The film ran on four digital platforms - a DVD sent to schools and sports clubs; tesco.com/sport; Tesco in-store TV; interactive TV (iTV).
iTV played a pivotal role. The DAL, created by Weapon7, invited viewers to see the stars in action and get their tips via two 60-second films.

We rejected all the usual mechanics to attract responses. No “free draw” or “free sample”, no longer cut or “making of the ad” video. Instead our pre-testing research confirmed that viewers would choose to spend a few minutes with the brand watching an entertaining and informative piece of film about the new scheme.
iTV successfully drove dramatic shifts in both the Tesco ‘feelgood’ factor and purchase intent.
411,000 homes interacted – far exceeding client expectations. And independent research proved that the Digital strategy had resoundingly met both objectives set by Tesco.


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