How Castrol had the drive to succeed at the World Cup

This case study outlines the strategy developed and implemented by Flourish Creative for Castrol.

Castrol, as a sponsor of the 2010 World Cup, wanted to celebrate the first African World Cup, and expended their ticket allocation on 600 of their highest-spending customers. Flourish Creative was briefed to create an event that showcased the ‘performance’ of the tournament, whilst highlighting Castrol’s brand pillars: innovation and technology. The campaign was designed to create an opportunity to educate and entertain customers through a specially-created brand experience in South Africa. Client ObjectivesCastrol’s objectives were unusually relaxed; there were no objectives set for expenditure or income, and thanks to the ‘guest hospitality scheme’ employed, the number of attendees was almost guaranteed. Therefore the main objective for Flourish Creative was to create an experience which utilised technology in order to promote the Castrol brand and also to entertain the crowd; it had to link the story of the first African World Cup to the Castrol business, as well as build anticipation for the World Cup final the following evening.Implementation of StrategyThe event that was developed aimed to celebrate every aspect of the tournament itself, merging live performances from township children with South African performing legends such as Vicky Sampson, and placing them alongside interviews with footballing legends, and using projection-mapping technology to showcase and commemorate Africa’s first World Cup. The Witwatersrand University was used as an impressive background, and was able to be both a stage for the performers and a backdrop for the projections. Guests were accommodated to ensure comfort, and therefore satisfaction with the event. The story that Flourish Creative and Castrol aimed to tell was presented in four chapters, comprising the aspects of live performance and projections behind them. Chapter One celebrated a history of performance, including milestones from Castrol’s own performance history. Chapter Two outlined the road to the World Cup tournament, from the moment South Africa was announced as the host. Chapter Three looked back at the tournament with Castrol brand ambassadors that were associated with football, such as Arsene Wenger, were included with on-stage analysis of the football games, creating a fully merged campaign. Chapter Four used projections to look forward to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.Each ‘chapter’ was separated by a refreshment break, where guests could sample South African cuisine and get fully integrated with what the campaign wanted to offer.The results of this event strategy were:

• 600 guests attended the event
• 97% rated their experience ‘Excellent’ or ‘Very Good’
• 95% agreed that the event enabled them to get a better understanding of Castrol’s business

Client TestimonialsProof that Castrol were pleased with the success of the strategy is that Flourish Creative was asked by Castrol to use the same format again for another event. They stipulated that the same projection-mapping technology accompanied a cast of local performers to try and emulate the success of the previous campaign.One guest of the original South African event said, “What an event! You guys were wonderful hosts and we feel very privileged to have been part of the World Cup experience treated as First Class Citizens. Thank you for including me and my team in an absolutely memorable day for all of us! Castrol always go out of their way and do a 100% professional job and also personally host very well.”This case study won the Best International Event category at the UK Event Awards.