Show me the money: using sponsorship and campaigns to maximize marketing communications

In a recent study we examined campaign performance for one of our clients in the ‘whole whiskey and bourbon’ market, delving into our BrandVue data to pinpoint ROI against a set of dynamics in the marketing mix.

Data showed that brand awareness for the brand grew over 2021, bucking a declining trend for many of its rivals. In particular, brand awareness increased during our client’s key winter campaign period, while simultaneously declining for key competitors. This seemed at odds with advertising recall only marginally increasing for the brand during that time, while being lower in absolute terms than its peers in the market.

Our thinking was that either our client’s marketing activity was doing a better job of striking a chord among those who remembered it compared to the competition, or it was succeeding at a subconscious level among consumers, placing it more firmly on people’s radars.

Looking at BrandVue data, we can see that buzz (noise) and brand love rose dramatically during this period.

With further analysis we were able to pinpoint how different comms activity worked in harmony to strengthen our client’s brand position during the key winter trading period.

Our BrandVue platform also highlighted that an initiative our client took to sponsor the Discovery channel from the summer of 2021 hadn’t achieved a significant shift in brand consideration, with it hovering below the market average up until November 2021.

However, a clear uplift in brand consideration was seen once its winter advertising campaign launched at the beginning of November. This is when the dynamics of different comms strategies started to play out.

While both the client’s TV sponsorship and ATL spot campaign were running simultaneously, key brand health metrics shifted positively. Associations with special occasions, after-work drinks and Christmas/winter all rose ahead of the competition from a previously trailing position. Consideration of the brand also peaked during that period.

Matching campaign objectives to ROI

An obvious barometer of whether advertising has been effective or not: did it shift the metrics it was designed to do?

On the back of shifts in brand consideration and other KPI successes, an initial interpretation would have been that the introduction of the spot campaign had done all the hard work.

However, while consideration of the brand peaked for both those who were aware of the sponsorship and those who were aware of the advertising during that period, the incremental uplift between pre-campaign and the height of the campaign was higher among those who were aware of the sponsorship than it was among those aware of the advertising. This showed that not only had the advertising worked well among those who saw it, but there was also a positive knock-on effect on the sponsorship side of comms investment.

Take a look at how the BrandVue drinks flourished by demographic in this Flourish Chart.

The sponsorship and spot campaign combined to increase penetration across demographics outside of its core heartland of Scotland; in particular for males, those aged under 50 years old, and those living in London, South and the North (excluding Scotland) in line with campaign objectives.

The upshot is that by using BrandVue data we were able to show how well the TV sponsorship and ATL spot campaign had worked together to support strategic brand objectives. It also enabled our client to understand how the different elements of each campaign worked, proving that integrating sponsorship programs into your marketing strategy can really pay dividends.

Our BrandVue tool captures data across critical marketing and company performance and reputation topics: market intelligence, audience understanding, brand performance, marketing performance, customer acquisition and customer retention. Click here for more information.