General information
Country: Ireland
Company: RTÉ & PHD
Client: Baileys
Sector: Alcohol
Time Period: May 2023
Media: TV, radio, online branded content, online display, social media
Campaign objectives: Baileys wanted to bring people together and celebrate Ireland’s diversity by featuring Baileys at all Eurovision touchpoints on RTÉ. The marketing objectives were to drive awareness of Baileys’ Eurovision sponsorship and to position Baileys as an inclusive brand, delivering against brand metrics. Additionally, the business objectives aimed to drive positive share gain in the off-trade outside of the seasonal peak of Christmas and deliver penetration growth in the on-trade.
Context
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international music competition where countries from Europe (and beyond) participate by submitting original songs, which are then performed and voted on to determine the winner. It is one of the largest Live TV events in Europe each year with almost 200 million viewers. There are a number of official European sponsors of Eurovision, with the main broadcast sponsor being Moroccanoil. The activity for Moroccanoil typically consist of broadcast idents around the live coverage.
In 2023, Baileys signed a global deal to partner with the Eurovision Song Contest.
Baileys, also an official sponsor wanted to drive awareness of its event sponsorship. The partnership with Baileys was the first time RTÉ created a cross-media bespoke content activation for a Eurovision sponsor.
Viewership for the competition in Ireland has steadily grown in recent years, with a 30% increase since 2019, attracting a growing diverse and inclusive audience. However, a global partnership alone wouldn’t move the dial for Baileys; local activation was essential for success.
Creative Minds
In order to drive awareness of Baileys’ sponsorship (in a relatively short timeframe) RTÉ created and delivered a suite of activity across its Radio, Digital and TV platforms.
On radio this was in the form of Baileys on-air competitions on music station 2fm, offering listeners the chance to win prizes by answering Eurovision trivia quiz live on-air. The overall winner even got the chance to win tickets to the Eurovision.
On digital, RTE partnered with Baileys to c-create a Eurovision themed show exclusively for RTE’s Player BVOD platform called Eurovision Mixed. The show featured upcoming Irish artists covering a selection of previous Eurovision winning songs. Content from the show was also seeded out via social with Baileys branding. The show was presented by well known Irish drag queen and influencer ‘Davina Devine’.
Finally, to tap into the appointment-to-view, and sense of communion around Eurovision, RTE created contextual Ad Executions that were placed in all breaks for both Eurovision Semi Finals and the Eurovision Final. These Ads were also presented by Davina Devine and consisted of a series of Eurovision trivia questions at the top of each break, followed by the answers at the end of each break. They were designed to extend the ‘Eurovision party feeling’ into the Ad Breaks.
This was the first time RTÉ had created bespoke branded content for all platforms for a brand around Eurovision. The campaign was developed and delivered by RTÉ & PHD Ireland, with the RTÉ Sponsorship & Partnerships Team leading the project. PHD Ireland also played a crucial role in devising the strategy that placed Baileys at the heart of the Eurovision party. The strategic framework focused on three key stages, building across the month of May 2023.
- The first phase, “Awareness”, aimed to put Baileys at the heart of the conversation around Eurovision by driving awareness of the partnership through high-reach and impactful display and radio content.
- The second phase, “Anticipation”, involved Baileys fuelling excitement for the event by creating bespoke AV content that captured the essence of communion and diversity synonymous with Eurovision, tapping into the rich vein of Eurovision nostalgia mixed with modern-day inclusiveness.
- The final phase, “Communion”, celebrated the national Eurovision occasion by seamlessly integrating Baileys into the Eurovision experience through immersive takeovers during the live broadcasts, enhancing the viewing experience.
Campaign video
Results
Each element of the sponsorship over-delivered on the KPIs set. Display ads delivered over 1.8 million impressions, and a promotion on 2FM (RTÉ radio station) generated over 4,000 entries, significantly higher than the average entry level, driving awareness in the first phase. The RTÉ Player Original Eurovision Mixed with Baileys was streamed 7,700 times, with content used in TV spots and on social media to generate anticipation for the event. The innovative live broadcast ad takeovers reached 3.1 million viewers, with 21.35% of an all-adult audience seeing the sponsorship takeovers at least once.
Baileys’ first year partnering with Eurovision saw strong brand awareness, particularly in Ireland. The sponsorship received overwhelmingly positive sentiment and significantly boosted Baileys’ brand metrics. The Eurovision partnership led to increased market share and brand penetration for Baileys, especially outside the Christmas season. The brand saw a notable peak in off-trade spirits share in May and year-on-year growth in overall penetration, demonstrating the success of its cocktail-focused content.