An Post & Cycling
The Brief:
Since January 2008, An Post has been the main sponsor of the Sean Kelly Cycling Team, a professional racing team comprised both of young Irish and European talent, and based at the Sean Kelly Academy outside Brussels, and an official sponsor of the Tour of Ireland (TOI).
In 2009, An Post’s involvement with Irish cycling was expanded to include a grassroots initiative in association with the Irish Sports Council. The An Post Cycle Series, five events across the country between May and September, aimed to encourage “lapsed” riders to join with regular enthusiasts and get on their bikes and out into the community.
WHPR’s brief was to devise an engaging communications campaign that would drive awareness for the An Post sponsorship of Irish cycling across the three pillars.
The Response:
Strong brand equity and awareness had already been established for An Post and cycling following the 2008 campaign. The challenge was to take that to a new level, to give the sponsorship its own unique personality, and drive ownership and engagement around key events; making An Post synonymous with cycling in Ireland.
Given the changing media landscape, digital media and blogger engagement was a fundamental part of the strategy – leveraging existing online platforms for cycling and creating an An Post cycling twitter and Facebook accounts to extend the reach and add credibility to the messages.
A significant emphasis was placed on radio, as an essential support tool to drive engagement and participation around the Cycle Series and TOI events.
A magnifier effect was employed TTL with an integrated marketing plan delivering consistency and efficiencies of scale across the marketing mix.
The PR Programme focused on three distinct campaigns to support (1) The Sean Kelly team (2) Tour of Ireland Sponsorship and (3) An Post Cycle Series
In the view of Onside Sponsorship, the sponsorship is “punching way above its weight for return on investment”.
After just two years, awareness of An Post’s involvement with cycling sponsorships at the end of 2009 was 35% for Tour of Ireland and 32% for the An Post Sean Kelly cycling team.
Recall for Tour of Ireland was 40% and the Sean Kelly Cycling team was 34%
Follow An Post cycling on Facebook: facebook.com/AnPostCycling
