In 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union in what has come to be known as Brexit, a decision that divided the nation. Three years later and people on both sides of the argument had had enough of the daily chaos and uncertainty surrounding the Brexit negotiations, which is a topic of constant conversation on TV, social media and amongst society in general.

Paddy Power, the UK and Ireland’s largest betting house, wanted to break through all the Brexit noise, connecting with users and fans and making new ones in the process. And they wanted to do in in a way that would shake things up enough to get the brand noticed when the only thing anyone was talking about was Brexit.

We broke through all the Brexit talk by giving people a place to take a break from it: The Brexit Bunker, an offshore fortress between England and France where one lucky Brit and a guest could win a chance to go and escape all the Brexit chatter. On the bunker, they were supplied with all they needed to ride out the Brexit storm, and isolated from any mention of the “B-word”, giving them the one thing they can’t get on the outside: some much needed peace of mind.

We teamed up with legendary ex-footballer Eric Cantona (a Frenchman much beloved in the UK) to present the Bunker and launch the competition to win a stay there. And to keep the conversation going, we released a series of Brexit Survival Guide videos and loads of other content, giving the UK something to talk, and laugh, about besides Brexit: The Brexit Bunker.

Insight: People in the UK needed a break from the Brexit chaos and non-stop talk about it.

Message: The Brexit Bunker: A place to take shelter from the constant bombardment of Brexit chatter.

In order to gain empathy with our target (people throughout the UK but more specifically, +25 football fans), in the executions we relied entirely on local insights (referencing British food, culture, politics and even some of Cantona’s most memorable controversies), poked fun at politicians who the public was annoyed with for their handling of Brexit negotiations and used humor to make light of the whole situation. This resulted in mass sharing and earned media.

The use of Eric Cantona as spokesperson was also central to our strategy. As a controversial ManchesterUnited star, he is as much loved in the UK for his football skills as for his outspokenness and well-known by the brand’s mainly football betting customers

We launched the campaign at the height of the Brexit madness (just 10 days before the UK was set to leave the EU on March 29,2019) and focused our efforts on Twitter, where much of the Brexit conversation was taking place.

We released the campaign advert on March 19th on YouTube and Twitter with a CTA inviting people to take part in the contest, accompanied by a dedicated website featuring additional content, videos, gifs and images to be shared via social media. We accompanied this with a banner campaign on political and football-related websites and sent press releases to media outlets. On the following days we released 3 Brexit Survival Guide videos and shared more content with the brand’s followers.

After the winner was chosen, we brought him and his wife by train and boat to the bunker for 2 days and later shared videos and images of their experience.

The betting brand took a gamble by weighing in on the controversial topic of Brexit, and it paid off brilliantly. The Brexit Bunker was trending topic in the UK Twitter (featuring on the Picadilly Circus giant screen) and the campaign was covered extensively in media throughout Britain and Europe, with the campaign being praised for its relevancy, cleverness and humour and Cantona for his role in it. Quantifiable results include:

-26 million impacts on launch day

-15 million unique impacts (25% of the UK)

-7 million total video views across all channels

-45% video completion rate of launch video (for a 2:30 video!)

-400,000 interactions on Twitter.

-65% increase in positive brand sentiment during the campaign

-45,000 visits to our website, brexitbunker.eu

-Wide coverage in major British and Irish online media

-Featured on BBC (Breakfast show)

-Full page, unpaid coverage in the print version of the Irish Daily Star