We were challenged to use bwin's top-level football sponsorship assets to create valuable content to be used in local markets that ensured a seamless sponsorship approach. The objectives were as follows:

- Increase social media followers and engagement on channels.

- Secure brand exposure in online media on high profile sites.

Our response was to create, produce and execute a series of videos using talent from Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Marseille, Anderlecht and Real Madrid. The overriding theme was 'Play for Real', demonstrating skills in a unique way that appealed to global football fans – showing world-class players in a way not normally seen by supporters. The end product would be a series of six videos, each featuring some of the clubs' best players, that were engaging enough to be shared by football fans - thus strengthening bwin's identity as a 'go to' destination for quality football content; both in terms of production and talent.

£160,000 was invested in the project, split between costs and agency fees. The return on investment was evident across all client objectives. The videos were directly responsible for gaining an additional 25,000 Facebook fans for bwin and a further 10,000 new twitter followers. In traditional PR terms 185 pieces of coverage were achieved, 179 of which were on online sites and all featured prominent bwin branding and messaging. The six videos generated over 3,000,000 views on YouTube – none of which were paid for.

For each video, our first step was to gather insight that would help our content resonate with both international and local audience.

With the insight gathered, we then had to apply it to our creative process. As well as making sure we were appealing to our target audience (as outlined above), we had to ensure that the ideas were viable to film and also had to gain approval from the clubs involved.

Though exceptional content is crucial, ensuring that the videos were issued with the right tone and at the right time was equally important. Before approaching media, we had to get the timing right. Videos were released at peak news moments (e.g. around key fixtures/transfer deadline days) to ensure maximum media interest.

The content was hosted on bwin's YouTube channel and promoted via bwin's Facebook and Twitter channels.

From a social media perspective, the videos were directly responsible for gaining an additional 25,000 Facebook fans for bwin and 10,000 new Twitter followers.

Over 3,000,000 views on the bwin YouTube channel provided a clear indication of strengthening bwin's brand association with top European football clubs. As well as being hosted on bwin's YouTube channel, the video content, via strong visual branding, left no doubt that bwin were the authors.

Further evidence of strengthening bwin's brand association was seen via the coverage achieved, which also served to fulfill the third objective of securing brand exposure in online media on high profile sites. 179 pieces of coverage were achieved in online media, with each video receiving at least one piece of coverage on a national news site. The traditional media coverage values also show strong return of investment. Total spend was £160,000, PRV £1,468,870, giving an ROI of just under 10:1.