The Ryder Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, with Europe battling the USA over four days of matchplay golf. For numerous brands, it presents an opportunity to engage a massive consumer audience.

Paddy Power, the UK’s leading betting company, is one such brand.

The challenge was to rule the other brands and dominate the news agenda (online and offline). Whilst official partners were spending hundreds of thousands to activate their sponsorship and Paddy Power’s competitors were going big on advertising - we had a relatively tiny budget of £40k (fees and activation).

We had to get people talking about Paddy Power in order to get them betting with Paddy Power. PR was the best platform to do this - if we could get the mass media talking about us then consumers would too.

Our strategy was simple; get the UK backing Team Europe in the most headline grabbing, unique and shocking way possible.

So it came to be that Nigel Farage, the anti-Europe leader of a political party whose provocations about getting the UK out of Europe make front-page news on a daily basis, for one week only, backed Europe. As Paddy Power’s ‘Ambassador for Europe’, Farage would create a mock political broadcast outlining the reasons to support Europe whilst poking fun at Team USA.

The campaign delivered huge business impact for Paddy Power, masses of coverage, an unprecedented share of voice and the type of positive sentiment that we hope Farage never experiences again.

By creating a piece of content so unexpected and shocking we knew we would capture media attention and get consumers talking.

We created a mock political broadcast where Farage went against everything he stands for (only eight months before a UK General Election) and called for the UK to support Europe - and simultaneously poke fun at the Americans.

Once we had the amazing content the final execution was brilliantly simple. Show the world.

We created a hashtag (#SwingForEurope) to lead the conversation. On launch day, this was amplified by generating debate about the Europe vs. USA rivalry through Paddy Power’s social channels. #SwingForEurope, was already trending in the UK before we even released the content.

With consumers engaged we released the shock and awe - our video of Farage. Media couldn’t cover the story quickly enough and consumer conversation went into overdrive.

377 pieces of coverage - including every UK national newspaper and major broadcaster.

The video achieved over 100,000 organic views in 24 hours. BMW, an official sponsor, only had 4,800 views for its tournament videos.

#SwingForEurope trended throughout launch with sentiment 90% positive - the Ryder Cup as a tournament only achieved 72% positive. On Facebook, we reached 380,000 people. Dwell time on Paddy Power’s blog rose by +400%.

Our share-of-voice smashed other bookmakers - achieving 84% in print and nearly 100% online.

Compared to 2012 there was a 10% increase in bets placed and a 10% increase in turnover.