Finding a way to produce fun, relevant content throughout the Tour was hard - Team Sky were in training lock down, up a mountain in Tenerife. We were told we could have no access to the riders during the race itself, but we managed to negotiate just two hours with them, six weeks before.

To address the access issue and to ensure we produced content that would be fun and sharable, we created “Mini Team Sky” – an entertaining content series starring miniature versions of the Team Sky riders and the head coach.

A six-episode series, which saw Mini Team Sky learn all about the race under the watchful eyes of the pro-riders. Covering things like hydration, teamwork and aerodynamics… ice recovery baths and strict diet regimes. We tackled the complex aspects of race that people didn't understand, in an entertaining way to appeal to a broad audience.

As each episode went live, the series achieved increasing momentum, receiving thousands of shares on social media and coverage in the press and on blogs across Europe.

So, when Team Sky won the Tour, we knew that if we moved quickly we could take the opportunity to make one final bonus film. Within 12 hours of their historic win, we were able to get our Minis in front of the riders themselves, mainly because they loved the series and wanted to meet their minis versions (!)

The final film was a Q&A, where Mini Team Sky got to ask the riders questions that the media would never dare ask.. things like going to the toilet, kissing girls whether they fart. The result – a two-minute film – was highly entertaining, and as it was Team Sky’s first appearance post win, it attracted immediate attention both in the media and online.

‘Mini Team Sky’ was an engaging, entertaining creative vehicle designed to reach fans and casual riders on social media, throughout the 2016 Tour de France. It smashed client expectations and is now used as an internal benchmark for excellence in social media.

The series trailer and the 6 episodes achieved over 20 million views in four weeks.

The Q&A film achieved over 12 million views in just 3 days.

It spent two days on the Daily Mail home page, and the series received extensive media coverage, with 36 national and international media outlets embedding our content on their news sites.

Post campaign research undertaken by Sky’s research partner at the end of 2016 showed a 12% increase in positivity towards Team Sky in social media and a 14% uplift in awareness of Sky’s association with Team Sky and the Tour de France.