As headline sponsors of the Television BAFTAs, Virgin TV wanted to cement their entertainment credibility amongst TV superfans by doing more than just standard coverage. Fans are at the forefront of the current TV revolution. They have control, and they use it. They don’t want to be constrained by linear TV schedules, they want to consume content whenever and wherever they want – on any device. We were briefed to make fans feel part of the biggest night in TV – from the red carpet to the backstage. Our objective was to exceed expectations, to celebrate fandom and bring them ever closer to the action. We gave fans innovative, engaging, exclusive access to the BAFTAs, in a way they’d never experienced before. We put them front and centre as our exclusive plus ones, inviting them to get their virtual glad rags on to experience the night just like a star.

Our creative was informed by our strategy to give TV superfans an experience they would never forget. In making fans our exclusive plus ones, our campaign brought them on the entire BAFTAs journey, from the red carpet to backstage with the winners. We did not want fans to be sitting at home on their sofas passively double-screening. Instead, we had them get in their finest (virtual) glad rags; commenting, liking, sharing, exploring, voting and celebrating with their favourite celebrities. We kept our plus ones engaged throughout the night where they …

…greeted the stars as they arrived, through our bespoke Last-Minute Mirror…

…were transported to the middle of the action via our world-first Red Carpet 360+ LIVE experience....

…joined us backstage as the winners scribbled their Winning Words for the gamified content.

Awards shows broadly do the same things and almost all of it is passive for the viewer. So, our goal was to go above and beyond, to celebrate fandom and bring them ever closer to the action. We gave fans innovative, engaging, exclusive access to the BAFTAs, in a way they’d never experienced before.

Our social strategy is all about ‘fanning the flames of fandom.’ We know that the best way to appeal to entertainment fans is to give them exactly what they want. Enter our creative proposition, ‘as if the fans covered the BAFTAs themselves’. By asking ourselves this question throughout the concepting phase, we managed to develop an end-to-end campaign that put the superfans at the heart of everything – and made them our exclusive plus ones.

Before to the awards, fans became judges on The Virgin TV Must-See Moment of 2017 with native social voting.

On the actual night, stars greeted fans at the top of the red carpet via our bespoke Last-Minute Mirror. Equipped with a built-in screen and camera, it beamed personalised, reactive messages to celebs, prompting spontaneous (and flirtatious) interaction through our social platforms.

We drove fans to our Red Carpet 360+ LIVE experience through our social channels. Our three discreetly positioned, live 360° cameras along the carpet included reactive, constantly updated facts about the stars popping up as they stopped to pose for the paps.

The exclusive access didn’t stop there. Fans joined us backstage where the winners scribbled their Winning Words for the gamified, reactive social posts before they hit the press line. Followers could engage with celebs and their intimate, humorous responses as soon as they picked up their awards.

We achieved our goal of making these BAFTAs bigger, better and more engaging than last year’s. Indeed, our dynamic campaign full of tech innovation generated 21.5M impressions, 6M video views and 1.9M engagements – a whopping 34% increase on last year’s activity.

Our 360° livestream resonated with our audience by giving them a deeper and more immersive experience. Users viewed a total of 1,114 hours of the livestream, even though it was only live for an hour. On average, they spent a ridiculous 7 minutes hopping between the cameras, showing they couldn’t get enough of the engaging digital experience we made specifically for them.

Adoption of new sponsorship packages and 100% SOV takeover products ensured we were at the heart of the BAFTA conversation, and our activity garnered 6 press publications.

Our campaign managed to bring our exclusive plus ones closer to the stars and the action than ever before.