In January 2013, David Beckham, the most famous English football player, was transferred to the French club Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer. The day after, Eurostar (the high speed railway service connecting Paris with London) bounced back on this much debated news and launched a promotional campaign making fun of the ridiculously low price of the transfer: only 88€, which is the price of a Eurostar ticket from London to Paris.

The two versions of the ad had been home-made during the night so we were able to launch them on the following morning at 10AM. They were sent to bloggers, newsites and shared on social networks. And everything went according to the plan: a massive buzz started during the day on thousands of sites (sports, communication, but mostly general information), blogs, Twitter and Facebook feeds, and lasted on for several days.

The results: over 200.000€ of earned media for Eurostar, with no media investment.

This ad created a massive buzz on thousands of blogs and newspaper. It became the most tweeted topic in the hour after the announcement and Eurostar Facebook page got 300% more fans in 24hours (from 56 000 to 163 700 = + 107 700 fans). In total, over 200.000€ of earned media to the brand, all with €0 media investment.

Moreover, it has been a real buzz abroad, in Europe (UK, Spain, etc.) and even in the USA.

Here are some links :

http://adage.com/section/best-ads/695

http://lbbonline.com/news/eurostar-capitalises-on-beckham-transfer/

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/04/eurostar-and-clm-bbdo-uses-beckhams

-paris-st-germain-signing-promote-low-ticket

http://www.ozap.com/actu/pub-eurostar-s-amuse-de-l-arrivee-de-david-beckha

m-a-paris/445353

http://www.deplacementspros.com/Eurostar-s-amuse-du-transfert-de-David-Bec

kham-au-PSG_a19560.html

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/pub-eurostar-samuse-larrivée-david-beckham-paris-

132020907.html

http://lamiseajour.com/2013/02/01/eurostar-sempare-du-phenomene-beckham/

http://www.jeanmarc-sylvestre.com/2013/02/04/les-3-buzz-eco-a-ne-pas-manque

r#more

http://creativity-online.com/work/eurostar-david-beckham/30648

http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/1169542/eurostar-capitalises-beckham-publicity-ad/

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1169542/eurostar-capitalises-beckham-publicity-ad/

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/02/04/eurostar-and-clm-bbdo-uses-beckhams-paris-st-germain-signing-promote-low-ticket