Foto: Lars Olav Dybvig
Top Gear was ready with a new season. With a target audience that kept getting harder and harder to reach, it was vital to think new. With a concept full of both speed and well -thought out strategic work, we were able to reach the target audience with the key message and create massive engagement.
Initial situation
Top Gear is known to most people. However, in Norway the show airs on one of the newest channels in the market, BBC Brit. At the same time, statistics show that Top Gear’s core target group, men under the age of 40, watch less television than before. Thus, the first challenge was to reach the target group via other channels, to encourage them to tune in to watch the new season of Top Gear on BBC Brit.
Objectives
To create awareness and engagement, but also highlight the channel and TX info of Top Gear in all communication. A big part of the launch was to reach out to young women as well as the main target group.
Implementation
To reach a target group that is increasingly hard to reach via traditional media, we decided to partner up with a group of Youtubers within the gaming/motoring segment, with a younger and more loyal audience compared to traditional media. That way we could reach a narrower target audience, as well as a wider audience through traditional PR activities.
Four male and one female Youtuber were asked to compete against each other in the car game Forza Motorsport 7, on the replica of Top Gear’s Test Track. In addition to the competition, they highlighted the channel BBC Brit and the TX time of Top Gear in their videos. They also hosted a competition, where the followers could win Top Gear merchandise if they left a comment stating the channel and TX time of Top Gear, to ensure that everyone picked up the key message.
We also had the opportunity to fly the Youtuber Jottersen to London to be part of a Top Gear taping.
Results
The Youtube collaborations, as well as traditional PR activities such as press interviews and distribution of press material in combination with tailored video content, led to:
- Great engagement among the Youtubers’ followers. The Youtubers had a total of 180 000 subscribers, and the videos received over 500 comments repeating the key message.
- The new season of Top Gear got attention in some of the largest media in Norway, such as the prime time talk show Skavlan on NRK, and several stories in top tier outlets such as VG and Side3.
- A total reach of 6 million, which in turn lead to solid ratings for Top Gear on BBC Brit.
Awards
Digital Communication Awards 2018
Finalist in the category "Product Campaign"Digital Communication Awards 2018
Finalist in the category "Event & Experimental marketing"European Excellence Awards 2018
Finalist in the category "Launch"
