| |
| CLUB ENERGISE SPORT |
 |
Fuelling the Passion |
Agency:
Client:
Team:
|
Cawley Nea / TBWA
Club Energise Sport
Lynne Malone
Diane Tangey
Jimmy Murphy |
INTRODUCTION
Club Energise Sport is the marketing
success story of the year. In its
inaugural year, it outperformed the
market, outperformed its international
competitors and impressively exceeded
every measurable target. Club Energise
Sport has:
• Used advertising to leverage a
ground breaking sponsorship
arrangement that connects with the
core target audience (male 18-24)
• Catapulted the brand to the
number 2 position in the sports
drink category.
• Has stolen 14% market share
directly from Lucozade and 6%
from Powerade - its two key
international competitors (evident
in figure 2)
• Has been growing market share
(volume) at a rate of 151% since its
first advertising burst (See figure 3).
• 12 months ago Club Energise Sport
had 0% market share of the sports
drink market. As of July 2004, Club
Energise Sport owns 18.6% of the €37million sports category (AC
Nielsen JJ04). This 18.6% volume
share is valued at €6.9 million. This
was achieved with an advertising
spend of just 1 million Euro. The
brand has shown a 7:1 rate of
return on advertising investment to
the brand owner.
Michael McArdle, Marketing
Director of C&C (Ireland) Ltd. said "our
ambitions for this brand are
manifested in the scale and quality of
the advertising. We have no doubt
that it was the single most significant
variable in the unqualified success of
Club Energise Sport".
CONTEXT
The sports drink sector is the fastest growing category of the soft drinks market with a total category value of €37 million (AC Nielsen MAT JJ04). It has experienced extraordinary success with double-digit market growth of 21.6% (AC Nielsen MAT DJ04). In the summer of 2003, C&C (Ireland) Ltd.,
broadened its drinks portfolio by entering the sports drink category. |
Figure 1: Lucozade dominated the sports drink market at
81% market share June/Jul 2003 (AC Nielsen JJ03) |
THE CATEGORY
As is evident in Figure 1, the sports
drink category in Ireland is dominated
by international brands. In particular,
the market leader in the category,
Lucozade had been performing in a
league of its own, dominating 81% of
the market. (AC Nielsen JJ03). Having
pioneered the ‘science’ of sports drinks
in numerous campaigns over the past
decade, the credibility Lucozade had
earned and the brand loyalty it had
engendered over the years rendered
the marketplace a far from level
playing field. We knew from the
outset, the launch of Club EnergiseSport would be a ‘David versus Goliath’ scenario.
THE PRODUCT
The product, Club Energise Sport
was formulated by the C&C (Ireland)
Ltd. New Product Development team,
an international ingredient company
and Dr. Liam Hennessy. It is an isotonic
sports fuel that provides the body with
essential re-hydration. The product
offering was strong, however the task
it was charged with, taking on an
international market leader, was at
best a very difficult one.
VISION
The specific goals set out were:
• Meet sales target of 3.3 million
bottles in year 1
• Gain 8% share of market place in
year 1
• Have strong ad recall with target
market (in excess of 50% ad recall)
• Have strong brand consideration
levels with consumers, the
benchmark of long-term growth.
When launching the brand, we knew
that to seriously take on Lucozade, we
needed our communication to be
highly differentiated and motivating
to the core target. Lucozade Sport has
been synonymous with energy for
decades in Ireland and also with the‘science’ of sports energy since the
launch of Lucozade Sport.
Our ultimate long-term goal is for
Club Energise Sport to be the number
1 sports drink in Ireland.
SPORT SPONSORSHIP CONVENTIONS
Traditional sponsorship deals have
been struck by all major players with
the top soccer, rugby and athletics
stars. Accepted wisdom in sports
related communication is that the
bigger the star is on an international
stage, the better the endorsement.
Think Tiger, think Jonah Lomu, think
Beckham.
Although perhaps appropriate in
the international arena, this missed a
fundamental truth about Gaelic
games. Gaelic games are not ‘professional’ sports, they are grass
roots community sports, thus an ‘off the-
shelf’ international type
sponsorship arrangement would not
work. The Gaelic games/Club Energise
affiliation would have to be different.
DISRUPTION
Gaelic games – An unconventional
sponsorship
Club Energise Sport, an indigenous
Irish product was perfectly poised to
enter a legitimate arrangement with
our national sports. C&C (Ireland) Ltd.
partnered with the GPA (Gaelic Players
Association) in a ground-breaking
affiliation. A percentage of each case
of Club Energise Sport sold is to be
contributed to the GPA to foster the
future of the games at a club level.
The ‘sponsorship deal’ thus has
grass-root games development at its
core ensuring that Club Energise Sport
is more than just a sponsor and is
intrinsically linked to our national
games from club to county level.
In developing the creative
communication, we wanted to
celebrate the grass roots nature of this
sponsorship. Thus, the creative
thought as follows...
" Fuelling the Passion"
As we were launching a new
product, the message had to be simple.
We needed to communicate the Gaelic
games bond supported by the scientific
credentials of the brand. We also
wanted to build a brand message that
connected with consumers, both to
drive trial and engender loyalty.
The TV commercial’s premier
followed swiftly after the initial burst
of outdoor activity. Knowing that our
message of ‘Fuelling the Passion’ was
connecting with our target audience,
we wanted to further engender these
loyal followers and recruit more
consumers to the brand.
The Club Energise Sport story
captured the attention of the Irish
public. An array of press publications
printed stories or commented on the
launch of the commercial. ‘Breaking
Ball’, the leading Irish Gaelic games
programme, ran a 15 minute piece on
the ‘Making of the Ad’, which was
aired on national television.
THE MEDIA PLAN
The media solution played an
important role in connecting with the
audience in the same way the games
would. Outdoor was the key medium
to deliver on this effect. It allowed for
a number of key flexibilities to best
leverage the power of the
endorsement. Painstaking media
buying was critical to communicating
our message county by county. Thus
we ensured that our national
campaign was in effect a collection of
local campaigns featuring local heroes.
This local/national media approach
meant that:
1. Boundaries between counties were
discernable by local heroes in their
home county.
2. Inter-county matches allowed us to
produce posters with the county
team heroes ‘facing off’ against
each other in the run-up to big
matches.
3. Reflecting the success of the teams.
The more successful the teams and
the further they went in the
Championship, the more we ramped
up the local activity to support the
momentum in the county.
4. The TV buying strategy was singleminded
and focussed on high
profile Gaelic games programming.
RESULTS
Club Energise Sport has surpassed
expectations in terms of sales, in terms
of market share and in terms of
advertising effectiveness. It is already
a year and a half ahead of its sales and
market share targets. In fact, after 6
months of advertising activity, Club
Energise Sport had already beaten the
annual targets that had been set out
by C&C (Ireland) Ltd.
MARKET SHARE
• Club Energise entered the category in August 2003 and immediately took a 6.7% share of the
marketplace. This is worth €6.9 million in brand value and yielded a 7:1 return on advertising
investment. (AC Nielsen JJ 04)
• Club Energise grew from 0% market share to 18.6% market share within 12 months. (AC Nielsen JJ 04)
• In this time, Lucozade decreased by 14% and Powerade decreased by 6% (AC Nielsen JJ 04)
• Within the first year of advertising activity, the Club Energise market share grew at a rate of 151%.
|
 Figure 2: Market Share (Volume): Launch month (Aug 03) versus
July 04 (AC Nielsen JJ04) |
| • This growth rate illustrates that the brand is outperforming the market, and is stealing market share from its competitors. The market share chart highlights the percentage change in share from the launch of Club Energise Sport to date (See Figure 2). |
SALES
C&C (Ireland) Ltd. had a projected sales target of 3.3 million bottles in Year 1 (Aug 03 to Aug 04). Its actual sales have surpassed this target by 52%, selling 5 million bottles in its first year. |
Figure 3: % Change in Market share (Vol) from Aug 03 to July 04 (AC Nielsen JJ04) |
QUANTITATIVE RESULTS
Independent research conducted by Lansdowne Research tangibly demonstrates the cut-through and
effectiveness of Club Energise’s advertising. As detailed in Figure. 4, 58% of the population (and 74% of its core target of 18-24 males) could recall the Club Energise Sport advertising. Furthermore, the ad was favourably rated and successfuly converted consumers to the brand.
An important aspect of the advertising was that it was not seen to just be ‘borrowing’ personalities to
leverage its position. On the contrary, the sponsorship was seen as an appropriate and popular fit for Club Energise (See Fig 5).
Another advertising objective during it’s early launch period was to win brand consideration and trial by consumers. Figure. 6 illustrates the successful accomplishment of this critical objective, especially with its core target (37%)
|
Figure 4: Recall of Club Energise TV
Figure 5: Attitudes towards Club Energise TV.
Figure 6: Will the advertising encourage trial and switching? |
SUMMARY
Club Energise Sport has stormed
into the Sports drink category claiming
18.6% market share (volume) from a
zero percent starting point. This
market share was stolen directly from
strong international competitors
(Lucozade Sport and Powerade). The
effectiveness of the advertising is
demonstrated by results, such as:
• The 7:1 return on advertising
investment,
• Beating its sales targets by 55%,
• Having a 151% growth rate, while
its global competitors continued to
lose share.
The Lansdowne research results also
illustrate the undeniable effectiveness
of the advertising communication.
Quite simply, 37% of the Club Energise
Sport core target (18 to 25 year old
males) identified the advertising as
making them trial the brand. It was a
David versus Goliath endeavour, and
one, which surpassed every single
metric put in place. This was achieved
by a highly impactful television
campaign, a unique sponsorship
arrangement and a very innovative
national/local outdoor campaign to
galvanise local support for the brand.
|
|
