Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder was the biggest boxing match of 2018. And BT Sport wanted everyone to watch it unfold.
Great Britain’s Fury attempted to steal the American’s WBC heavyweight title in a much-anticipated battle in December 2018. BT Sport was broadcasting the fight and wanted to attract a broad UK crowd to its pay-per-view production, by targeting over 18s with an interest in boxing. It knew its viewers were interested in upcoming bouts but it wasn’t reaching certain audiences.
So it looked to digital to help raise awareness of the Fury-Wilder fight and drive Box Office sign-ups. It turned to Facebook to boost performance by efficiently targeting boxing fans.
Mobile-first makes an impact
The partnership meant Facebook and Instagram could work with BT and its agencies on best practices across the platforms, and together, help create a strategy using short form, mobile-first creative.
The assets centred around BT Sport’s best asset: its boxers. The video creatives featured Fury and Wilder, showcasing their vibrant personalities in fun, edgy and authentic snippets. Over two weeks, during the build-up to the fight, a creative mix of in-feed ads appeared across the target audiences’ social media feeds. The creatives were high impact – much like the bout itself – using dynamic typography and engaging sound. And the strategy delivered a knock-out blow.
Standout stats
• BT Sport reached 4.5 million people
• Using Facebook brand lift it asked three questions to track ad and brand recall and each achieved a double-digit lift
Joel Rayment, client partner for Media Telco, Facebook
"An outstanding example of driving awareness and impact on Facebook and Instagram. The campaign delivered engaging content, across both Stories and Feed, and is a great example of how mobile-first content delivers brilliant result."
Jeremy Lee, contributing editor, 北京赛车pk10
"The real beauty in this campaign is in the performance that BT Sport managed to get out of Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury ahead of the epic fight. Using in-feed ads and Stories to amplify this message to an audience that could not be reached using traditional media was an obvious strategy. But this creative, which is both cut and produced perfectly for these channels, is a masterclass in how to use them in an interesting, engaging, impactful and humorous way that other media just can’t do."
Dave Stratton, general manager of marketing, BT Sport, TV and broadband
"The access we had to Wilder and Fury enabled us to create some really engaging, impactful and authentic pieces to camera, which the platform then allowed us to present to boxing fans in a targeted and truly memorable way."
