Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't choose to activate three flagship sponsorships weeks apart from one another. However, the impact of Covid-19 meant Just Eat has spent the summer doing just that, bringing to life partnerships with Uefa Euro 2020, Love Island and Taste of London. It's been a pretty extraordinary few months and through the penalty shootouts, re-couplings and mouthfuls of unforgettable food, we've learnt a few lessons along the way.
1. Be authentic to the fans and their behaviours
Any sponsor will tell you that you're always the side dish, not the main event. Trying to compete for the lion's share of the attention is destined to fail, so instead focus on complementing the star attraction, and be guided by audience behaviours.
Take Love Island, for example, it has its own culture. From the vernacular to the drama, the fashion to the friendships - it's distinctive in what it offers.
Our idents were a nod to the show itself with our geckos and lovebirds discussing dating, workouts and delivering some of the famous catchphrases. Like every meme-filled WhatsApp group, they too couldn't help but comment on the comings and goings in the villa. Off air, we went behind the scenes in the villa with our "Beach Hut" series and enlisted vintage Love Island talent, Chris Hughes and Kem Cetinay, and created a pop-up delivery restaurant offering the only thing you see islanders eat: toasties.
Being part of the fabric of the show's culture demonstrated our relevance to its audience, making us an extension of the viewing experience.
2. Use meaningful comms to go beyond awareness
Sponsorship of a football tournament like the Euros will naturally drive awareness. Pitchside LEDs, idents, in-stadium and fantasy football branding, all meant that Just Eat was unmissable. To go beyond awareness and build affinity, our approach centred on adding value to the fan experience.
Recognising audiences' thirst for entertaining football content, we created a series called "Just Eat Home Advantage", which broke away from the analysis and punditry we were seeing across the tournament. We gathered football legends for a takeaway and chatted through the action, set tasks and challenges and heard about their Euros memories.
It may seem counterintuitive to create long-form content, yet through the series we rode the emotional rollercoaster with fans, celebrating everything that came with the return of football. Instead of trying to muscle in on the conversation, we wanted to be at the heart of it.
3. Know your objectives
Sponsorships are often focused on driving a national share of voice or awareness. Through our partnership with Taste of London, we've found that sponsorships can also reaffirm your credentials within a particular geography.
London is unlike any other UK city; it's the epicentre of food and a competitive landscape for food delivery. Sponsoring a property like Taste of London works in multiple ways for us. Firstly, it improves perceptions of quality and drives reappraisal of our brand. More importantly, it supports our drive to continue growing market share.
We've been investing in the capital for some time through expanding our restaurant supply, price leadership and increasing our brand visibility. It's led to both triple-digit growth and a significant rise in market share within London.
4. It's got to work commercially
We believe passionately in the long term benefit of investing in brand and sponsorship plays a key role in that. In the case of the Euros we were also able to increase immediate commercial upside through close collaboration with our restaurant partners. With over 58,000 restaurants available on Just Eat, surfacing our supply and providing offers to a primed audience enabled us to drive purchase intent.
We partnered with Greggs to offer "Rolls for goals", where if a goal is scored on home soil, you get a free sausage roll in your Greggs order the next day. It meant that win, lose or draw, a goal was always a cause for celebration. In addition, we worked with restaurant partners to create meal bundles designed for groups, in recognition that watching international football is a social occasion.
The interplay between brand and performance resulted in around 2,500 Just Eat orders a minute at peak. We saw a double-digit increase in demand for Greggs sausage rolls. And it's fair to say we nursed hangovers across the country the morning after the final, as the nation turned to Just Eat to help ease the disappointment.
5. Nothing beats the immediacy of live TV moments
While we knew the Euros would be the biggest sponsorship opportunity of the year, England's success delivered some staggering viewership figures, which peaked at 31 million for the final. There's a scarcity of moments that truly bring people together, giving them a common cause for joy and hope. Even more so within the context of a global pandemic.
The immediacy of live football is possibly only matched by the dedication to Love Island among 18-34-year-olds. Excluding Saturdays and outside of football, this series was the most-watched TV show for this demographic, and it consistently dominated their viewership throughout its two months on the air.
It's a simple case of if you miss it, you miss the conversation, meaning that tapping into these must-watch live moments delivers unparalleled reach.
It's been a phenomenal summer for Just Eat, capping off a year of delivering some of our best ever work, all while working remotely and in very difficult circumstances. I couldn't be more proud of our team.
Matt Bushby is UK marketing director of Just Eat