TalkSPORT Campaign Reaches Fever Pitch
After the launch of branded DAB radios and a sweepstake for advertisers to win free air time (see TalkSPORT Sweepstake Offers Free World Cup Ads), talkSPORT’s pre-World Cup campaign to pull in the advertisers and listeners continues to intensify.
The only commercial radio station with broadcast rights to the World Cup, talkSPORT is determined to promote its football-broadcasting coup, hoping it will reverse the 16.6% decline in listener figures for the year to December 2005.
The station’s World Cup advertising campaign kicks off next Monday, with £1.5m ploughed into a broad range of ads, plugging live daily commentary, news updates and phone-ins for those who want to discuss Rooney’s metatarsal or take Sven to task over his 4-4-2 formation.
Ads will run across different platforms, from TV and radio, to press and poster sites. Taxis in football-focused towns will be emblazoned with the talkSPORT message, and even inside, taxis’ tip-up seats will carry the ads.
More than 600 48-sheet poster sites have also been booked. And even when answering the call of nature halfway down the M1, male football fans will be confronted by panels in motorway service station toilets, enjoining them to tune in to talkSPORT. The key line, carried in every ad, will be “talkSPORT radio – bringing the FIFA World Cup home to you.”
ITV1 will carry ads throughout the World Cup, as will other channels including Sky Sports, Channel 4 and UK Gold 2. On radio, 19 independent local stations are part of the campaign; and in the press, ads will run in The Times and lads’ mag Zoo.
A partnership programme has also grown out of the rights to World Cup coverage, with sponsors including man-friendly brands such as Carlsberg, Ford, Sure for Men and Mars.
Talking up its commitment to World Cup coverage, talkSPORT is emphasising its 20-strong team in Germany, who will be sending live match-reports and updates back home.
According to marketing director Calum Macaulay: “talkSPORT is going to be the must-listen-to station throughout the tournament for football fans. We want to shout about this as much as possible to bring people to the station for trusted, first-class coverage of the event.”
talkSPORT: 020 7959 7800 www.talksport.co.uk