Colum Harmon, marketing director, PML Group with this week’s Out \ Look on Out of Home.
“Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” – Muhammad Ali
The sporting summer of 2024 is one we will all look back on with a sense of profound pride. It was a special Olympic season complemented by the annual on-field pyrotechnics in Croke Park. That pride we felt is not just a reflection of the sporting prowess we witnessed – it reflects our spirit, our values and a culmination of our hopes. In a similar vein, brands associated with these events activated brilliantly on OOH this summer, reflecting their own brand values and marketing principles to gold medal standards.
Sports events are charged with emotion, and brands that are visible and connected with these moments can tap into this energy. This connection is only enhanced when the messaging deployed is relevant and timely. This summer, OOH has superbly amplified multiple brand associations with key sporting moments by leveraging the visibility and emotional engagement inherent in events such as the GAA Championship, Olympic Games and Premier League football. Common threads among this sophisticated set of advertisers are simple and effective creative, deployment of content to grab attention, and closely aligning OOH with other media activity. Just as sportspeople train and prepare for their event, these brands were ready to react to events unfolding.
Let’s take a closer look at how these brands won their place on Outdoor’s premium podium this summer.
PTSB
In 2023, PTSB introduced a new customer promise – Altogether More Human. In living that promise, as title sponsor to the Irish Olympic and Paralympic teams, the brand supports the human behind the athlete. In the run up to the games, PTSB engaged classic OOH formats to place the athletes front and centre, giving them a literal massive canvas for the public to familiarise themselves with them and become invested in them.
During the games, medal winning performances were celebrated via Liveposter-powered dynamic digital OOH, incorporating imagery of medal ceremonies in Paris and transferring to the streets of Dublin within minutes. Digital screens on street were effectively turned into a utility, sharing results and spreading the joy of Irish success in France. A 10/10 performance from the advertiser. But we shouldn’t be surprised, they have form. Those of a certain vintage may well be reminded of the iconic ‘Packie Saves with Irish Permanent’ following Italia ‘90, celebrating another national hero from another time but also on OOH media.
RTÉ Sport
The national broadcaster was deservedly praised for their excellent Olympic coverage and analysis of events in Paris. RTÉ at its best. It also excelled on OOH, taking a dual approach to celebrating the Olympics as well as the annual mainstay that is the GAA championship. This was a further example of a brand projecting its values and attributes onto its OOH messaging.
In July, classic OOH helped build anticipation with ‘Ready for the Moment’ copy going big and bold across the country, capturing that attention of passers-by, especially those interested in the Olympics and sport. Our IMPACT Attention study revealed that Outdoor advertising can effectively engage exercisers by providing items of visual interest along their routes, with 62% of respondents noted as having engaged with OOH ads while participating in Outdoor activities and exercise. Dynamic digital was also deployed in the build up to events, in the form of live countdowns to throw-ins and kick-offs, activated by PML Group’s Liveposter platform.
In true ‘breaking news’ fashion, congratulations messages were relayed to digital screens including large format bridges in proximity to Croke Park.
RTÉ lived its values as the national broadcaster through OOH this summer, using the content that is so much a part of its DNA. Research from Clear Channel UK states that inheriting the positive brand identity of an event has a ripple effect, increasing your brand liking. They report a 33% increase in brand liking after seeing a brand advertise OOH specific content related to a sporting event.
Flogas
Flogas is another brand that employed OOH to successfully place the athletes at the heart of its communication and to amplify its support for Team Ireland.
Flogas is the energy partner to Team Ireland and integral to the overall initiative was the enduring support for grassroots sports and community initiatives, reflecting its commitment to fostering local talent and camaraderie. The 48 Sheet and Bus Shelter Outdoor campaign served as a rallying cry to communities nationwide, encouraging them to get behind their sporting heroes and show their support.
The OOH campaign was a significant element of a wider brand story that incorporated a TV series on Virgin Media and partnership with RTÉ, and across digital, radio, audio, podcasts and social.
Guinness
When Guinness was announced as the ‘Official Beer of the Premier League’ earlier this year, its Global Brand Director Stephen O’Kelly described the partnership as bringing together ‘two iconic global brands that are loved by communities all over the world’. A big deal, in all senses. Guinness has a long history of world class creative advertising and its Irish OOH campaign to launch its sponsorship lived up to high expectations.
The drinks giant took a sophisticated mass marketing approach to its OOH launch, using impactful creative, featuring recognisable brand assets across a range of powerful coverage building formats such as 48 Sheets, Digital Bridges and Transvision
Liveposter-enabled dynamic content was layered over the classic elements, in the form of a daily countdown to kick off. These displayed across street-facing sites, in-bar locations, and malls, ensuring maximum visibility as fans geared up for the season.
Countdowns are an effective dynamic device to build anticipation and attract attention to constantly changing copy.
AIB
OOH is the ultimate location medium, consumed on the streets of every city and town in the country. Location marketing and proximity targeting were key planning considerations for AIB’s 2024 GAA championship support campaign. PML Group’s mapping platform was used to identify key proximate sites to Croke Park and in GAA heartlands around the country, such as Kerry and Donegal, to communicate with GAA fans nationwide. Mobile digital units and a banner on the famous Gill’s pub on finals day added further layers of proximity targeting to the classic formats active in the weeks leading to the season’s climax.
The campaign was also a shining example of how OOH complements TV, from a creative point of view. According to Rothco, the ‘Tough Can’t Quit’ campaign ‘celebrates those who make up the backbone of the GAA in Ireland – the people you will never see featured as heroes of the sport, the people who don’t get the spotlight.’ The billboards and bus shelters were reflective of the TV work and featured the copy ‘It’s our county. It’s in our blood’, giving a distinctly local feel to a national campaign.
PEPSI MAX
By leveraging brand activations as part of a sponsorship, brands can connect more deeply with audiences and are particularly effective in building anticipation and excitement for sports events, creating memorable experiences that go beyond the boundaries of traditional advertising.
A real-world example of creating that tangible connection between brand and consumer was Pepsi MAX’s ‘Hidden Pitches’ activation in the run up to the Europa League final in Dublin in May. It consisted of a display projection which generated a 2v2 football pitch onto the street, inviting the public to engage in various football activities from casual kickabouts to intense 2v2 matches. Transforming the area into a vibrant football hub, the projection triggered when participants had the opportunity to grab a Pepsi MAX football from a specially crafted vending machine.
By creating a memorable and engaging public experience, the campaign successfully generated excitement, fostered brand recognition, and ultimately, drove consumer engagement in a unique way.
The list of examples could go on and on and credit also for outstanding OOH activations for Electric Ireland GAA, The Irish Independent’s activity around the Galways races and P&G’s Olympic campaign that championed sprint sensation Rashidat Adeleke.
In a recent Sunday Independent article, journalist Brendan O’Connor reflected on how the country had bonded over the positivity of the events in Paris and how we felt that sense of communal joy, not only at the medal successes, but at the stories behind many of our extraordinary representatives at the games. Perhaps this points to a simple truth as to why OOH worked so well for the brands featured above – because it’s a one to many medium, that we consume communally, that we are entertained by together, and that shares our real-world spaces.
A new gold standard has been set by on OOH by these innovative brands and their agencies. What a great challenge for the months and years ahead for brands activating in the sport sponsorship arena. With the sporting summer now a pleasant memory, opportunity knocks for more groundbreaking work around events such as the Paralympics, The Six Nations, Irish Open golf, and the Dublin city marathon in the months ahead. And let’s not forget the mammoth global events hitting these shores in the not-so-distant future – the Ryder Cup and Euro’28.
The case studies outlined above speak to multiple positive OOH outputs including increased visibility, contextual relevance, location marketing, synergising with other media, and creating memorable experiences. They have proven Outdoor is a powerful channel for amplifying sponsorship efforts. These brands won by deploying excellence in sophisticated mass marketing on OOH to celebrate other great winners.
When you want your brand to win, and perhaps it seems impossible, remember the words of the 1960’s Gold Medalist, Cassius Clay, “It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
What’s clear is Ireland was prepared to take the dare. Gold medals all round.
