Our approach
The partnership was initiated on very ‘real’ grounds - Kiss listeners and presenters are BBM advocates so we had real world insight to offer. The evolution of this was to knit the brands even closer together, and integrate BB with the editorial of the station.
Idea
BB’s strategy was to support ‘Emerging Icons’ in creative fields (sponsorship of upcoming stars in music, film, fashion and gaming) - Kiss wanted to create true ‘branded content’ by reflecting this strategy and executing the whole partnership with their products at the heart of it all.
Execution
Over the 12 months from June 2010, the BB activity has grown from an editorially-led breakfast show sponsorship to a truly multiplatform, integrated partnership with millions of touchpoints. A key pillar of the partnership continues to be the BBM group which acts as a communication platform in the breakfast show allowing immediate, direct conversation between Kiss presenters and our audience. From July, this extended into DJ Swerve’s specialist music show – sponsoring the show and launching another BBM group. An essential part of the ongoing partnership was to support BB’s ‘Emerging Icons’ strategy. We’ve given budding producers the chance to work alongside our breakfast team with our internships programme; bedroom DJs have taken their 15 minutes of fame by having their mix played on the BB sponsored Midnight Mix show; future filmmakers, bloggers, stylists, producers and presenters have all honed their skills with the industry’s best at the Kiss Academy, and a true highlight of the year was the first ever open auditions to find a full time presenter for the Kiss line-up; The Kiss Chosen One with BB was a 9 week search including live events, huge on-air, online, social media and press coverage.
results
BB are top-of-mind amongst Kiss listeners - spontaneous awareness 73% listeners vs 53% non-listeners. Listeners show greater affinity with BB – “is a brand for me” 80% (listeners) vs 61% (non-listeners. The Kiss partnership clearly drives the positive perceptions amongst listeners- 86% of Kiss listeners recognise the sponsorship. 61% now say they are more likely to consider a BB as a result of the sponsorship.
Medium.
Objectives.
This is a client who had never spent on radio anywhere in the world, but now Blackberry are Kiss’s biggest client and Bauer Radio’s biggest S&P partnership. The Kiss creative is so successful that it is being replicated across the US and Canada.
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