Sports Marketing & Sponsorship
Case Study:
AT&T Team USA Soundtrack
Objective
- Increase awareness of AT&T’s sponsorship of Team USA by creating the No. 1 sponsor-recalled Olympic “hybrid” (in-broadcast feature) on NBC during the Games.
- Support Team USA by generating a sizeable donation to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) through consumer participation.
- Drive consumer engagement with AT&T products and services.
- Enhance AT&T’s brand perception among the target market while increasing purchase intent and willingness to recommend.
Strategy
Our big idea was to partner with high-profile recording artists to produce exclusive, Olympic-themed songs for the “AT&T Team USA Soundtrack” that would be available for download via AT&T’s products and services during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games with the proceeds from the downloads going to Team USA.Our idea had to not only address AT&T’s marketing objectives, but fit within the guiding principles of our partners, NBC and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC):
- AT&T wanted to drive consumer engagement with its products and services while interacting with a younger demographic.
- NBC wanted to showcase the top Olympic athletes and moments from the Games with an in-Games sponsor feature blending in seamlessly with the broadcast.
- The USOC wanted to appeal to a younger audience and drive athlete support.
We had to identify the link between AT&T products, featured athletes, and a younger demographic. That common denominator was music.
The exclusive songs drove additional engagement with AT&T products and services as ringtones, Answer Tones, and full-track downloads. Further, the music videos for the songs lived on-line and featured top Team USA athletes.
Since music was already used prevalently during NBC’s broadcast, it was easy for this program to complement the current NBC look and feel. AT&T featured multiple music genres to appeal to the entire viewing audience while putting a heavy emphasis on acts popular with the 18-24 demographic, including Taylor Swift, Chris Brown and Kate Voegle.
All participating artists/tracks included 3 Doors Down “The Champion in Me”, Army of Me “Perfect (Acoustic)”, Chris Brown “Dreamer”, Colbie Caillat “Somethin’ Special”, Clique Girlz “Incredible (Acoustic)”, Sheryl Crow “So Glad You Made It”, Flipsyde “Champion”, Luis Fonsi “No Me Dor Por Vencido (Exclusive Track)”, Goo Goo Dolls “Real”, Josh Kelley “To Remember”, Lady Antebellum “I Was Here”, Queen Latifah “Champion”, Mere “Hold On”, Nelly “Warrior (Team USA Edition)”, Taylor Swift “Change” and Kate Voegele “Lift Me Up”.
The core of the program was the in-broadcast feature. For 15 nights during the Games, NBC and Telemundo ran the 40-second AT&T Team USA Soundtrack feature during the primetime broadcast with an AT&T product spot adjacent. The features, which highlighted the key Team USA moments from that day from both networks, rotated through five featured artists on a designated schedule on NBC, with Luis Fonsi running each day on Telemundo.
Music Videos
Although the songs lived in 40-second clips on NBC, AT&T produced full-length music videos for each one, integrating U.S. Olympic athletes. These shoots allowed us to create exclusive content, integrate the unique visuals into the viral marketing and PR tactics, and continue to bring the Olympic feel to these tracks throughout the Games.
All of the videos were housed on AT&T’s official site (att.net/TeamUSA). In addition to the site, the content was distributed across AT&T’s mobile WAP deck and on U-verse, AT&T’s IPTV product. Video clips also ran in AT&T retail stores throughout the country during the Games.
Additional content included behind-the-scenes interviews with the artists about their inspiration for these songs and their feelings around the Olympic Games.
The work started well in advance to the torch being lit in Beijing. We had to get the program out into the marketplace early so that the buzz would begin building prior to the release of the songs on the day of Opening Ceremonies.
The pre-Games plan included print media in sports and entertainment publications, including advertorials in key target-relevant publications. The advertorials, which blended imagery of the Olympics and the artists, were key in major publications for our demographics such as Rolling Stone, Glamour, Blender and Paste. AT&T included promotional exposure in their planned Direct Mail and catalog campaigns during the Games as well.
Throughout the program, we chose artists that best matched the readership of the designated publication. For example, Nelly was featured in the ad in ESPN the Magazine, Josh Kelley appeared in US Weekly, and Taylor Swift was featured in the USA Gymnastics insert that ran in USA Today.
PR and Publicity
In early July, the program launched with a story in USA Today and received press exposure in almost 40 media outlets, including Billboard.com, Rolling Stone, CMT Blog and a behind-the-scenes segment on EXTRA! from the taping of Sheryl Crow’s Team USA Soundtrack music video. Mentions for the program also ran in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, US Weekly, and in Touch. We were also able to secure broadcast features on CMT and local NBC affiliates.
NBC Launch
NBC aired the world premiere music video of the “The Champion in Me” by 3 Doors Down during America’s Got Talent, the No. 1-rated show that week, on July 22, 2008 (Source: The Nielsen Company, July 21 - 27, 2008). The two-minute piece included the Olympic-themed music video and a call to action to download that song with proceeds benefiting Team USA.
After the release of the song, NBC ran 10 primetime tune-in promotional spots featuring the 3 Doors Down song and promoting the program for the two weeks leading up to the Games.
Ten days later, Sheryl Crow performed her Soundtrack song, “So Glad We made It,” live on the Today Show. NBC plugged the promotion and ran an additional tune-in promo spot during the broadcast.
Radio Mentions
Radio DJ chatter about the program ran in the Top 20 markets during first week of the Games. We provided talking points and song clips for DJs to integrate into their broadcast content.
On-line
Online banner ads and web site road blocks began with exposure on sports, music and social networking sites, including Pandora, Facebook, inTouch, espn.com, and Universal Music. AT&T sent out email blasts to their current AT&T blue room subscribers twice during the program.
The program also received high-profile exposure on NBCOlympics.com, with a designated microsite that clicked-through to AT&T’s promotional site and showcased the in-broadcast video features from each night. There was also above-the-fold static placement on the homepage during the primetime broadcasts with artist imagery matching the video running that evening.
Viral
In addition to AT&T’s paid promotional media, the general marketplace buzz took off around the program. Consumers wrote about Soundtrack on their blogs and Facebook pages. And artists promoted their involvement in the program at their concerts and on their web sites, lending credibility and authenticity to the program in the music space.
Donation Announcement
The program concluded on October 8 during a satellite media tour with Michael Phelps and USOC Chief Operating Officer Norman Bellingham in New York. At that time, the total donation amount of $1 million announced. Interviews from the media tour ran on 24 local market TV networks across the country and on the TV Guide Network.