A SEASON-LONG, END-TO-END CREATIVE-DIGITAL CAMPAIGN THAT INSPIRED RECORD VIEWERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT FOR THE BRITISH BASKETBALL LEAGUE
THE CHALLENGE
The BBL’s ambition is to become one of the best basketball leagues in the world. With new investment to meet this ambition, following years of underfunding, the BBL needed to relaunch the new season in a way that both engaged the current community on a deeper level than ever before and attracted new fans in the process.
With only six weeks until season tip-off and a huge campaign to plan and execute, including Sky Sports TVC slots, the BBL turned to AND THE NEW to bring the dream to life and drive viewership across all platforms. So that’s exactly what we did.
THE STRATEGY
The BBL needed a complete end-to- end marketing campaign from the creative message and the strategic positioning through to the final delivery with a clear action plan. With only six weeks to go until season start, there was no room for mistakes. There wasn’t a awareness issue for the sport in the UK, but there was an awareness issue for the professional game across the country.
We needed to grow awareness. We needed to build heroes and idols. We needed to drive relevance. The Know Our Name campaign was built to deliver a UK realness, embrace local home teams and rivalries, and as a message for each player to be proud of and shout about.
Leading across all creative development, paid media strategy and execution, and social media strategy and execution for the entire season, we succeeded in making this the most successful and viewed BBL season to date.
THE RESULTS
Across YouTube and Sky Sports, British Basketball League viewership rose 217% across the season as interest continued to grow around the three major tournaments, with the Play-Off Finals recording 377% growth compared to last season (check out how we sold out the O2 Arena with our paid marketing strategy here). On the ground, fans arrived in record numbers at the three major Finals held in Birmingham, Glasgow, and London all with sell-out crowds.
On social media, both live and on-demand video views jumped from 1.4 million to a staggering 20 million during the 2022/23 season, while engagements across all platforms increased by 492%. The growth was aided by the launch of various campaigns we drove for the BBL including Your Coach, which invited grassroots teams to nominate their coach for the Community Coach of the Year Award, as well as the dunk contest on top of the O2 Arena which contributed an additional 5.3 million views across all channels.
Doubling up
217%
Increase in viewership across the season
The Big One
377%
Increase in viewership for the Play-Off Final
Eyeballs galore
20M+
Video views across social media channels
Getting social
492%
Increase in social media engagement
OUR TROPHY CABINET
