Paddy Power’s core target audience is 18-34 year old sports fans, but the brand are seeking opportunities to engage a broader audience.  So we needed to move beyond a one-dimensional sports conversation. Our strategic approach was to take inspiration, and advantage, of a very topical issue.  The national conversation in Ireland was dominated by the ongoing painstaking Brexit negotiations. How could Paddy Power tap into this to hijack the conversation around the Ireland Vs England match, and achieve the holy grail of ‘cultural relevance’.  

Brexit had served itself up on a platter, giving Paddy Power the perfect opportunity to back the boys in green. But our approach had to be clever, playful, and unexpected.  It needed to be discussed in coffee shops, taxi cabs, and Whatsapp groups. A concerted effort was made to surround the stadium, with special builds going up on pubs and shopfronts near Dublin’s Aviva stadium. 

The fully integrated campaign had over 50,000 engagements - and the brand had more mentions that weekend across social media platforms - beating Guinness, a 6 Nations Sponsors.

Activity included:

• OOH (4 different executions)

• Press advertising in broadsheets and redtops

• Social

• Experiential

• Earned media coverage including features in The Sun, The Irish Post, Joe.ie, Joe.co.uk, and Irish Central in the USA