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Innovative media strategy

In 2008 Heineken were seeking a way to deepen their association with rugby and talk to hard core rugby enthusiasts - the real fans. They wanted to speak particularly to the younger 18-34 recruitment demographic. MindShare identified that these fans wanted in depth behind the scenes knowledge and discussion on the game - information that wasn't currently available. We commissioned the no. 1 sports show on radio in Ireland to produce a series of exclusive podcasts available to download from i-tunes featuring in depth rugby discussion with the best rugby journalists and highest profile rugby guests in the country.

Creative execution

In this case the media idea and creative execution are one and the same - the piece of original branded content. This was a first in the Irish market; no advertiser had commissioned or even

sponsored a series of podcasts before. For the recruitment audience of hard core rugby fans this was exactly what they wanted and importantly was available to them in their media to download and consume when they wanted.

Target audience

The podcasts were promoted in a very targeted and focused way. Print executions ran alongside the rugby coverage of the sports sections of the national newspapers. These ads ran on the highest sports readership day of the week (Monday) and on the day (Thursday) the podcasts were available to download. Radio activity was also run on the sports talk show encouraging listeners of the show to download the Podcast they produced in conjunction with Heineken.

 Effectiveness

After only one day the Podcast jumped to the number 2 position in the i-tunes podcasts charts that measure the most popular podcasts for Irish users - a remarkable result. In the sports and recreation section of i-tunes podcasts it was the number one show after only one day.

Related links:

• Newstalk Off the Ball