It's not cheating when it's your Dream Team
Wunderman UK
Issue 37 | January 2016
Agency
The Sun / News UK
Creative Team
Art Director: Stuart Halleybone Copywriter: James Woods Creative Director: Richard Kenyon Creative Director: Nigel Webb Designer: Alex Leech Head of Design: Ian Saunders Artworker: Kevin Guild
Other Credits
Retouching Company: Taylor James Photography: Adam Lawrence
Date
July – August 2015
Background
Last year Dream Team players were lost who had been put off by the need to give their payment details. The Sun had to reconnect with them and build their numbers for this season. And do so in the face of growing competition.
Idea
Data showed that when it comes to fantasy football, fans actually cheat on their real-life teams by picking players from their club rivals. They used this insight to create copy that really clicked with their banter-obsessed audience and got them to engage with Dream Team once again. They took the proposition – "It's not cheating when it's your Dream Team" – and carried it through every channel with copy that was by turns funny, clever, risky and irreverent. (Always being aware that what worked in an email might be thought offensive in a print ad).
Results
The results surpassed all expectations. - The campaign acquired DOUBLE the number of players forecasted on the first weekend. - Last year they had 600,000 players. This year they DOUBLED that to 1.2m. - A marketing ROI of 1: 3.6 - Over 19,000 new followers across social media.