2015 winner: Dixons Carphone, Customer Insight - case study

This is a story about the power of subtlety in marketing communications. About the power of applying meaningful consumer insight to produce a unique creative angle which changed the game of World Cup advertising.

The 2014 Football World Cup represented a huge opportunity for CurrysPCWorld, but also a huge challenge. With no official right to talk about football, no credibility in the football arena, and fierce competition from global advertisers, we were in danger of not being heard.

Simultaneously, we had bullish targets: to increase saliency of the brand, drive footfall, site traffic and sales conversion rates, and achieve a 10% YoY increase in television sales. Research led to three insights: about the gendered nature of football advertising (that it is epic, macho and aimed at men); football watching (that it is increasingly female); and television purchasing (that it is a joint purchase between men and women-or so the women think).

A new creative approach
These insights informed a new creative approach, which played on a universal truth about relationships, and the humorous attempts at manipulation that go on between couples - particularly when it comes to purchasing big-ticket items for the home.

Our advertising was subtle, nuanced and domestic - the opposite of conventional sports communications. We planned integrated marcomms activity to engage consumers with our consistent idea at every phase of the purchase journey. Our results exceeded expectations, with Nielsen ranking our advertising top for ad recall and brand attribution of all World Cup advertising.

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(Please note: parts of this case study may have been redacted for confidentiality purposes.)