Bringing finely-honed skills from the rehearsal room and classroom, I have worked across a range of media owners, channels and agencies with some of the biggest brands in the world. Starting my career in Digital Operations, I discovered the world of Partnerships & Content becoming instantly smitten, delighting in the combination of insight, strategy, creativity, planning and project management. Since then I have bought my “rare ability to combine both left and right-brain thinking” (Simon Harwood) to bear on a huge range of client challenges, presenting plans for innovative tech projects, talent and licensing deals, events and experiential platforms, as well as editorial collaborations; all designed to make advertising which stopped preaching and started showing my client’s true colours, whether purpose, passion or product-led, by tapping into what the audience really gives a sh*t about.
Below are some favourite campaigns which I have been responsible for; from conception and strategy, to delivery and data analysis. Any questions, drop me a line.
Levi’s x Boiler Room x NME “Music Project”
Levi’s are a brand with a history of change. This was bought to life by the Music Project, which aimed to bring talent back to their hometowns to inspire the next generation. With funding in music education in decline and the closure of safe spaces and venues, Levi’s saw the opportunity to create a project which transformed the lives of young people with a passion for finding their voices through music. Year on had seen Levi’s partnering with Skepta to set up a new studio in Tottenham and bringing the students to the V&A to perform. It was massive start, so how could Levi’s build and capitalise on the attention?
With funding for school programmes under pressure and more young people than ever seeking avenues to express the world around them, we decided to reach out to existing community music projects which needed the funding. However to do this, we needed to work with authentic voices in the industry – both talent and partners.
Boiler Room was music streaming service specialising in “banging” live events and beautiful long form video content. NME was a mainstream music title reaching generations fans across the UK. Together we embarked on a recruitment drive for projects and young people across Birmingham and Manchester, resulting in two months of music education with Mist and Everything, Everything, ending in epic showcases for all the participants. All this was captured as content by our partners and amplified across multiple channels.
Deliveroo x ITV’s “Saturday Night Takeaway”
Having won heart ‘n’ meals in London, as the business scaled up so did the demands on the brand’s comms. Deliveroo needed to reach a family audience at scale. Nothing says takeaway like Saturdays, with families across the UK planning their weekend treat throughout the week, but Deliveroo was not top of mind missing out to competitors as first choice delivery service.
The answer was to go big or go home. With that in mind the biggest campaign in the7stars’ history was conceived. The strategy was to use the equity of ITV’s “Saturday Night Takeaway” to make Deliveroo synonymous with the happiest moment of the week. Thinking beyond sponsorship, the campaign utilised the show’s sense of fun to deliver “The Biggest Night In” through in-show placement, social content, talent, licensing, #SaturdayWins competitions and integration across Deliveroo’s app.
Unfortunately, the timing on this wasn’t great. If you had asked me in August 2019 what my biggest concern for the project was, I would have said the deep levels on cross-platform integration all of which required deliberate orchestration. While the collaboration got off to a glorious start, it soon became clear that our Place on the Plane was in jeopardy due to a global pandemic. This forced myself, ITV and the client to quickly rethink our strategy as the situation evolved. It soon became clear that while Deliveroo was BAU, the show could not go on. Reacting along with the wider business, we soon swapped our idents for #HereToDeliver which has become the cornerstone of Deliveroo’s messaging throughout lockdown.
Gousto x Global “#CookingWithHeart”
Gousto have come along way since the founders’ pitch on “Dragon’s Den” – with award-winning food boxes and regular recommendations, the services was rapidly becoming one of the most successful food delivery services in the market. However, it had mainly been focussing on digital, social and influencer marketing. They were a challenger who now need broadcast reach but didn’t have the budgets or the creative to backup their ambition.
This is where partnerships really shine; no creative, no problem; TV too expensive, we have an solution; Love influencers, we love them too!
Brand-matching audience, tone and scale ambition, an opportunity for Gousto to spread their wings into radio with Global’s Heart FM was identified. Audio is maybe not the natural home of a food brand with a highly visual comms language but the trends for ASMR and the intimacy of radio provided the opportunity to develop a creative suite which allowed delivery of specific messaging for specific audiences on a specific platforms at a specific time of day. Building a plan which utilised the power of digital audio (including podcast sponsorships) alongside traditional radio took care of the product messaging, while social with key talent from the Global stable and Gousto’s famous fans allowed us to examine the importance of good food for all the family.
Similar tactics were utilised for a beautiful “Breakfast on the Slow” campaign for dorset cereals, delivering bespoke audio using science to relax the listener in the morning, product messaging in the afternoon and as exquisite performance series with Classic FM.
Deliveroo x Time Out present “Food Battles”
Takeaway food doesn’t always get the respect it deserves. Deliveroo needed something to excite the palettes of passionate foodies across London.
Taking advantage of Time Out’s trusted voice and loyal food-loving following. to bring our food credentials to life, the partnership developed a series of co-branded content pieces, delivered through Deliveroo consumption data on London’s most popular dishes. The result: an event series which paid homage to the best takeaway dinners in London: four Food Battles which invited London’s top Burger, Pizza, Fried Chicken and Ramen restaurants to fight it out and be recognised as the city’s best.
Integrated across TimeOut magazine, digital, social and Deliveroo’s O&O channels, to celebrate the joy of food to a highly engaged audience.
Walker’s x Viral Thread “Choose Me or Lose Me”
Walkers boldly launched its ‘Choose Me or Lose Me!’ campaign, putting classic flavours on the chopping block unless customers lunchboxes with their feet to save the nation’s most-loved flavours. However, there was a problem. While Walkers had a compelling advert and a voting mechanism through compiling store sales and scraping social media, they needed a way to explain exactly what was at stake and make the audience believe they would lose their coveted crisp. The UK had to take the vote seriously.
The solution? Working with Viral Thread, and parent media brand Jungle Creations, Britain’s obsessives became the platform to rally audiences into action. Creating a documentary parody series on English eccentrics introduced familiar characters with a huge problem – the crisps which inspire them are in jeopardy and only you can help save them. Supported by multi-channel social and a meme-first campaign, the series became the rallying cry manifesto for the campaign.
Lisa Nash, Walkers senior marketing manager at PepsiCo, said: “The campaign was a hit with retailers, generating a 19% uplift in value sales for the core classic flavours, as shoppers voted via the tills. With the core line up regularly bought by a quarter of the UK population, it is impressive to see even more shoppers opting for our classics.” (Éilis Cronin, Talking Retail)
Listen to Sarah
Listen to me & some of my favourite people on the awesome, but tragically short lived, podcast 7talks.
Sarah Mann. 