Tomorrow night (20th February), the Brit Awards music show takes place in London. Financial brand Mastercard has been associated with the event for 10 years. We asked Ben Rhodes, who looks after marketing for the Brit Awards as part of his remit at Mastercard, about the partnership.
We asked for insights into how corporate brands can be associated with entertainment or other industries successfully. Ben reveals his experiences and tips here:
Brand Strategy: What does a financial brand like Mastercard get out of being associated with The Brits?
Ben Rhodes: A lot of it is about awareness and positive associations with the event and our brand. But that’s only one thing really. It’s about the pass-through rights we can negotiate because we’ve been associated with the event for about 10 years. We can free up a lot of assets to use with our customers and banks. So one of the most important things we do around The Brits is create various money-can’t-buy experiences. We use it as an incentive really to make sure the Mastercard brand is used by people more and more often.
Brand Strategy: So do you see The Brits sponsorship as part of your longrunning ‘Priceless’ advertising campaign? Are you aiming to take ‘Priceless’ further than the TV screen into branded experiences?
Ben Rhodes: ‘Priceless’ currently works best in advertising; we haven’t really taken it outside that remit. But ‘Priceless’ works on an insight about what really matters to people; it says it’s not about how you use your card in terms of the purchases you make, it’s the experiences you have.
So when we look at The Brits, we’re just thinking about what matters to people. Music and entertainment is really important for our core audience. So in terms of how we tie ‘Priceless’ into people’s lives, it is about giving them access and if we can give them enjoyment too, I suppose that does play into the ‘Priceless’ promise.
Brand Strategy: What can you do on the event night itself to bring out the brand values of Mastercard beyond just putting your logo on everything?
Ben Rhodes: At the basic level, we do have a great composite logo which is slapped on everything so our name’s in there. But we work incredibly closely with the BPI, which arranges The Brits. It’s a music industry association so all the retailers and record companies are there too - we get to sit on those tables and have a voice. So to some degree, we help shape the show, although we only have one vote out of many.
We try to make sure with the BPI that the show fits our brand. We have lots of conversations about the presenters and the line-up. We’re very intimately involved.
We’re also using the show itself this year to showcase products. Every person who gets a ticket to The Brits will also receive a PayPass-enabled prepaid card with £10 on it. We’ve installed terminals at a couple of the bars and some booths that are there, so people can buy a couple of free drinks or a Brits album on a USB stick. It’s a way of integrating our product in there without being too invidious. It’s a good method of getting our more innovative stuff out there.
Brand Strategy: What do you do beyond the event evening to market the partnership?
Ben Rhodes: We also have the broadcast sponsorship for The Brits so we try to make that as contemporary as possible. This year, we have the ‘Priceless Dance-off’ which is going to be featured in the idents. This dance contest been promoted online through a microsite. It’s funny and quite ‘Priceless’ too as we auditioned 600 people and got them down to just five who will star in the idents on the night. You can vote for the winner and see a ‘making-of’ film. We’re conscious not to create ‘an event within an event’ but there’s scope to bring out the partnership more with this kind of thing.
In the past, we’ve had ‘Priceless Evenings’ with some of the artists performing at them. Some of those have been televised. This year, we haven’t really gone for that. Working with ITV, they decided there needed to be two main shows - the Brits Are Coming and the Awards - with follow-ups maybe on the digital channels.
So this year, we chose to use the dance-off idea from ‘Priceless dancer’ as the key theme really. We’ve also got a dance-off bus which has been touring around London, where people can come and do their own dance-off, win tickets to The Brits, various radio stations have come down…so we do a lot of stuff like that.
We also worked with Amazon this year, helping them sell more products by offering Brits tickets and prizes. So we do a lot of work but it can be hard to nail a programme leading directly to people making purchases as The Brits is not really a retail concept as such.
Brand Strategy: As a brand owner, you have to be careful not to be associated with the wrong things - particularly in the conservative world of finance. Have you ever had to step in to prevent the show taking a wrong turn for your brand?
Ben Rhodes: That’s largely the BPI’s expertise but we did come across this situation when discussing the potential line-up a couple of years ago. It’s normally less about “oh no, do you think that person is too dangerous?” and more “don’t you think that person is quite dull?” From our perspective, we want to get as much out of this as possible, which means wanting people to actually watch the show!
Brand Strategy: What have you learned from the 10 year association with The Brits? What tips would you give other marketing directors about creating successful sponsorships?
Ben Rhodes: Use it as a strategic platform and a tool to drive your marketing programmes. It shouldn’t be a standalone event but weaved into all your communications activity. At its most fundamental level, that’s what sponsorships should do. You also need to think about how to leverage the partnership beyond a single event.
Another tip is that you can never plan too early; we’re already thinking about 2009. The Brits is different as it’s one night whereas most sponsorships are longer than that, but it does mean we need quite a big build-up programme. So we really have to tie everything up early so we can extract as much value as you can.
Don’t think about just awareness and positive associations; they should come if you have the right partnership in place. Ask yourself: how will this drive my business and create a preference for my product above and beyond anyone else?
YOUR VIEWS, READER: What do you think of the Mastercard and The Brits association? Any tips for good sponsorship partnerships?
