Winning content brought fans closer to the athletes at the Winter Games

Challenges

In the lead-up to the Winter Games in PyeongChang, Team GB wanted to ensure that it had the professional assets necessary to deliver an inspirational email program for its fanbase. There was a particular need for additional resource on the ground to cover marketing activities, owing to the time difference between the UK and South Korea.

Team GB – having been a Dotdigital client for over three years – sought help from its account manager, requesting two digital marketing specialists to be placed on secondment at its HQ in London for the duration of the Games. Their combined support and expertise would help enhance Team GB’s email campaigns and make the fan experience an unforgettable one.

Solution

The role was devised between the CRM & fan engagement manager at Team GB and their Dotdigital account manager. It was intended to be totally immersive so that both sides could garner value from the experience. Dotdigital’s digital marketing specialists, Faye and Clare, attended training sessions that taught them the systems and programs they’d be using over the three-week period. What’s more, a working document was created that conceptualized content ideas for campaigns; this was based on both a Games schedule and past email and segmentation analytics.

Clare and Faye worked collaboratively to:

• build, schedule, and execute fan emails
• curate messages for Team GB Club members
• deliver excellent customer support to Team GB’s fanbase
• review KPIs (such as open rates, click-through rates, etc.)
• act upon opportunities to drive Club member growth for the Games

Team GB was also keen to have a new template created to launch before the Games. Dotdigital’s creative director, Ger Ashby, worked closely with them throughout a creative best practice session, identifying the solutions which would benefit the email campaigns and ensure the brand guidelines were met.

Results

Analyzing previous campaign results helped Team GB and their Dotdigital colleagues discover what worked well and what didn’t. What’s more, the UK team connected daily with those on the ground in Pyeong Chang, providing essential information on how the Games were being received by the public.

Steering content ideas on this basis helped to make emails – all 5,941,788 of them – even more relevant and engaging. Both the collaborative process and email template refresh drove sensational results for Team GB during the Games – 45K clicks during game time!