Situation Analysis
As one of the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturers, Sony Ericsson’s aim was to become the preeminent communication entertainment brand. Burson-Marsteller was tasked with developing a project that would leverage global brand ambassador and tennis superstar Maria Sharapova’s partnership with Sony Ericsson, while raising the company's brand awareness.
Strategy/Implementation
B-M proposed a partnership between Sony Ericsson and the London College of Fashion (one of the world’s leading fashion schools) to develop a course module for students to create designs exploring the relationship between fashion and technology, with 80 international students taking part from all over the world.
To leverage the one hour time slot with Maria, B-M needed to create a project which would:
- Create extensive, high-profile, positive media coverage for SE
- Position SE as a style-led brand and patron of ‘grass roots’ fashion through its funding of this project
- Raise more awareness of Maria’s work in design and her position as a style icon, thus benefitting SE’s association with her
- Enable Maria to engage with Sony Ericsson’s consumer fan community
In order to engage Maria with the project, she was positioned as one of the judges to decide on the winning designs. A young, global style icon, Maria helped design the Maria Sharapova Design Collection, a range of mobile phone accessories which included a party bag and travel wallet. This design experience gave Maria real credibility as one of the judges and created a stronger media hook.
To generate maximum media exposure for the project, the best student designs were unveiled by Maria at Liberty London, the week before Wimbledon – when interest in Maria would be at its peak.
As one of London’s iconic high-end department stores, Liberty was an ideal venue to launch the winning designs. Past celebrities to have graced Liberty’s windows include Elle MacPherson and Freida Pinto.
Broadcast and photo desks were invited to attend the photo call and the team secured all but one international/UK photo agency to attend. The team also took their own photography and video footage to seed with media.
Results
The photo call at Liberty was well attended by press and hundreds of members of the public. Without a global clippings service, a snapshot of coverage included: 342 pieces of print, online and broadcast coverage with a combined total circulation/viewership of over 830 million.
Snapshot overview of coverage: Reuters, BBC Online, The Sun, Yahoo!, Guardian Online, CNN, Sky, BBC 24, Eurosport, LA Times, Washington Post, Brisbane Times, Times of India, In Style Online, as well as 20 international broadcasters.