As the number one pizza delivery brand in the UK, Domino’s have experienced many years of consecutive growth and the business is going from strength to strength. Friday and Saturday nights were key sales days for Domino’s, but they were missing out on the mid-week opportunity. In addition they were just over a year into building equity in their new brand platform: Greatness, a platform that aimed to build deeper emotional connection with their audience.
Delivering hot, fresh success with Domino's and Hollyoaks
The Big Idea
Arena Media and 4Sales quickly identified that a long-term sponsorship and activation campaign would achieve Domino’s’ core brand objectives, with Hollyoaks standing out as the perfect partner. It was recognised that a Hollyoaks partnership would help Domino’s achieve a number of their objectives:
- Broaden their comms outside of weekends, being present during the ‘tea time’ occasion with transmissions at 18.30 on C4 and 19.00 on E4
- Deliver mass reach of both core audiences: Families and young adults (72% and 75% reach respectively)
- Be on-air 52 weeks of the year - working within the HFSS guidelines and also benefiting from the comparative linear airtime costs
- Provide a consistent platform that could add value and allow them to leverage across Owned, Shared, Earnt and Paid channels
- Engage franchisees and staff – vital to growing the business
On-air, off-air, online - the 360 degree Domino’s sponsorship of Hollyoaks is an all-encompassing two-year deal which saw the brand’s return to sponsorship in a big way. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Hollyoaks provided the perfect environment, at a key time of day (tea time), for Domino’s to consistently engage with a massive proportion of their target market – 16-34’s. Domino’s UK business comprises of 900 franchised stores nationwide, so it was imperative to align them all under a single set of marketing objectives to have a positive impact on every franchise.
Domino’s wanted to retain their market leader position, reward their loyal customers and grow their consumer base. Fundamental to the partnership is an activation license which enables Domino’s to engage more deeply with Hollyoaks viewers, their own customers and franchisees. Combined with the sponsorship, this helps to deliver high-frequency, mass-reach, engaging content, and a huge social footprint.
Making it Happen
The partnership enabled Domino’s to have unprecedented access to the Hollyoaks Village set, cast and storylines; and in a Channel 4 first, the sponsorship idents were shot in the Village, designed to look like scenes from the show, but featuring a Domino’s delivery driver. The creative supported the idea that every occasion requires a pizza, whilst staying true to the brand’s tongue-in-cheek tone.
Through the activation element, Domino’s were able to shout about the sponsorship off-air, targeting Hollyoaks viewers with Domino’s branding and messaging in a much more engaging way. This has included substantial social media activity; images of the cast eating Domino’s on set, ‘DoughMG Moments’ featuring stills from the show overlaid with Domino’s branding highlighting key moments perfect for sharing on social platforms.
The partnership also allowed Domino’s to create a unique and engaging meal deal – the Hollyoaks Hunger Buster - available on weekdays from 4-7pm to coincide with Hollyoaks being on air and has alone generated £1.3m in extra revenue for Domino’s. For the first time ever, weekly recap videos – Bite-Sized Recaps - were created featuring Domino’s branding and formed part of the Hollyoaks key marketing campaign. The videos amassed 400,000 views over 6 weeks and rewarded fans for watching with a 25% discount code integrated in to each video.
In addition the Hollyoak’s cast lent their considerable social media following to drive Domino’s’ Teenage Cancer Trust #cheesygrin campaign which saw money donated with tweets featuring the #cheesygrin. The core sponsorship allied with discounts, exclusive content and competitions has helped Domino’s to become a firm favourite of Hollyoaks viewers, driving sales, brand awareness and positive brand recognition.
The Results
The sponsorship has been seen by a huge 75% of all 16-34 year olds in the UK, making it the highest reaching soap for 16-34s on commercial TV, and recall has risen to a near-universal 93%. Research dips show that there’s not only a positive feeling towards the sponsorship, but towards Domino’s too. Areas of quality, service and value are significantly improved in Hollyoaks viewers. The independent research study showed that over three quarters of those who recalled the sponsorship said they were likely to purchase a Domino’s product as a result, higher than the norm, as well as Awareness being exceptionally high with 69% for spontaneous recall among viewers, far above the TV norm of 40%.
