Mars Balls

Background

Mars wanted to Bounce into a Summer of Sport by encouraging people to get out and about and get playing.

 

The Sun and TalkSport gave the campaign a high level of hype, buzz and engagement and strong association with the major sporting events across the summer.

 

The Big Idea
We needed 'bouncers' to get people bouncing into action. Sporting heroes inspire us, not just the sport itself. We developed an integrated collaborative solution encompassing marketing promotions, features, online and events - it's summer and Mars is encouraging Brtitain to get out and have a ball as part of its on-going ‘Mars Balls Get Britain Playing’ campaign.

 

Making It Happen
We hired 4 sporting ambassadors to champion each sport (Football/John Barnes, Rugby/Austin Healy, Cricket/Darren Gough and Tennis/Pat Cash).

 

They featured heavily in The Sun (print and online) and on TalkSport to champion their individual sport, sharing their views on the current state of their sport today, and predictions for forthcoming tournaments.

 

The campaign featured a ‘Bounce Off’ competition in Battersea Park where each Bouncer recruited a
team of passionate people from around the country to represent their sport in a one-off event. They
were selected through an online competition plus ‘’scouting’’ days across the UK. A game of 4-halves
(involving football, cricket, rugby and tennis) was played to win the ‘Bounce Off’ title.

 

  • The Sun promoted this with a series of advertising features around the Bouncers predictions on their sport (i.e. how will the Lions perform in South Africa) and, more importantly, how the readers can play their sport in the park with tips and advice on how to go out and have a ‘friendly’ game.
  • Details of the Bounce Off Final and who won were featured in the Sun.
  • The Sun also featured Mars Giveaways (Mars, Mars Ice Cream and Planets) on its Front Page to trial product and promote the campaign.

 

Results

 

  • 50% of respondents agree that The Sun and Mars are a great fit
  • 29% now associate Mars with football (7% before Mars Balls campaign)
  • 26% uplift in consideration of Mars as an iconic brand
  • Requests for the Great Balls Giveaway is up to an amazing 270,000 – great evidence that the British public has really engaged with this year’s campaign.