Sainsbury's unveils Paralympic TV push
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Sainsbury’s is to start its Paralympic Games marketing drive with a TV advert starring David Beckham in a bid to promote its sponsorship of the event.
The advert will will air tomorrow (15 August) on ITV and features Paralympic GB athletes including swimmer Ellie Simmonds as they prepare for the Games, which start later this month (29 August)
Footballer and Paralympic Games ambassador Beckham also appears in the advert.
Sainsbury’s, the only Paralympic-only sponsor, says the AMV created ad aims to draw parallels with the “dedication” and “determination” of the athletes and “everyday moments.”
The TV spot will be backed by in-store promotions as well as tactical activity around specific athletes on its social media channels and through print adverts.
Jat Sahota, head of sponsorship at the supermarket chain, says it hopes the strategy will lead to an uplift in people watching the Games on Channel 4, which is also sponsoring the Games.
He adds: “A good games for us is as many of our customers being not just aware of our ties to the Games but ultimately turning them into watching the games on Channel 4.
“We want people to watch and celebrate the feats of our Paralympic team and for them to realise that Sainsbury’s has been closely involved with sponsoring such a spectacular event in London.”
Sainsbury’s is also backing the Paralympic torch relay, which will visit selected stores as part of the deal.
Sahota says: “There are 630 torchbearers for the Paralympics and of those, 145 of them will be Sainsbury’s customers and colleagues. It’s a chance for us to give as many people as possible the chance to see and touch the Paralympic torch than they would normally.”
Post-Games the supermarket says it will use its Active Kids initiative to channel all of its legacy work.
“The Active Kids initiative is the central link between the Paralympics and our legacy work, which we will announce more details about in due course”, says Sahota. “Our relationship with the Paralympics has worked extremely well so far and we expect it to deliver through the Games.”
Sainsbury’s push will run alongside Paralympic Games-themed campaigns from sponsors Lloyds, BT, BP and Cadbury over the next month.
It follows Paralympic Games broadcaster Channel 4’s claim that it is experiencing “the Olympic affect” when it comes to advertiser demand around its coverage.
Readers' comments (2)
Anonymous | Wed, 15 Aug 2012 2:10 pm
Paralympics should have just as much coverage as the Olympics. There are millions of people that have some sort of physical and/or mental disability. To be able to support that community on the world's stage and prove to those that are recently physically disabled that their life is not over is a great opportunity. Big Brother is missing out on a capital opportunity by not broadcasting the Paralympics on a main stream network. Not to mention the amount of advertising that big name companies are missing out on. There are some great local heros that could speak directly to an entire community and open up a whole new division of consumers. That fact of the matter, Paralympians work just as hard and put in just as many (if not more) hours of training that Olympians do.
Big Brother needs to do what's right and show Paralympic fight on the main stage (national broadcasting)!
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Sue | Wed, 15 Aug 2012 4:11 pm
So does this mean that Channel 4, will not have show any adverts, as if they are broadcasting, the Paralympics it should be 24/7 viewing with no adverts.
In 2016, the BBC should broadcast the Paralympics and then Channel 4 broadcast the Olympics.
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