Pippa Dunn had taken over as global CMO and wanted to move fast on sponsorship. So Pippa briefed us on the challenges that Orange needed to overcome with its portfolio. Clearly Orange then was one of the most distinctive brands of its time, so brand alignment was particularly critical. But so was cut-through : Orange was working in an aggressively price cutting environment in its European markets, but dramatically more so in Africa, where it enjoyed substantial market share in over ten markets. Unique content, both to prevent copycat marketing and to bundle downloads, was also a driver. Mass relevance and salience with unique content Orange style, in other words.
Our starting point was a massive piece of TGI analysis across over 20 markets – in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia Pacific – to understand potential territories for partnership. Of course, the need for deep relevance in a wide range of diverse markets meant that no single property could deliver. Amongst a number of obvious contenders, of which various disciplines of sport were amongst the strongest, film stood out. Local and international. Offering global consistency with the opportunity of hyper local execution.
The more we analysed Orange’s needs, the stronger film appeared as the front-runner. By the time we had explored the options with a number of lead markets to gauge their response, the hypothesis was confirmed and we developed a strategy deck to present to the Orange Board.
The rest is history, as they say. The celebrated Orange Wednesdays ran in a number of markets. Uniquely stylish tie ups with talent and events gave Orange a distinctive local presence, while studio deals, including with Lucas Films, gave Orange access to uniquely popular POS. Orange still sponsors the Cannes Festival.
