The Industry Column – 20 November

With a new Ashes series nearly upon us, Kevin Peake, marketing director
at npower, explains why cricket has become such a crucial marketing vehicle for
the utilities firm…

‘It’s no coincidence that our freshly signed extended contract as title
sponsors of domestic Test match cricket is up to and including the next UK based
npower Ashes Series in 2009.

Last summer’s Ashes shot the England team to superstar level bagging them a
trip to the Palace via a packed Trafalgar Square and allegedly the odd pub. It
established the oldest rivalry in the sport as the biggest draw in international
cricket and up there with the biggest sporting events in the British calendar.

Success on the field was reflected off it, in the two weeks after the final
Ashes match of 2005 our sales figures rocketed – in no small way due to our
positive brand association with the event.

The good news is this cricket feelgood factor has not gone away – can anyone
remember a more hotly anticipated Ashes Series? This makes it a perfect
opportunity for those brands already associated with cricket to harness this
hype in creative ways.

This was the thinking behind our striking Pietersen ‘Terminator’ photo
launched across the national press ten days ago. Such was the strength of the
image that sports editors put it on their back pages editorially as well as the
paid for space in the front of the papers.

In a saturated market of many brands trying to jump on the Ashes bandwagon we
knew that anything we did needed standout – we think our photo did just that.

Expect to see it on billboards across the country over the next month as well
as in the odd place you wouldn’t expect to see it.

Win or lose this, the moment this Ashes series ends, we’ll all be looking
forward to getting them back on home turf for the 2009 npower Ashes Series.’