Best Use of Research

Winning sponsor: British Telecommunications Internet and e-Business Division

Winner

Project: Rugby World Cup 1999 Official Website

Sponsor: British Telecommunications Internet and e-Business Division

Entered by: Redmandarin

Weekly summary reports were produced tracking the traffic to the site (www.rwc99.com). A pop-up survey researched the demographics and preferences of visitors during and after the tournament. Thirty-four per cent of users returned to the site frequently, 18 per cent every day. Of those claiming to know who the site was sponsored by, 69 per cent spontaneously identified BT.

Nominations

Project: National Cricket League

Sponsor: CGU

Entered by: Connexus Sponsorship & Media

Supporting activities included a press launch at the Sports Café. CGU negotiated an “ownership” deal of Sky’s output, and created CGU Cricket Weekly with Talk Radio. Brand awareness increased, particularly among ABC1 men.

Project: ITV Rugby World Cup Website in partnership with Ericsson

Sponsor: Ericsson

Entered by: The Sponsorship Consultancy/ MVi Sponsorship

The campaign included branding on every webpage and 500,000 banners throughout the ITV website (www.itv-rugby.co.uk). An eight-second credit was used after every ITV RWC broadcast. Thirty-five per cent of site visitors believed Ericsson was the official RWC sponsor.