The Campaign

2014 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix was held in Shanghai International Circuit during April 19th - 20th. As one of the global sponsors of Ferrari Team and Mercedes Team, PUMA wanted to maximize the awareness of its sponsorship so as to increase the familiarity of its motorsport category. Without any budget to afford a paid media or on-ground event, we turned into a strategy to earn the attention through 200,000 spectators' mobile phone screen. Thus, we introduced the first-of-its-kind 「Live Wi-Fi Leaderboard」. 1. A set of ten Wi-Fi routers had been placed into each grandstand of the circuit. 2. The ten Wi-Fi routers were named respectively by top 10 drivers’ abbreviated name and ranking. Drivers from Ferrari Team and Mercedes Team were highlighted in association with PUMA. 3. During the match, we remotely changed the Wi-Fi routers’ name in each lap reflecting the live lap timing and race info in real-time. Key PR elements and strong results: - Created a first ever earned medium to engage with audience in a live sports event. - Expressed to the 200,000+ spectators on the ground when they commonly searched for a public Wi-Fi connection and be connected 54,500+ times by 32,200+ mobile devices throughout the race. - Maximized the awareness of F1 Sponsorship, which eventually increased the familiarity of PUMA Motorsport category by 22 percentage.

The Brief

2014 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix was held in Shanghai during April 19th - 20th. Hundreds of thousands spectators came to the Shanghai International Circuit. PUMA wanted to maximize the awareness of its sponsorship so as to increase the familiarity of its motorsport category.

Results

The Live Wi-Fi Leaderboard router signals expressed to the 200,000+ spectators in the circuit and be connected 54,500+ times by 32,200+ mobile devices throughout the race. Not costly billboard, but Wi-Fi leaderboard, PUMA created a first ever earned mobile medium. Eventually the rate of familiarity / association between PUMA and Motorsport increased by 22 percentage - all with a spend of zero dollars.

Execution

[STEP ONE] A set of ten Wi-Fi routers had been placed into each grandstand of the circuit. [STEP TWO] The ten Wi-Fi routers were named respectively by top 10 drivers’ abbreviated name and ranking. Drivers from Ferrari Team and Mercedes Team were highlighted in association with PUMA. (example: 1.PUMA_RAI | 2.PUMA_ALO | 3.PUMA_ROS | 4.PUMA_HAM | 5.RIC | 6.VET) [STEP THREE] During the match, we remotely changed the Wi-Fi routers’ name in each lap reflecting the live lap timing and race info in real-time. (example: 1.PUMA_HAM_1:42.839 | 2.PUMA_ALO_1:43.760 | 3.VET_1:43.916) All these were experienced by the spectators when they commonly searched for a public Wi-Fi connection.

The Situation

PUMA has a long and successful heritage in motorsport, having sponsored Scuderia Ferrari Formula One Team and Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team for many years globally. However, the awareness of PUMA F1 Sponsorship is still low in the China market.

The Strategy

Numerous costly billboards and roadshows were set up on the ground by Formula 1 sponsors during the Chinese Grand Prix. Without any budget to afford a paid media or on-ground event, we turned into a smart way to earn the attention. We found the spectators would spend a lot of time on their mobile phone before and during the race, from real-time microblogging, to photo sharing, to news following. 200,000 Spectators = 200,000 Mobile Phone Screens. With the strategy to earn these screens, we introduced the first-of-its-kind 「Live Wi-Fi Leaderboard」.