Zone was hired by BT to help establish it as a credible player in the football market through digital content marketing. Zone's approach was to 1) hire a full-time editor with football expertise, 2) identify and leverage key influencers, and 3) optimize content distribution across digital channels. Under Zone's management, Life's a Pitch grew its weekly audience by over 16,000% and YouTube views to over 1.7 million. This success helped BT gain credibility and a loyal audience in the competitive football market through ongoing, valuable content.

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Helping BT become a
football ‘player’
Cool Content 21 September 2012
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Introducing Zone
Zone is a digital agency with a unique
content heritage
Our team of 110 includes planners,
creatives, developers, account managers
– and journalists
Our editorial expertise makes us
uniquely well placed to help brands
connect with audiences in an always-on
digital world
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Today
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The Our The content The results Key learnings
challenge approach
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1. The challenge
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June 2010
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The challenge
Can BT establish itself
as a credible player Can I play
with you?
in the football market?
Run along,
squirt
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In the pre-digital world…
Hi, I’m Kevin Keegan
and football on BT
is ace!
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Marketing used to be a doddle
• Brands static
• All touchpoints controlled by brand
manager
• Purchase media
• Interrupt consumers
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Marketing used to be a doddle
BUY
THIS
YOU
IDIOTS!
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But in the digital world…
• Brands are alive
• Distribution is open to everyone
• Touchpoints out of brand
manager’s control
• Conversations happen 24/7
• A small number of people can
make a vast amount of noise
about a brand
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The role of content
• Content can become part of these conversations by
giving people something of value
• Brands need to move from telling one big story a year
to continual engagement
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“ If we as businesses deliver consistent,
ongoing valuable information, customers
ultimately reward us with their business
”
and loyalty.
Content Marketing Institute
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2. Approach
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The insight
In digital, you cannot divorce the content from
its method of distribution
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The insight
Whatever
Hello, I’m
really credible
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Zone’s approach
1. Appoint a full-time editor with a deep understanding of the football audience
2. Identify and leverage key influencers within the digital football community
3. Optimisation and distribution of content for appropriate digital channels
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1. Living and breathing the brand
• Full-time editor
• Commissioning budget
• Support from wider Zone team:
- Subs
- Developers Dan
- Designers
- Picture editors
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2. Identify and leverage key influencers
80% of
6% of
online
impressions
adults about a brand
or issue
Source: Forrester Online Survey, 2010. Base: All US Online Adults 21

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2. Identify and leverage key influencers
• Instinctively understand how to connect in a digital
world
• Understand how to build and nurture audiences
• Fresh eye on stories rather than formulaic approach
• Bring their own audiences with them
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2. Identify and leverage key influencers
• Instinctively understand how to connect in a digital
world
• Understand how to build and nurture audiences
• Fresh eye on stories rather than formulaic approach
• Bring their own audiences with them Create and
distribute
content
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2. Identify and leverage key influencers
• Instinctively understand how to connect in a digital
world
• Understand how to build and nurture audiences
• Fresh eye on stories rather than formulaic approach
• Bring their own audiences with them Create and
distribute
The distribution is integral to the content
content
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3. Optimisation for key channels
• Understanding how football fans behave in digital
• Where they source content?
• How they source content?
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3. Optimisation for key channels
• Understanding how football fans behave in digital
• Where they source content?
• How they source content?
= 47% of all traffic
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3. The content
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Considerations
• It’s a hugely saturated market
• Fans source match previews / reviews from
trusted sources
• Impossible to compete on news
• Footballers are genetically boring
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Considerations
• It’s a hugely saturated market
• Fans source match previews / reviews from
trusted sources
• Impossible to compete on news
• Footballers are genetically boring
BUT fans do seek out high quality, highly
opinionated content
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The role for Life’s A Pitch
“Original opinion from the best football
writers on the web”
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What works?
Profiles of new and youth players that
could potentially transform a club’s
fortunes
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What works?
Provocative tactical analysis of teams and
players
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What works?
A sense of perspective amid all the
hysteria
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What works?
Gentle poking of fun at millionaire
footballers
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What works?
Criticism (or praise) of popular (or disliked)
figures
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What works?
Picking up the baton on an issue fans feel
ignored on
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Video
• Influential bloggers alongside
national newspaper journalists
• Seeded through their networks
and our own social media
platforms
• Same editorial principles
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4. The results
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39. Instant impact
• In the five months after Zone took over Life’s A Pitch in April 2011, compared to the five months the
site was live beforehand, weekly visits increased by 1,465%
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40. Building on the success
• Comparing August 2012 to March 2011 (the final month before Zone took over) we’ve achieved a
16,315% increase in visits
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41. Distribution
• Over 1.7 million views on YouTube with nearly 3,000 subscribers
• Over 5,000 Twitter followers
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42. Value for money
£3 million Much, much less
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43. The challenge
Can BT establish itself as
a credible player in the
football market?
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44. The challenge
Can BT establish itself as
a credible player in the
football market?
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45. A phased approach
1. Establish platform for ongoing conversation ✔
2. Create, ongoing valuable content to feed conversations ✔
3. Build audience ✔
4. Build relationships ✔
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46. A phased approach
1. Establish platform for ongoing conversation ✔
2. Create, ongoing valuable content to feed conversations ✔
3. Build audience ✔
Convert
4. Build relationships ✔
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47. “ If we as businesses deliver consistent,
ongoing valuable information, customers
ultimately reward us with their business
”
and loyalty.
Content Marketing Institute
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5. If you remember three things…
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If you remember three things…
1. Don’t think about digital content in isolation of its method of distribution
2. It’s about target influencers, not just target audience
3. Quality actually matters
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Thank you
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