Promotion provides creative freedom

ESPN STAR SPORTS    MEGA CUP PROMOTION   SPORTS SPONSORSHIP

• Mega Cup promo sparks media interest
• Big platform to execute creative
• New twist on creative production

Regional - In these difficult economic times when tight budgets can limit creativity in media buying, ESPN Star Sports' Mega Cup Promotion is hoping to offer up something completely different.

The Mega Cup Promotion is a competition where participants must commit US$50,000 of advertising dollars to any ESS channel along with a proposal of how they would best utilise the regional broadcast sponsorship of the FA Cup. The winner walks away with the sponsorship, worth a million dollars, for free.

"In this particular economic environment, we wanted to do something that will create and stir creative interest in the media community. Rarely does one get to work on a campaign as expansive as an FA Cup regional broadcast sponsorship so the creative freedom one gets is boundless," Paras Sharma, senior director of marketing & corporate communications for ESS, said.

Andreas Vogiatzakis, CEO of OMD Malaysia, believes the concept is an innovate idea and said his agency will certainly look into putting a proposal forward.

"Creativity has no budget and goes beyond numbers - a big idea is priceless," he said.

"But what is important is to have a platform that really enables you to come up with creative ideas and more importantly, to execute them. Looking at the ESPN proposition, it's quite unique in the sense that it allows the winner to execute a creative idea that they designed without the station coming up with it. ESPN has turned the table around."

According to Mike Rich, CEO of the ESP division at GroupM in Asia, it's a refreshing move from ESS in that they've taken a slightly more creative approach to the marketplace to try and entice brands to spend money with them.

"This campaign is raising the profile of sport and allowing potential brands to perhaps have a bit more latitude with what they do with that relationship," he said.

"We haven't decide quite what we're going to do but I'm very keen to try and ensure that we do get involved. There's obviously a fairly significant prize being made available for a successful brand."

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