Door drops have proven to be successful and cost-effective for Sky in the past, so are a key medium for the broadcaster. Now, faced with increased marketplace competition, it needed to communicate how it was different, what was new and the worth-paying-for choice it could offer to Freeview customers. Working with Sky’s insights and decision sciences team, the campaign team developed a model that, among other things, looked at pay TV penetration, risk, affluence, geography and propensity to purchase. And by combining this data-driven insight with its most popular shows and a clear price offer, the network managed to win new customers and outperform its existing champion campaign.

The Objective

Sky could target postcodes with a high concentration of Freeview customers, making door drop the ideal strategic choice to target a large audience who were not currently paying for TV. This target audience didn’t usually see the value in pay TV or felt it was too expensive – so the campaign used the most popular show anywhere on TV, Game of Thrones, to entice them. This was dangled with a persuasive halfprice offer and intriguing creative to create a proposition people found hard to refuse: entertainment everyone was talking about for less than they expected. Sky used best practice mail principles like clear eye paths, tangible customer benefits, bullet points and bold calls to action alongside behavioural economic techniques such as nudging (“Our most popular TV bundle”), herding (“The box sets everyone’s talking about”) and chunking (clearly comparing each bundle content).

The Campaign

Sky could target postcodes with a high concentration of Freeview customers, making door drop the ideal strategic choice to target a large audience who were not currently paying for TV. This target audience didn’t usually see the value in pay TV or felt it was too expensive – so the campaign used the most popular show anywhere on TV, Game of Thrones, to entice them. This was dangled with a persuasive halfprice offer and intriguing creative to create a proposition people found hard to refuse: entertainment everyone was talking about for less than they expected. Sky used best practice mail principles like clear eye paths, tangible customer benefits, bullet points and bold calls to action alongside behavioural economic techniques such as nudging (“Our most popular TV bundle”), herding (“The box sets everyone’s talking about”) and chunking (clearly comparing each bundle content).

The Results

Results were outstanding, comfortably outperforming Sky’s previous champion door drop. Acquisition was 15% above target and conversion 18% above target, showing that the “whole story, half the price” offer was hard for people to refuse as both an emotional draw and a rational deal. Incremental sales beat the previous champion format by 22% and delivered a 1.7:1 ROMI.