As part of a much wider ‘Bring the Noise’ campaign brief, Marketing Team Direct was asked to develop tactical ideas that would generate Word of Mouth interest in Paddy Power. To increase brand awareness and appeal effectively, ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ that had a financial value of less than £5 per person were considered. Above all, the engagement with the public had to be fun and leave a lasting impression.

The big idea

Sporting events are synonymous with Paddy Power and are the most likely places to find their sport betting target audience. Everyone knows that food vendors, at events like a football match, charge exorbitant prices and the fans are forced to accept this in order to keep hunger at bay! Marketing Team Direct thought that guerilla marketing could exploit this with a bit of good positioning and classic match day grub. With this in mind the Paddy Power Burger Van was born!

Marketing Team Direct scoured the areas surrounding Wembley and Old Trafford, to find the perfect sites to locate the Paddy Power branded burger vans. Pub car parks proved to be the ideal locations building good relationships with the landlords, breweries and most importantly, the punters. On behalf of Paddy Power, we have handed out thousands of free burgers (and smiles!) for Sweet F.A!

Hard to b-eat!

The festive atmosphere of a pub’s environment on match day also lent itself to being a great platform for some Paddy Power theatre! At Wembley before the Euro qualifier against Russia, the Paddy Power crew hosted the ‘Great Burger Off’ eating competition between Mr Paddy Power himself and ex-footballer Mickey (The Meat) Quinn. Stakes were high as the pair had to see how many burgers they could eat in 1 minute.

The tension proved too much for Mickey who lost out to Paddy by a single burger! Mickey, disappointed by the result, has vowed a rematch and is currently in some serious burger training. All in all, a thoroughly entertaining piece of theatre, which in itself generated great PR with Talk Sport, National and Regional Sports press. Burger van is now an ongoing part of the ‘Bring the Noise’ strategy.