MARC LUTHER THOMAS

It was a privilege to white-label on behalf of a US agency to produce organic and paid social media content for a multinational sponsor of the 150th Open at St Andrews.

The client has a strong portfolio of sport sponsorships, which includes delivering innovative sports technologies that enhance the fan experience for renowned competitions around the world including IndyCar and the Tour de France. As a long-term partner of the R&A, the client took this to new levels for the landmark occasion that was the 150th Open at St Andrews. I was tasked with amplifying their activities at The Open, utilising organic and paid social media content, with colleagues supporting from a Google Ads and graphic design perspective.

🏆 Congratulations to Cameron Smith for his victory at @TheOpen, holing five birdies in a row on the back nine, no less! #NTTDATA's cutting edge data and analytics has been transforming the fan experience and we can't wait to do it all again for the @AIGWomensOpen in August! ⛳️ pic.twitter.com/z0yzpa4zp3

— NTT DATA (Official) (@NTTDATA) July 18, 2022

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Social Media

It was my responsibility to lead on the production of social media copy for the four days of the tournament itself, as well as pre-event and post-event content. With the debut of some revolutionary sporting technologies at The Open, We aimed to showcase these as much as possible, with a wide range of output demonstrating how these enhanced fan experiences both at the course and at home. We also endeavoured to build credibility among new audiences by showcasing the client’s sporting pedigree, having worked with a range of elite sport tournaments and organisations. Not only was content produced on behalf of the client, but a series of posts were also created to be distributed by the R&A to promote the partnership.

As well as building a social content plan ahead of The Open, I was also tasked with social listening across the four days of play. This centred on identifying posts about the action at St Andrews, whether that be certain players’ performances, standout shots and the state of play, reacting in a relevant and engaging way to draw attention to the client and its technologies. I would also find brand mentions and address these as appropriate.

The overall organic social content saw 1 million impressions, from which 9,100 engagements and 2.9k click-throughs were generated.

Have you met Olive and Mabel yet? 🐶

🎥 Ahead of hosting our live show from @TheOpen on Friday, we caught up with @BBCSport commentator @MrAndrewCotter with his canine YouTube stars on the course at @TheHomeofGolf for the #NTTDATA Patron's Day ⛳️ #TheOpen #DrivingDataFurther pic.twitter.com/6b1Cu4SGJo

— NTT DATA (Official) (@NTTDATA) July 12, 2022

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Paid Media

The overarching objective of the PPC activity at The Open was to reach as many people as possible. With content from the client’s technology experts through to professional golfers and their partners at the R&A, I monitored and managed promotions covering a variety of topics including technological innovation, brand partnerships and sustainability. These PPC ads were distributed across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google and YouTube, and also featured boosted ads from the ore-existing organic content.

There were 84,000 clicks on ads across all channels, with 30.2 million impressions generated as well as 4.5 million engagements.