ENTRY INFORMATION
Company: S4C
Name of Drama: Y Gwyll
Name of Production Company: Communication Team S4C
Name of Channel: S4C
Date of first Broadcast: 29th October 2013
S4C believed that Y Gwyll had potential appeal beyond the core audience and offered the possibility of attracting a new audience to watch the series and try S4C for the first time. The marketing strategy was to position the drama as a quality drama in Welsh from Wales standing confidently against Nordic Noir series’ on any channel worldwide through a promotional campaign that built anticipation and was talked about.
We identified a number of opportunities: Investment by the channel in commissioning a quality drama; the popularity of Nordic Noir and willingness to watch with subtitles; the sale of the series to other TV channels during production; English subtitles extending viewing opportunities to non-Welsh speakers. The challenges were seen as: a small Welsh language channel fighting for attention against major national channels in a fragmented digital market; inconsistent viewing - viewers unfaithful to any channel; perceptions that drama on other channels is of higher quality.
The series was promoted widely in order to exploit frequency and reach in Wales and beyond in a bold and confident manner. This was done by investing time and resources to ensure stories appeared regularly in the press, beginning months in advance in order to build awareness, raise expectations and the profile of the main characters / actors. A multimedia campaign was executed enabling us to reach a wide cross-section of demographic in order to attract new viewers to the channel as well as inform the core audience of the new series. Striking, contemporary images were used to attract attention in print and digital materials and moving content was shot exclusively for promos and commercials. The main characters were used in launches and interviews leading up to broadcast.
The campaign included the following elements:
Press and PR
- Press articles
- TV, radio and press interviews
- Premiere in Aberystwyth
- Screening in London, Mipcom and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (where there was a performance by the series musicians)
- Preview clips and Q&As at summer events around Wales.
Out of home
- 6 and 48 sheets
- Floor to ceiling window graphics at the Visit Wales offices, Aberystwyth
- Event exhibition panels
-
Ambient
- Posters
- Beer mats
- Clean Graffiti
Digital
- Y Gwyll Facebook and Twitter accounts
- Promoted tweets
- Ads on online ondemand channels (Sky Go/ITV player)
Other Media
- Radio Ads (all commercial stations in Wales)
- S4C Promos
- Ads on other TV channels (Sky / ITV)
- Press ads (Wales and national papers)
- Magazine covers/articles
The following objectives were the building blocks of the strategy and evidence of the success of the campaign is noted.
Ob 1 - Awareness
a) Begin to raise awareness about the series 6 months prior to transmission in order to create an expectation (press coverage).
There is definite evidence that the campaign built strong awareness as noted in the following extract from the S4C Twitter Report (8/11/2013).
‘Looking forward’
This is the highest category but one, it is substantial with just under 1000 comments. Since Twitter has existed never has there been this level of ‘looking forward’ to a series on S4C. It is a completely unique response. Some look forward having seen the marketing, some after hearing from friends.
The S4C Response Panel (Kantar Media) asked viewers through which activity they heard of the series. (Non-Welsh speakers in brackets).
S4C Promo 68% (44%) Other 8% (8%)
Newspaper article 25% (17%) Ad on another TV channel 5% (3%)
ITV ad 17% (30%) Facebook 5% (3%)
Press ad 17% (14%) Radio Ads 4% (2%)
Word of Mouth 16% (28%) Welsh Event 3% (1%)
S4C programme 10% (5%) 48 sheet 2% (1%)
Twitter 10% (5%) ITV Player 0% (0%)
Magazine 10% (19%) Other Website 0% (0%)
S4C website 8% (4%) Sky Go 0% (0%)
We received attention when announcing the Welsh name of the series (April). There were articles in the press following visits to the set (May: Western Mail; Daily Post, Buzz, Stage).Y Gwyll led the announcements for the S4C autumn schedule (September: Golwg, Western Mail, Daily Post). There were also reviews in TV pages (September / October: The Guardian Guide, The Times Weekend, The Times, Radio Times). There were radio, television and press interviews with key actors and producers on Radio Cymru Stiwdio, Radio Cymru Post Cyntaf, Radio Wales Good Morning Wales, Heno, Red Handed, Buzz, Pethe, Radio Wales Arts Show.
b) Raise awareness of the transmission and extend reach by attracting new viewers to the channel (higher viewing figures than the average figure for Sunday night on S4C).
