SkyZero: Customer Engagement Campaign of the Year

At a glance:  
Who:  Sky Sports and Sky Zero 
What:  An award-winning behaviour change campaign promoting low and zero-emission transport 
Where:  Various European golf, cricket and motorsports events 
When: Summer 2023 
Why: Reducing emissions from fan travel to large sporting events 

The Challenge:  

Large-scale sporting events are an integral part of the summer holidays for many across Britain and Europe. But as the hosts of these events increasingly implement sustainability strategies and hire environmental professionals to reduce their footprint, fan travel remains a challenge.  

Fan travel and accommodation are estimated to account for 85% of the emissions footprint of the typical large-scale sporting event. Bringing this down will require changes in fan behaviour as well as collaboration between teams, venues, local authorities and transport operators. 

The Solution:  

As part of its 2023 ‘Summer of Sustainability’ campaign, Sky Sports used advertising, social media and unique challenges and events to encourage fans to walk, cycle, share lifts or use public transport. This specific initiative was called ‘Travel Green’. 

Sky partnered with Formula 1, the R&A and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to deliver the campaign, with a focus on The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool in July 2023, The Hundred in August 2023 and the F1 Monza Grand Prix in September 2023. 

Thousands of fans changed their habits after engaging with the campaign via social media, advertising or on-site activations. 

How it works:  

‘Travel Green’ was a multi-channel campaign including out-of-home advertising, TV and online advertising, TV coverage and interactive events. Fans were asked to make a commitment to change their travel habits, with Sky targeting a million commitments. Commitments could be made online or at on-site activations at the sporting events. 

Sky worked with multiple partners on this campaign and planned for some six months behind the scenes. Partners included sporting venues, events hosts, local councils and influencers.  

Sky emphasised the benefits of behaviour change beyond reducing emissions, and creating fun experiences for fans online and in-person. These included a ‘Walk of Fame’, whereby a green screen recording enabled fans to recreate walks of famous sportspeople including the ‘walk to the wicket’ at Lord’s. This provided a digital keepsake and, doubtless, a fun talking point.  

But the campaign also highlighted how long-standing, much-loved sporting events can be impacted by the climate crisis. Fans were reminded that June 2023 was the hottest on record in the UK, while July 2022 saw the first temperatures above 40C recorded. As these kinds of weather become more frequent, play and infrastructure will be impacted, fans were told.  

The campaign empowered fans to play a part in changing the course of the climate crisis through collective actions which they could reasonably achieve.  

The results:  

More than four million people saw Sky’s campaign through out-of-home channels and more than a further 2.4 million views were clocked up through TV and online advertising. The campaign also performed well on social media, particularly Snapchat, where content reached 6.2 million impressions – far exceeding the target of 3.7 million. An augmented reality (AR) feature in the app proved popular. 

Moreover, onsite activations at the sporting events attracted more than 6,000 visitors. 

Views and visits translated into tangible real-world action. In total, fans made commitments to 685,000 ‘greener’ journeys as a result of Sky’s campaigning.  

The Hundred recorded a 22% increase year-on-year in fan use of ‘greener’ transport options while the Open reported that 44% of attendees used public transport. 

The Judges said:

“The Travel Green Campaign was executed brilliantly, with a multi-channel delivery that resulted in real behaviour change. The sheer amount of pledges made and editorial coverage given is very impressive.”