Client: Renault Ireland

Agency: OMD

Project: Sponsorship of The Late Late Show

What was the main aim of this campaign? 

After the recession,  Renault had proposed a strategic plan with their dealer network to be in the top three after five years. Renault wanted to re-establish themselves and resonate with the Irish market in an Irish way.

What was the chosen solution and why?  

In order to meet the brief, we composed a solution that would act as a key contributor to building a strong awareness level of the Renault brand while also engaging positively with a uniquely Irish audience. The Late Late Show is the longest running chat show in the world and is a staple in Irish homes on a Friday night, with an average 500k weekly viewers (Sept 2017 to April 2018) and a 40.2% share of viewing (Sept 2017 to April 2018). With The Late Late Show comes strong national exposure which was exactly what Renault needed to meet their campaign targets. The sponsorship was also enhanced with in-show car giveaways, social media activity and clever product placement in The Late Late Toy Show. 

What was the result?

Renault has sponsored The Late Late Show now for last three years, and over this time they have experienced remarkable commercial success, growing 1.5x ahead of the Irish car market. One of the key measurements tracked within the company is footfall to their dealership network. The brand association with The Late Late Show highlighted to Renault the strength and scale of the property as it reaches right across all of Ireland. Paddy Magee states, "From our research we can see that the number one driver of footfall for us has been The Late Late Show. This impacts our key decision making for our future strategy and this is why we are renewing our partnership with RTÉ to sponsor The Late Late Show for another three years – up to 2020". 

Why did you choose to work with RTÉ?

Paddy states, "We have a great relationship with RTÉ Media Sales, and the teams work very well together. We find that instead of us challenging them, they are challenging us and bringing new and innovative ideas to the table. The way in which the teams work has been one of the key reasons why we have decided to extend this sponsorship". 

Bringing innovation to the partnership such as social media events and new platforms has really expanded and brought in a new customer base to the Renault brand. Part of the success of this is that The Late Late Show acts as an immediate platform to the Irish audience, which was a powerful tool when Renault were launching new products to market.