B2C Diary: April 2024

Lighting up Liverpool with William Hill ahead of the Grand National

William Hill are the Official Betting Partner of the Grand National Festival – but rather than use this sponsorship to aggressively push for customer acquisition, we wanted to create a statement activation in the race’s home city that would excite racing fans and casuals alike ahead of the world’s most famous horse race.

Working with a projection partner, we created a powerful 4-minute film projected onto St Johns Beacon in Liverpool city centre – complete with audio and 3D elements – with assets captured on-site distributed for PR, Social and Influencer use to build the biggest splash ahead of the event.

Our showpiece film helped to build anticipation for the Grand National, create an atmosphere of celebration, reflect on the heritage and prestige of the great event, while promoting William Hill’s association with the Grand National Festival.

Last night was fun!

Our team worked alongside Double Take Projections to pull off this fantastic 3D light show in Liverpool for @WilliamHill ahead of the Grand National @AintreeRaces.

🚨 🤩 🏇 @AP_McCoy @LeonnaMayor https://t.co/h41RVI4aQp

— Square in the Air (@squareintheair) April 11, 2024

Interviews with attending ambassadors AP McCoy and Leonna Mayor were conducted on-site, with stunning video and photography captured sent out to press alongside William Hill’s social channels in the 72 hours prior to the flag dropping. Our hard-working press office and social strategy, encompassing paid social and influencer/celeb support ensured strong engagement and coverage of the visual art project at a key moment for the brand.

As for results, we reached 1.4m users across three social platforms while receiving 79k engagements. Through a combination of paid spend, influencer collaborations and the onboarding of celebrity sporting names, we were able to make a substantial splash across both the @WilliamHill and @WillHillRacing channels on the week of the event.

Our video and image assets were also featured in a collection of top-tier racing, national and industry media including Racing Post, At The Races, Racing TV, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Independent, Yahoo, MSN and PR Week.