Great British Bonus

Creation, launch and marketing for a major equestrian incentive scheme

Sector

  • Corporate
  • Membership

Expertise

  • Content strategy
  • Design
  • Video

Deliverables

  • Marketing services

The client

The Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association (TBA), a group that aims to protect and support the British racing and breeding industry, wanted to launch a new incentive scheme offering bonuses of up to £20,000 per eligible race to fillies and mares. The initiative’s aim was to increase the number of British-bred horses in racing and, in so doing, safeguard the future of British breeding.

The challenge

Once the scheme had been granted official approval by the racing industry, the TBA needed a visual identity and a marketing plan that would make a splash in the racing world. Appointed following a competitive pitch, CPL’s strategists, designers, copywriters and marketers started from scratch, creating the name and concept of the Great British Bonus (GBB), and building and establishing a distinctive identity and tone of voice for the brand. CPL also put together a watertight marketing plan to ensure the successful launch of the scheme, maintaining momentum as the weeks progressed.

The solution

CPL took inspiration from racing silks to create a disruptive, confident and forward-thinking design for the visual identity of the Great British Bonus. To support the strong brand, the marketing outreach also needed to be fresh and bold. As part of this plan, CPL created a 90-second animation, which was used extensively on digital platforms. It was also turned into a physical video-mailer to support the hard-copy press release for the launch.

The CPL team went on to produce and execute a comprehensive marketing plan during 2020 to maintain the scheme’s momentum and, more importantly, generate filly registrations at key milestones. This plan included: paid-for advertising; direct e-communications; digital marketing; physical mailouts; organic social media management; and event support.

The results

1,732

total registrations in 2020 – 124% of the target 1,400

£1.5m

in bonuses paid out in less than eight months

100+

GBB bonus winners, including 10+ multiple winners

323,000+

impressions across social media channels since launch

“It would be nice to say that it [the success of the launch] was all my own work, but the great team behind me would rightly disagree with that. CPL has educated me in modern-day marketing practices. It’s been great fun working with such fast-moving minds.”

Grant Pritchard-Gordon
GBB scheme manager

Other projects