Get Ahead of the Games @GAOTG

TfL & ODA builds mass awareness and real-time engagement

The Challenge

Hosting the 2012 Olympic Games was the biggest logistical challenge for the UK since the Second World War. TfL & Olympic Development Authority’s (ODA) challenge was to deliver an aggregate travel reduction of 30% across London’s transport network (public transport and roads) to allow one million extra people each day to get to Games events on time.

To balance the needs of London residents and visitors alike, TfL & ODA created the Get Ahead of the Games (@GAOTG) website. “We needed to find a way to drive traffic to the website in the months leading up to the Games and to disseminate information in real time to commuters and spectators during the Games. Twitter was the natural choice,” says Terri Lynam, Marketing Communications Lead, ODA.

The Solution

Walker Media and M&C; Saatchi along with the client created an integrated marketing campaign involving press, outdoor, radio and digital, with Twitter at the core. The @GAOTG handle featured prominently on all ad space. Six months before the Games, TfL & ODA needed to quickly build a relevant audience base. @GAOTG ran a highly targeted Promoted Account campaign which targeted Twitter users in London based on a breadth of relevant interests such as the Olympics, transportation, athletic teams, entertainment, bars, restaurants, clubs, journalists and news outlets.

To gain further traction on Twitter and drive traffic to their website, @GAOTG launched a comprehensive series of Promoted Tweets in timelines and Promoted Tweets in search. “Leading up to and during the Games, Twitter’s Promoted Tweets enabled us to broadcast messages to an engaged audience in real-time frequency” says James Banks, Digital Strategist, Walker Media. “The ability to quickly update our Twitter content and keywords gave us complete control ensuring our messages were timely and relevant.”

The Results

As a result of the @GAOTG integrated marketing campaign, over 63% of commuters planned ahead during the Games. On an average week day, 35% of commuters changed their travel routes, reaching 45% on the weekend and beating TfL & ODA’s 30% target. “Twitter’s Promoted Products drove results, high engagement and more than 45,000 new followers,” says Banks. “Most importantly, those exposed to our campaign were twice as likely to change their travel habits”.

@GAOTG also found huge success with Retweets of Promoted Tweets, which extended potential reach to 23.5 million. The most engaging Promoted Tweet featured an interactive map showing traffic during the Games and nabbed an engagement rate of nine percent. In total, 16% of website traffic was driven directly from Twitter, higher than any other digital medium.

“Twitter was the most effective medium for our goals because it offers a continuous, always-on stream of information,” says Lynam. “As a marketer, you have unique access on Twitter to people who are retweeting your content and amplifying your message in a very active way.”

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