Ryder Cup Sky Tweets: How Paddy Power Ambushed #TeamUSA at Medinah
October 1 2012 12.31 | 06 Comments
Paddy Power Ryder Cup Sky Tweets Planes
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power posted the worlds first ‘sky tweets’ in a guerrilla campaign designed to share messages of support to #TeamEurope golfers who were competing in the 2012 Ryder Cup at the Medina Country Club in Illinois.
The bookmaker hired 5 stunt planes to fly at 10,000ft above the course to tweet up to 60 specially selected messages some in support of the European golfers, while others just taunting their American counterparts.
Some of the tweets, which were visible from more than 20 miles away, included ‘Spirit of Seve’, ‘Rory’s Gonna Getcha’ and ‘Mrs Dufner is Hot’ in reference to the wife of US player Jason Dufner. Tiger Woods didn’t get away with tweets asking ‘Seen Tiger?’
The cheeky campaign was led by Paddy Power’s own twitter handle (@PaddyPower) and asked followers to use the not-official #GoEurope hashtag.
And who was behind this campaign? Well, the London-based Taylor Herring PR agency of course [I stand corrected, in fact the concept was 'invented, managed and delivered by CURB with support from PR agency Taylor Herring. Thanks to Anthony for the correction! 
]. Hat tip’s all round for a campaign that used creativity and social media.
Have a look here at Rory McIlroy’s reaction to the tweets in the Sky:
Category: consumer, news, social media | Tags: advertising, communications, golf, guerilla marketing, guerrilla marketing, marketing, paddy power, public relations, ryder cup, twitter
Hi Anthony, thanks for the note and clarifying. I've edited the piece to let other know. Great tactic by the way!
Genius – love it
[...] In the UK on Monday, two people responsible for distributing millions of spam texts were targeted in an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) crackdown that could leave the pair facing fines of up to £500,000. This leads to a significant shift for the telecoms world. Paddy Power, who this summer famously managed to bypass Locog’s strict marketing regulations, were the first brand to use ‘sky tweets’ as they ambushed the Ryder Cup. [...]
[...] Julio Romo blogged about this story yesterday with additional video and noting who the PR firm behind it was: Taylor [...]
I love this stunt – brilliant. Paddy Power are always willing to do something a bit risky and I imagine it cost a fortune but it's a great idea and excuted brilliantly. I would be interested to see the actual results of the campaign.
Thanks for the great comments guys, just one thing to add. The Sky-Tweet activation was invented, managed and delivered by CURB (curbmedia.com). Taylor Herring helped deliver all the press office support and surrounding PR. Contextual pics of the activation over the course here: https://picasaweb.google.com/10649435183571162708…