Tayto hits the bullseye with sponsorship of darts on Sky Sports

Tayto Group, category leaders in Pork Snacks are launching their biggest ever campaign for pork scratchings – sponsoring coverage of darts on Sky Sports.

The exciting new deal was created in partnership by Sky Media, the advertising arm of Sky and integrated marketing agency, Bray Leino. The campaign sees the first ever TV campaign for Tayto’s pork snacks range.

This perfect pairing of pork scratchings and darts kicks off on July 13th with the World Matchplay tournament in Blackpool and continues all the way through to January 3rd culminating in the epic finale of the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace.

Running across four major tournaments, this heavyweight campaign will be viewed by 6 million people delivering almost 300 million views. The ad creative features the commentary style and jargon unique to darts, which is certain to hit the spot with darts and scratchings fans alike.

In its first ever TV campaign for pork snacks, Tayto will shine a spotlight on their top-flight pork snacks – the No.1 selling Mr. Porky Original Scratchings, the unique Mr. Porky Crispy Strips, and Midland Snacks’ traditional Hand Cooked Pork Scratchings.

“We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Sky Sports on this landmark TV sponsorship,” comments Tayto’s Marketing Director Matt Smith. “Darts and pork scratchings are the perfect partnership. Helped by the ‘Luke Littler effect’, darts is on a roll, as are pork snacks as the fastest growing segment in Savoury Snacks.”

Andy Benningfield, Head of Broadcast at Bray Leino, says: “In life, there are some perfect doubles. Lennon and McCartney, strawberries and cream, tea and biscuits, and now, pork snacks and Darts on Sky Sports. The partnership between Tayto Group’s pork snacks and Sky Media really is tops and we’re delighted to play matchmaker. We’re sure that viewers of the darts will agree Tayto Group has hit a nine darter with this campaign.”

Through this campaign, as category leaders, Tayto aims to drive further awareness and growth of both Mr. Porky and Midland Snacks – reminding the nation that there really is no matching a scratching.

About Tayto Group:
Tayto Group is Britain’s largest family-owned snack manufacturer with five manufacturing sites across the UK generating sales of £280m. With a portfolio of well-loved brands including Golden Wonder, Tayto, REAL and Mr Porky, Tayto is also the UK’s leading supplier of retailer-branded snacks.

Wickes and Sky Sports Strike Multi-Tournament Darts Deal

Brand to sponsor Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League Darts, World Matchplay, World Darts Championship and World Cup of Darts

Wickes and Sky Sports have signed a multi-tournament deal for the home improvement business to sponsor Sky Sports coverage of four darts tournaments in 2021 with its TradePro trade loyalty scheme.

This follows the successful sponsorship of Sky Sports’ coverage of the 2020 World Darts Championship, which saw Wickes TradePro idents play out across the broadcast of the December event, leading to increased traffic to the TradePro section of the retailer’s website. The brand is back with 13 idents that portray a tradesperson taking on common jobs, with a darts based voiceover bringing levity to the everyday scenes being portrayed. At the start of each commercial broadcast break, the idents highlight signing up to the Wickes TradePro loyalty scheme.

The sponsorship of Sky Sports’ darts coverage also includes Wickes TradePro branding on the darts section of Skysports.com via a mix of digital placements. Further engagement will be activated through Sky AdVance, which will retarget the darts linear audience reinforcing the brands message online, together with additional Sky Sports social clip sponsorship across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

The partnership, facilitated by dentsu agencies The Story Lab and Carat, goes live on 5^th April during Night One of the Premier League Darts, running through until the tournament’s conclusion in May. Sponsorship of Sky Sports Darts coverage also includes the World Matchplay in July, the World Darts Championship in December and the World Cup of Darts.

Shelley Allison, Head of Marketing at Wickes said: ‘We’re really excited about this multi-tournament deal to sponsor Sky Sports’ darts coverage. Last December we saw a significant increase in sign-ups to our Wickes TradePro scheme which told us we were raising awareness with the right audience. This partnership helps us drive brand awareness of TradePro throughout the year and we’re looking forward to seeing the results in talking to this audience over a longer period of time.”

Natalie Flageul, Creation Director at The Story Lab said: ‘We are thrilled to be building on the success of our sponsorship of the World Darts championship in 2020. Darts fans are renowned for their love and passion for the sport. We are hoping that our continued support will build a deeper connection between this audience and the Wickes TradePro brand and deliver further business results.’

Jo Osborne, Senior Producer at Sky Sports commented: “We are delighted to welcome Wickes back as a partner of Darts in 2021. With a packed schedule of tournaments to keep fans entertained throughout the course of the year, it’s a great time to be on board with Sky Sports Darts.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, added: “This is a truly integrated cross-platform partnership that will see Wickes sponsor the best of Sky Sports’ Darts coverage across linear TV, VoD, Sky Go and Sky Sports social platforms, and uses Sky’s unique AdVance targeting capabilities to reach Darts fans online. With the four tournaments all staged during key sales periods for Wickes, the partnership is a great example of how brands can align content and context; reaching the right audience at the right moments.”