Telegraph scoops BJK&E top prize

The Daily Telegraph has won BJK&E’s hotly contested competition to

find the media idea of the year for DaimlerChrysler.

Entrants had to come up with an innovative idea - falling within a

budget of pounds 100,000 - to launch DaimlerChrysler’s unusual-looking

PT Cruiser in the UK.

A Telegraph team comprising ad manager Jonathan Wilson, head of

commercial development Helen Slater and commercial manager Carla Farria,

won the budget and the pounds 1,000 prize money. Other finalists

included The Guardian, Sky, The Mail on Sunday and More Group.

The Daily Telegraph’s idea will centre around an editorial competition

whereby a number of readers will be given the car for three months. They

will then provide on-going opinions in the daily and Sunday papers, as

well as on Electronic Telegraph.

James Jennings, media director at BJK&E, said: ’They worked their

5,000-person reader panel into the idea, which we like because it gave

our client the chance to get feedback on the car. They also found lots

of ways of linking the promotion through to the dealerships. It is very

interactive and well thought out.’

Sky’s team, comprising strategic planner Gillian Stokes and account

managers John Wildman and Paul Stancheris, came up with the idea of

showing a series of car-focused movies - such as California Split and

Pink Cadillac - on Sky Movies and having them sponsored by the PT

Cruiser. They also planned a cross-media competition to win the car,

which would appear on a Sky microsite and in Sky View, its listings

magazine. The team also suggested running interactive TV ads, based on

existing American creative, to gauge viewer interest.

The Mail on Sunday team, consisting of senior sales executives Rebecca

Richards and Chris Lucas, proposed a five-week comic strip with the PT

Cruiser as the hero of the series. Readers would have a chance not only

to win the car but also to appear in the final strip.

More Group suggested the pounds 100,000 should be used to buy up the

whole of Vauxhall Cross, where it owns a host of poster sites. National

sales controller Adam Butterworth and sales executives Michael Steckler

and Milton Gan, suggested creating a virtual dealership for Cruisers in

the middle of the area.

The Guardian and The Observer team, led by agency sales manager Adam

Freeman, came up with the idea of having one of their journalists drive

the car through Europe. The reporter would write regular updates on the

journey in Life and Guardian Unlimited and editorial would tie in with a

series of ads and a competition to win the car.

’The competition has brought out the best in people,’ said Jennings. ’We

would love to have used several of the ideas.’

This article was first published on Campaign