Wunderman Thompson: BT Sport’s Unscripted
Wunderman Thompson: BT Sport’s Unscripted
Celebrating football's beautiful unpredictability – with data
BT Sport’s challenge to Wunderman Thompson and Essence was to help it take on and defeat its rivals in the battle for subscriptions. So, the agencies decided to ignite a global debate, using technology, social media and a large dose of controversy.
Time and again, football shows just how unpredictable live sport can be. You just couldn’t write it. Or could you? Together with BT Sport, the agencies united Opta, the world’s leading supplier of sports data, Squawka, the analytical sports agency, and Google Cloud. Their goal: use big data and AI to do the unthinkable – write the entire season into a 60-page script, before a ball had even been kicked. The next step was to release the script to pundits, players, influencers, journalists and fans – then sit back and watch the fireworks.
What followed was a conversation explosion across talk shows, newspapers, social media and news channels, driving 30% more BT Sport subscriptions than in the prior season.
The Unscripted campaign received global media coverage, gaining 137 million media impressions across 44 countries.