Volvo and Sky Atlantic have partnered since 2013 through a TV sponsorship. The partnership has built long-term brand strength and has widened Volvo’s image beyond safety, with more focus on innovation, design and a progressive mindset.
This partnership happens in a context where Volvo is moving to a direct-to-consumer model. That shift raised expectations for marketing: keep the brand consistent, and show clearer business impact.
For this campaign, Sky Media introduced “Smart Sponsorship”, which adds addressable targeting to a broadcast sponsorship. This actually makes this collaboration the first time addressable targeting was integrated into broadcast sponsorship in the UK.
Also, the ident version changed by audience group, as households in different segments received different idents within the Sky Atlantic sponsorship. Four segments shaped the creative routes:
- Mobility Pioneers (25–35)
- Mobility Pioneers (35–55)
- Pragmatic Drivers
- Trendy Car Buyers
Each segment received idents that highlighted different Volvo themes (e.g. electric mobility and sustainability, safety, design and technology) while keeping the same Volvo look and feel.
Campaign objectives
The main objective was to evolve a long-running sponsorship into a more performance-driven and more personalised approach, while keeping the reach and brand role of a channel sponsorship.
The campaign had three goals: increase relevance through audience-led creative, drive deeper engagement within the sponsorship environment, and deliver measurable uplift in brand metrics and purchase intent.
Given the strength of the ongoing partnership with Volvo, the key point here was whether personalisation could lift results further without changing the core sponsorship set-up.
Creative minds
Sky Media brings “Smart Sponsorship” to the activity and uses AdSmart to deliver different versions by household.
On the client side, Georgina Williams, UK Marketing Operations at Volvo, says this personalised approach helps the message connect with the right people and supports business results.
Campaign video
Here is one of the Volvo Sky Atlantic sponsorship idents for this campaign. It uses Volvo’s established brand styling and delivers a short, clear message designed for repeated placement around programming.
Results
In the end, the campaign delivered stronger scores than the industry norms stated in the entry across three creative diagnostics.
- Visibility: 94% (norm 91%)
- Clarity: 91% (norm 79%)
- Believability: 91% (norm 81%)
Qualitative feedback also differed by segment. For instance, the “Pragmatic Drivers” segment responded positively to family-focused narratives, while the “Trendy Car Buyers” praised sleek technology cues and modern aesthetics. As for ‘Younger Mobility Pioneers”, they connected with future-focused storytelling, and “older Mobility Pioneers” valued safety innovations and design detail.
On top of this, brand image rose by +6% year on year, while purchase intent was +211% higher among exposed viewers than non-viewers, making it the highest uplift recorded across the 12-year partnership.
Client satisfaction is described as extremely high. Volvo refers to the partnership as helping them to “connect with our audience in a more personal way.”
Source: egta.com
OTHER CASE STUDIES
M6 UNLIMITED TESTS AI SPOT CREATION FOR SMALLER TV AND STREAMING ADVERTISERS
22. 5. 2026M6 Unlimited is building a simpler route into TV and streaming advertising for smaller and newer advertisers. Its offer combines a dedicated SME buying path through its future ad manager, lower entry budgets, support across strategy, creative production and measurement. During a POC with Waymark, M6 Unlimited explored how to reduce the cost and complexity… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
THE TV ADVERTISING PARADOX, A THINKTV NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY (2/2)
22. 5. 2026The strategic response: the TV advertising paradox. The TV Advertising Paradox did not begin as a creative idea in search of a problem. It emerged as the strategic response to what the market review revealed. At the centre of the response sat a contradiction that could not be ignored. Linear television was being described as… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
A BIG-SCREEN STUDY FINDS STRONGER ATTENTION ON TV4 PLAY THAN ON YOUTUBE
24. 4. 2026TV4 just launched its third attention study, comparing the viewing experience on its streaming service (TV4 Play) with YouTube’s big screen experience at home. It confirms once again the assumption that the streaming environment provided by a qualitative TV network (BVOD) delivers a much bigger attention than UGC platforms, such as YouTube. An at-home test… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
THE TV ADVERTISING PARADOX, A THINKTV NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY (1/2)
24. 4. 2026In late 2024, ThinkTV New Zealand, under the leadership of Jacqueline Freeman, GM Communications, undertook a full market review to understand how television was being perceived, valued, and used across the New Zealand marketing ecosystem. This was a broad diagnostic rather than a simple pulse check. It drew on perspectives from CMOs, CFOs, insights people,… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
AD EMISSIONS MEASUREMENT: LESSONS FROM THE FINNISH MARKET
31. 3. 2026Finland’s commercial TV broadcasters spent the past year developing a carbon emissions measurement framework for linear TV advertising, starting with no local methodology and ending with a validated model owned by an industry body. For markets facing the same challenge, the experience offers a useful reference point. Start narrow, then scale The project focused exclusively… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
A NEW WAY FOR FRANCETV PUBLICITÉ TO SELL CONTEXTUAL VIDEO ADVERTISING
27. 3. 2026FranceTV Publicité (FTP), the advertising sales house for French public television, has introduced Context.IA into its digital video offer. The solution uses programme context to decide when an ad should appear, instead of relying only on fixed scheduling. That makes Context.IA a new commercial tool inside FranceTV Publicité’s own video inventory. Context.IA links programme cues… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
BUILDING A SHOPPABLE, ATTENTION-READY CTV OFFER: THE BIG BROTHER CONTEXTUAL CASE
26. 3. 2026In 2025, Paramount Australia, in partnership with FreeWheel and egta, hosted a webinar outlining a forward-looking view of the evolving advertising market. One key topic explored the industry’s shift to pull-based discovery, experience-driven engagement, and frictionless content-commerce integration. Paramount Australia’s Contextual Advertising Suite directly responds to these trends, reinforcing the company’s leadership in premium CTV… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
GLOBO CREATES HOME SCREEN PROMINENCE FOR FREE-TO-AIR TV ON SMART TVS
26. 2. 2026Globo, Brazil’s largest commercial TV group, is rolling out DTV+, a next-generation free-to-air TV standard designed for connected TVs. It brings broadcast channels into the TV operating system, with app-like navigation, login and interactive layers placed directly on top of live programming. The move fits Brazil’s viewing reality. Linear TV accounts for 57.9% of total… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
THE VISUAL TRANSFER EFFECT: HOW SOUND BUILDS BRANDS
24. 2. 2026In collaboration with neuro-marketing agency Unravel, Talpa Media has produced the scientific proof that audio does not just complement TV. It actively reactivates it, reconstructing visual brand memories in the consumer’s mind through sound. The findings carry significant implications for how audio is planned, sold, and valued within the wider media mix. Context Talpa Media… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
RMB TURNS QR CODE VOTING INTO A SHARED VIEWING MOMENT THAT STRENGTHS BRAND IMAGE FOR SPRITE AND DELI CHOC
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives The chocolate snack Deli Choc and soft drink Sprite brands worked with RMB to reach younger audiences by becoming part of Belgian hip-hop show “PLAYGROUND”, supporting new rap talent through a live QR vote and cross-platform content. This helps the brands appear as enablers of the format rather than separate ads. For RMB… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
CANADIAN SUPERSTAR ANDREW PHUNG HELPS VIA RAIL CHALLENGE CAR CONVENIENCE ASSUMPTIONS WITH LONG-FORM STORYTELLING ACROSS CBC’S TV ECOSYSTEM
24. 2. 2026Campaign objectives VIA Rail, the company operating Canada’s national passenger rail service, combined a new product launch with brand building, using long-form content to tackle misconceptions that tend to block conversion in travel: comfort, ease, and whether rail feels like a realistic alternative to driving for intercity trips. The objectives behind this campaign were to… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS
HOW L’ORÉAL PARIS AND RTL MADE STREET HARASSMENT HARD TO IGNORE
24. 2. 2026Context Sexual harassment in public spaces is one of the most common forms of gender-based violence in the world. Two figures frame the issue: 80% of women have experienced street harassment, but 85% of people say they lack training on how to intervene. Ad Alliance and L’Oréal created a campaign to respond to this problem… Continue reading UPGRADING A TV SPONSORSHIP WITH ADDRESSABLE IDENTS