Saint-Gobain glass scums down for sports advertising: AD campaign reaches millions
28th February 2012

Saint-Gobain Glass has signed a major advertising deal that will see the PLANITHERM brand splashed across pitchside boards during Rugby Super League games on Sky Sports, Fox Sports, and the BBC this season. PLANITHERM was also advertised during the recent Scotland vs. England Six Nations Rugby Union game in February, which attracted a huge audience.

The Rugby Super League is one of Sky Sports’ most watched family sports, and attracts up to 25% more viewers than the Rugby Union Premiership. Match highlights are also shown on the BBC’s Super League Show.

Saint-Gobain Glass chose the Super League to reinforce its PLANITHERM consumer message to homeowners who may be looking to replace their windows and installers wishing to join the PLANITHERM Installer Network.

Craig Dodsworth, Residential Market Manager for Saint-Gobain Glass, explained why the company continues to expand its consumer advertising. “Since receiving the government’s CERT [Carbon Emissions Reduction Target] funding last year, Saint-Gobain Glass has invested in the most effective ways to engage with homeowners,” he said.

Andrew Glover, managing director of West Yorkshire Windows and Chairman of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Super League team, says that sports advertising, particularly rugby league, has boosted his company’s sales: “It has grown both our local and regional brand and we have enjoyed close to £300,000 of sales as a direct result.”

The first of 12 matches began early in February between St Helens and Salford City Reds, and was broadcast on Sky Sports and the BBC reaching approximately 1.2m viewers.

The sponsorship is the latest addition to the PLANITHERM campaign, which won the Trade Promotional Campaign of the Year Award at last year’s G Awards.  “Our television adverts reached 47.2 million homeowners, and our consumer magazine adverts were seen by 16.1 million readers,” explained Craig. “Radio is slightly more difficult to analyse, but, for example, we had 97 slots on TalkSport over two weeks – they reach 5.4 million listeners a day through the week and 2.4 million a day at the weekend. The rugby sponsorship will boost this by a considerable margin.

“This has led to a significant increase in sales, thanks, in part, to homeowners using the ‘find an installer’ section of the PLANITHERM website – the site attracts around 10,000 visitors per month, with more than 70% entering the site after using ‘Planitherm’ as a search term; proof that the advertising was creating brand recognition.

Craig added; “We believe that advertising during the Rugby Super League will continue to reinforce this brand recognition and help to boost window sales right across the industry.”