DRIVEN PR; TURNING THE FASTEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD INTO A BRAND. Wire Media

Category: PR Susie Wolff is the only Scotland documentary sports personality and Word count: 1650 woman in . and motivate the inspirational figure. national network to Despite her impressive commit to a TX date - lay Highlights include: success in a male- a more complex almost 250 pieces of dominated, money- challenge. coverage including orientated world, when Vogue, the One Show she and her brother Through careful and Chris Evans on approached Wire Media, planning, Wire Media Radio 2; gaining over very few outside of the developed a campaign viewing figures of 2 sport knew who she was. that delivered not only million+ people; the coveted BBC partnership with Roland Behind what appeared national slot but also a Mouret and an ROI of to be a simple brief - platform from which 5200:1. gain viewers for a BBC Susie has emerged as a WIRE MEDIA: DRIVEN PR

Sibling briefs On first meeting David Stoddart, it seemed as if his PR needs were “I don't race to prove straightforward. Here was a man who had produced a documentary how good women can called ‘Driven’ and who needed media coverage to boost ratings. be against men. I race Expectation of audience share was thought to be in the region of 4% because it’s my passion but there was an outside chance that, if broadcast on BBC Scotland to and I hope this a positive reception, the national network might decide to follow suit. documentary will give an into a very competitive Having been previously voted a ‘star of tomorrow’ by Screen world, in which I’ve been International, David wanted to make sure that this piece of work would racing since I was a continue to get him noticed and elevate his career. young girl.”

As he talked through the film’s subject matter, we immediately realised that there were media stories abound. His sister, Susie Wolff, had been appointed by Formula 1 giant Williams the year previous as a development driver. He had followed her over the course of a few months, capturing moments with , and, crucially, the steely determination that one requires in order to make it in the world of F1 – particularly as a woman.

Susie is the only woman in F1. A remarkable achievement and one that we knew journalists would find fascinating. Plus, there were whispers that Susie’s role was about to increase in exciting ways.

We presented a plan to David that incorporated all of the elements needed to gain great viewing figures in Scotland; listings, what to watch spotlights, broadcast interviews with both David and Susie and indepth features.

We made sure that we had different angles and enough content to cover all Scottish weekend publications, magazine shows, news and features desks.

David loved the plan. Then we met Susie.

Impressive from the off, Susie was clearly a lady that knew what she wanted – and we could sense there was something in our proposal that didn’t quite meet the mark.

We asked her what success looked like. Her response? “I want to be in Vogue”.

Vogue is one of the most ambitious publications a PR could ever hope (fear?) to hear. At Wire Media we love a challenge but something was bothering us. This was a title that didn't fulfil the brief. The long lead times of glossy magazines meant, even if we were successful, coverage wouldn't appear until three months AFTER the Scottish TX date, at a minimum. It would do nothing to drive audience.

WIRE MEDIA: DRIVEN PR

By discussing this with them and continuing to ask questions, it became clear that whilst both Susie and David wanted the documentary to do well, it was for different reasons relating to each of their individual professions. For Susie, having already achieved so much already in a male-dominated sport, she realised that this film offered an excellent opportunity to be recognised in a wider setting. She knew it had the potential increase her profile and attract a cache of sponsors; an important consideration in the money-orientated world of Formula 1.

Putting 'Driven' in pole position

In response, we agreed a strategy that would deliver on both counts.

We set about engineering a Scottish PR campaign that would capture the attention of BBC commissioning editors in . Simultaneously we approached quality UK publications, encouraging profiles of Susie that could tie into the national broadcast date, should it happen.

We were clear which UK titles we wanted to concentrate on. Susie needed to be taken seriously. Nothing with a hint of ‘lads mag’ would do. Coverage needed to communicate the commitment she had shown to her sport; her ambition, her grit, her achievements. This is a woman who has an unparalleled passion for , who had been brought up by motorcycle shop-owner parents and who started go-karting aged 9 years old. Susie wasn’t playing at being the token girlie. She wanted to win.

Given that our campaign would see us mostly speaking with non- sports journalists, folk who had mostly never heard of Susie, we needed to find a way to do justice to her character when pitching coverage.

In conjunction with the PR team at Williams, we developed a new set of media materials for Susie, packaging her as the ‘fastest woman in the world’. This included classy photography that didn’t play on her sexuality or gender, introductory sheets that told the story of her career trajectory, comments from her teammates and Williams and a trailer for the new documentary, so that journalists could get a ‘live’ sense of the incredible person that she is.

'Drive’ on Scotland

At the same time, we spoke with Scottish media, accompanying Susie’s story with the hard fact needed to encourage audiences to watch the show; the date and time of broadcast. A carefully-planned schedule was established that took into account the varying lead-times of television and weekend magazines, compared with radio show planning.

Interviews, mainly with David, were set-up across radio, print and online. The Wire Media team ensured that the television writers and bloggers all had stills and key comments needed to promote the show as ‘one to watch’.

We were also mindful of the objectives that David set us when we first met regarding his profile and achieved coverage centred on him and his perspective, including news on Screen Daily (136,597 monthly unique users) and Huffington Post (4.8m monthly unique users).

In the midst of this activity, news emerged that Susie Wolff was to make a full F1 test, the first woman to take part in a timed F1 session since 1992 – a great validation of her work over the years and a tremendous opportunity to promote ‘Driven’.

We worked with the PR team at Williams to send out a joint release to Scottish media, including information on the documentary. We also distributed images to picture desks throughout the country. Susie finished in the top ten.

Over the course of four weeks, we achieved 45 pieces of coverage for the Scottish transmission alone. This delivered an OTS of 22m and a PR value of £4.2m.

When the documentary was aired on 24th March, it achieved an audience of more than 8% - double the initial expectation. It was also the top-watched BBC Scotland programme on iPlayer that year so far. In total, viewing figures topped 582,000.

The AI (Appreciation Index) figure was 86. BBC Scotland overall averages a score of 80.2.

In a matter of a few days, we had confirmation from the BBC in London that ‘Driven’ would be shown nationally.

Now, it was time to go full throttle.

Strike a pose Whilst delivering a brilliant PR campaign for ‘Driven’ in Scotland, our simultaneous focus on UK quality long-lead coverage began to yield results. We’d pitched her as an extraordinary role-model; smart, successful, fearless but also stylish, warm and personable. Someone who would be multi-faceted to speak to and who was set for big things in 2013.

Following a meeting with Vogue, during which we ran through Susie’s new media materials, we received an exciting confirmation. The magazine wanted to feature Susie – but not just in their news or television sections. Vogue wanted to run a four-page spread on her, complete with a dedicated fashion shoot (200,068 circulation, 1.6m unique monthly web users).

Now, with a national TX date for the documentary, we were able to negotiate a run-date with Vogue. It was tight but we managed to include the feature in an edition that was released six days before ‘Driven’ was aired.

We had the piece that Susie wanted most but we knew that there was still a big job to do in driving audience figures. Vogue alone wouldn’t fulfil that.

Getting on track

As with Scotland, our team focused on ensuring that TV writers and bloggers had the documentary synopsis and new media materials – but we also used the news of Susie’s elevated position within Williams as a hook to gain their attention. We also made sure that they had watched the documentary by sending links to them four weeks in advance, so that they could preview ‘Driven’ in its entirety well before their deadlines.

Through tenacious targeting of national publications, we gained feedback from every major television writer – and it was overwhelmingly positive. They loved the documentary and, equally, they loved Susie as a character. Every national title agreed to preview the programme.

Now, knowing that TV listings coverage was going to be significant, we focused on broadcast opportunities, particularly around the day before and day of broadcast. We knew that this would satisfy both areas of the brief – to drive audience figures and to give Susie personally a platform to shine.

We briefed Susie and accompanied her to TV and radio appearances that the Wire Media team had set-up including The One Show (5.6 million daily viewers), the Chris Evans Show (9.3 million listeners), Sunday Brunch (800,000 viewers) and 5 Live breakfast (2.4m listeners).

With interest rising, coupled with the fact that Susie wanted to be recognised outwith the world of , we started to pull together a plan of possible brand partnerships. In the short time-frame we had, we looked at who could dress Susie for her TV appearances.

Armed with a list of coverage due to appear, including detail of the Vogue feature, we approached Roland Mouret, one of Susie’s favourite designers. Not only did he agree to dress her, after her interviews had been broadcast, his team contacted us to say that he was so impressed by Susie, he wanted to develop a more significant relationship. An exciting partnership is set to be announced in the coming weeks.

With TV listings, features and broadcast all covered off, a final push with news desks and bloggers resulted in a glut of coverage, including the Daily Mail (5.9 million daily unique web users).

By the time ‘Driven’ was shown nationally, we had delivered 202 pieces of coverage, representing a OTS of 59m, a PR value of £26m and an ROI of 5200:1.

The finish line Even though it was pitched another, major sports programme on ITV (FA Cup Semi-Final), the documentary succeeded in attracting viewing figures of 1.2million, a share of 6.1%. Even in such a competitive TX time, ‘Driven’ increased the timeslot average of 1m and 5.7% share, which was an amazing achievement.

‘Driven’ has now been syndicated across the BBC Worldwide network, which spans 75 countries.

David Stoddart’s career continues to go from strength-to-strength. He is now balancing his busy freelance filming career with the development of his first feature film.

Susie retained Wire Media’s services as her personal PR and for the rest of 2013. We continued to develop her profile and partnerships, with media coverage such as The Telegraph, Stylist and GQ and partnerships introduced including activewear brand, Sweaty Betty and Rox the jeweller. Dressing relationships have also been created with Belstaff and D&G.

We continue to work with Susie on a retainer basis. Last week, we worked with Williams to announce that she is to become the first woman in 22 years to drive in an F1 race weekend.