PIONEERING & PULSATING PR
Charged with cutting through the noise of the betting industry’s biggest week of the year – the Cheltenham Festival – Heavyweight created a campaign that ticked Sky Bet’s brand persona of innovation and entertainment.
We wanted to explore just how exciting racing can be. And what better place to conduct this experiment but at horse racing’s Olympics – the Cheltenham Festival – and during the Festival’s first race; The Sky Bet Supreme Novices.
Dr Dawn in Doncaster
As with all success stories, the secret is in the preparation. We set up a trial of our equipment on a wet and windy Wednesday at Doncaster race course and, under the watchful eye of Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies Dr Dawn Harper, we wired up our participants.
"It might be a PR exercise but it's a pioneering one"
At The Cheltenham Festival we monitored the rates of the great and good of UK racing. Trainers, CEO’s, footballers, owners and commentators –
The results, analysed and interpreted by Dr Dawn, were truly remarkable – and not just on the heart rates.
Trainer Ben Pauling, whose horse High Bridge ran in the race, proved those closest to the heart of the sport endured the greatest emotions. Ben's heart rate during the race rocketed by an astonishing 189% to a chest-thumping 179bpm as High Bridge came down the home straight.