Analyzing Sky TV's marketing strategies and its competitor's in The UK. *Presented by LSBU students for academic purpose in December 2010

1. “we believe in better”
1. Elizangela Campos
2. Kazi Roomel Ahmed
3. Vasanthan Manoharan
4. Augustine Appiah

2. Content
Introduction/Background
Campaign Objective
PEST & SWOT Analysis
Marketing mix 4Ps
S.T.P (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning)
Competitor Analysis
Marcoms Mix
Marcom Strategy
Conclusion
References

3. Background
Sky HD is a British Sky Broadcasting Group (BskyB) .
Launched on 22 May 2006 in UK and Ireland offering more than 50
channels e.g. sports, documentary, movies, entertainment or drama
programmes etc.
User must have a Sky+ HD digital box and HD ready TV to enable
high definition channels on sky to be viewed.
(Mintel 2010).

4. Vision & Mission
Vision
To be the first choice for entertainments and
communications
Mission
Entertain, excite and inspire customers with a great
choice of high-quality television in high definition.
Sky puts customers first, and work hard to earn their
trust (Annual report 2010).

5. Sky
Total customers 9,956,000
Sky + HD customers 3,154,000
Multiroom customers 2,158,000
Sky Broadband customers 2,802,000
Sky Talk customers 2,570,000
Adjusted revenue 1 £5,912 million*
Investment in programming £1,902 million*
Adjusted operating profit 1 £855 million*
Number of employees 16,500
Price of Sky TV package From £19.00 a month
(Sky .com 2010)

6. Campaign Objectives
•To inspire existing and potential consumers with a great
and vary choice of high quality television this
Christmas.
•To encourage new customers to join Sky HD box
before the end of Christmas holiday.
• To bring people together this Christmas with the
company product innovation.
•To re-enforce the new channels created this autumn.
E.g. Movie channels

7. Campaign Budget
Sky spent more than £ 9.1 million in their
Christmas campaign to promote Sky HD
(Mintel 2010).

8. Sky - Media
Mintel, 2009

9. PEST
Political:
Sky must wholesale some of its premium channels at
regulated prices to other distributors. (Ofcom.com)
Economical:
•Inflation – In Oct. 2010, inflation rate in U.K was 3.20% for the past 2 decades and the
average inflation rate was 2.72%
•Economy growth - Recreation and health contributed most to the growth this quarter.
Social:
•Attitude towards HD : 30% of SKY TV customers have SKY HD
•Perception about HD: No1 in DTH market with highest market share
Technological:
•Acceptance of HD technology: Impaired people watch SKY anytime anywhere
on Sky Player – iPad, X-box, Laptop

10. Technology Acceptance Model
• The key variables behind the users getting adopted to new
technology.
• Perceived ease-of-use
• Methods
• Device capabilities – technical features
• Perceived usefulness
• need for new feature?
• Need for technology itself?
Sky clearly communicates the requirements to enjoy the HD experience
- Need a HD ready TV along with the SKY+ HD Box to experience HD
http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/why-choose-sky-hd/

11. SWOT
S
 Dominant distribution & Market share W
 Established Networks PAN world coverage
 Innovation × Unable to tap existing SKY customers - Only 30%
Internal
 Customer Hub - empowered to answer 80% of Sky customers subscribed SKY HD
of enquiries including billing advice and technical
help
 Visible CSR – towards environment
O × Free to air channels
T
External
 50% of TV viewers are not DTH customers.
× Now Duopoly – expect more competition
Existing and New customers for other SKY
× Ofcom’s new demand
products
Positive Negative

12. Marketing Mix (the 4Ps) s
McCarthy defined the marketing
mix as a combination of all the
factors at a Marketing
Manager’s command to satisfy
the target market. (Groucutt et
al 2004)

13. 4Ps
Product: Is anything that is offered to the market which is capable of meeting
consumer’s needs. (Linton and Donelly 2009)
 SKY+ HD gives access to 50+ HD channels, 5 times more picture detail,
superb quality digital sound.
 SKY+HD 1TB box stores up to 240 hours of HD television
 SKY HD is the only provider who facilitates TV viewer with 50 + HD
channels
http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/hd-channels/)

14. PRICE
Price is a value that is placed on a product or service. (Brassington
and Pettitt 2000)
•HD pack cost £10.25 per month with one year contract. Prices vary
depending on the channel bundle customer choose to buy.
•The Sky+ HD box is free with HD pack, installation charge £30 but
now free with HD pack subscription.
•Sky+ HD 1TB cost £249, installation charge £30 for new customer
and £15 for existing customer.
•Sky Multiroom cost £10.25 per month for a year

15. PLACE
Place relates to Borden’s distribution element of
physical handling and channel distribution.
(Pickton and Broderick 2005)
Online from www.sky.com
Sky TV retailer where customer can see both
revolutionary boxes in action.

16. Competitors
www.Sky.com

17. Direct Competitor Analysis
Virgin offers two boxes:
 V HD Box- HD and 3D ready and gives access to
Catch up TV and TV on demand.
 V + HD box- HD and 3D but enables customer to
pause, rewind and record live TV, record two
channels while watching third

18. Direct Competitor Analysis
Virgin HD Campaign
 TV Ads started 1st May on ITV1 and ITV1HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DzqgQwLwpo&NR=1
 Print ads focuses on fans rather than famous
footballer

19. Virgin’s HD Campaign
• The Virgin HD campaign includes print ads in national newspapers and
UTV's Sport magazine as well as online activity on football sites, news
outlets and social media.
• Virgin Media ads has been broadcasted on Absolute Radio and UTV's
national commercial station TalkSport, both of which have Premier League
broadcasting rights, as well as run on pub, bar and stadium media.
• The TV ads are part of a multi-million pound media campaign for Virgin
Media, which includes TV, print, outdoor, cinema and online. Virgin HD
spent £41million in the first quarter of the year on the marketing of Virgin
HD which resulted in a huge addition of new customer.

20. Segmentation
This is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subset of prospects that are
"most likely" to purchase your offering. If done properly this will help to insure the highest
return for your marketing/sales expenditures. (Fill, 2009)
Segmentation Performance
•Sky 70% of subscribers
•Virgin 12.8% of subscribers
(mintel,2010)

21. Target Market
Demographics:
Men under 45s, the AB socio-economic category and higher-
earning groups (£25,000+).
Cautious – over 45s retired people, caution about adopting
new technology .
Disengaged – older women likely to be retired. Mostly
from the C2DE socio-economic groups and lower –earning
categories.
Filmies – women under-35s and in particular students.
Mintel, 2010

22. Perceptual Map
Definition of the desired unique position in the mind of targeted
consumers ( Fill, 2009)
Favourite Channel
Traditional Sky HD Innovative
Virgin
Brilliance of HD

23. Marcom Mix
Above the Line Advert
Promotions that make use of commission paying mass
media ( Fill 2009)
Bus Shelter Ad
TV Ad

24. Above the Line Advert
Electronic Billboards
Press
Online AD
TV Ad

25. Above the Line Advert
Celebrity Endorsement
Any individual who enjoys public recognition & who uses this on
behalf of a consumer goods by appearing with it in advertisements
(McCracken 1989)
Sex Appeal
Online AD
TV Ad
Kelly Osbourne ad campaign for Sky+HD. (BY Steve Hallm 2010)
http://www.adrants.com/2010/10/skinny-kelly-osbourne-painted.php

26. Through the Line Advert
A way of targeting individuals to build a one to one relationship
(Ref)
Loose Inserts
Internet Banner
Sky on Twitter

27. Below the Line Advert
Marcoms that make use of non-commission paying media in all their forms, e.g. all
forms of promotions other than advertising. (Fill.2009)
Sales Promotion is an
activity designed to
boost the sales of a
product or service
(Fill, 2009)

28. Brand elements
These are formal component of corporate strategy
Promotion
Product
Sky Logo
Avatar
Slogan
Website Telephone

29. Pull Strategy – SKY HD
Involves persuading customers
Inserts
to seek out brand in an active
process(Kotler et al , 2007)
B
I
L
L
B
O
A
R
D
S

30. Pull Strategy – SKY HD
It creates demand among
consumers
Electronic
Billboards
Press Ad
Jcdecaux
in Railway
stations
When the above Ad in Facebook is clicked, it takes the customer to the below link
http://www.sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-plus-box/?DCMP=bac-acquisition_56953186_0_233072830

31. Push Strategy – SKY HD
Involves taking the product directly to the customer via whatever means to
ensure the customer is aware of your brand at the point of purchase. (Kotler et
al (2007)
Kiosks in Shopping Centres
• Trade show promotions to encourage retailer demand
• Direct selling to customers in showrooms or face to face
• Point of sale displays

32. Profile strategy
The strategy used to satisfy an organisation’s corporate promotional goals.
•Public relations
•Sponsorship
•Corporate advertising
Team Sky
1. As a part of SKY HD’s brand building they
printed SKY HD’s logo in the Team Sky’s
jerseys.
2. Coach also bears SKY’s logo.
3. They leveraged the visibility of SKY’s team in
promoting SKY HD.

33. Profile strategy
1. Sky Rainforest Rescue -
helps save 1bn trees in
partnering with WWF - UK.
2. CSR Ads reflects on the
Brand image good will of SKY HD as
well.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/supermodel-lily-cole-launches-

34. Conclusion
Sky HD’s Integrated Marketing Communications have proven to
work because of the use of aggressive marketing and promotional
activities which makes them a well known brand in UK and Ireland.
Sky HD campaign is doing well because they use different media to
target different market segment. For example; they use Sky sport
HD campaign to target sports lovers and sky movies HD to target
movies lovers.
Rational and emotional appeals with synergy have been effectively
used in Sky HD campaigns and based on our analysis it is clear that
Sky HD has obtained a huge market share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-SteShhCcA&feature=related

35. References
• Kotler P, Keller KL et al (2007) “Marketing Management” Pearson, New Delhi.
• Brassington F and Pettitt S(2000), Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Limited,Essex
• Fill c, (2009) marketing communications: engagement, strategies and practice 5th ed. Essex Pearson Education
Ltd.
• De Pelsmacker p, et al (2010) IMC: marketing communications, A European perspective, 4th ed. USA Prentice
Hall.
• Groucutt J, Leadley P and Forsyth P (2004) Marketing, Kogan Page, Glasgow.
• Linton C and Donelly R(2009) Delivering Customer Value Through Marketing, Elsevier,Oxford
• Pickton D and Broderick A (2005) Integrated Marketing Communication,2nd Edition,Pearson Education
Limited, Essex.
•Brassington F and Pettitt S(2000), Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edition, Pearson Education Limited,Essex

36. References
•http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/media/television/itv-unveils-pay-tv-strategy/3016564.article
•http://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/what_we_do/our_products_and_services.htm
•http://www.ukmarketingnews.com/bskybs-uk-marketing-strategy-sets-them-in-good-stead-for-2010/
• http://www.virgin.com/media-and-mobile/news/virgin-media-unveils-first-high-definition-ad-campaign (accessed
01/12/2010)
•http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1017146/Virgin-Media-launches-campaign-promote-Sky-Sports-HD/
(accessed 24/11/21010
•http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/media/television/itv-unveils-pay-tv-strategy/3016564.article
•http://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/what_we_do/our_products_and_services.htm
•http://www.ukmarketingnews.com/bskybs-uk-marketing-strategy-sets-them-in-good-stead-for-2010/
•http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/why-choose-sky-hd/
•http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/push-pull-strategy.htm
•http://www.sky.com/shop/high-definition/home/hd-channels/
•http://www.sky.com/shop/boxes/sky-plus-box/?DCMP=bac-acquisition_56953186_0_233072830
•Sky HD (2010) Annual Report