Sky soups up its ad campaign as Digital service continues to suffer

By Duncan Bridgeman

Friday 15th March 2002

KIDS' STUFF: George W Bush goes where Helen Clark is afraid to tread

Sky Television's popular advertising campaign takes another turn this weekend when its new billboard pinups undergo a makeover.

The billboards had featured recognisable personalities such as Helen Clark and President George Bush and were designed to promote the pay television network's news channels.

But Sky's advertising agency DDB has added a controversial twist by "cannibalising" the signs to promote its client's cartoon channels.

From Monday the billboards will take on new appearances, with cartoon quotations painted on to the signs. News channel logos have been replaced by cartoon logos and the previously plain advertising takes on a humorous look.

However, the plan may have come unstuck, as it is understood Helen Clark has declined last minute approval for her portrait to be altered.

The creative team at DDB would not comment on why the prime minister would not feature in the new ads, even though she featured in the first tranche of billboard advertising.

Sky's recent advertising campaign has received numerous accolades for its creativity. Its original television "fish and chip paper" advertisements appeared on the Ruby Wax's Commercial Breakdown programme on Monday and its "Mini Me" advertisement picked up a silver nomination at the prestigious D&AD awards last year.

Sky has experienced record subscription growth this year, with its Digital service, with current subscriptions understood to be at 484,000, up from the 442,000 recorded in Sky's December annual report.

However, much of that growth was attributable to its partnership deal with Telstra Saturn, now TelstraClear, which had skewed the figures. Sky had gained market share as a result of its agreement with Telstra but the marketing campaign still looks to have boosted subscriptions.

Despite the positive growth signs, Sky's digital arm is continuing to pose problems for the network. Sky Digital subscribers are still being riled by "rain fade" - a freezing of the television screen and other related quirks and bugs - since the broadcaster downloaded new firmware last December.

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